X Factor country crooner Dean Ray has told his Wollongong fans he disappeared in the aftermath of the show because he was hospitalised with depression and anxiety.
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The experience led him to write a new track, Simple Things, he told a crowd at Wollongong Central lunchtime Saturday, before launching in the the song.
‘‘I ended up in the hospital with it [depression and anxiety] pretty bad,’’ the season six runner-up told the crowd.
‘‘I wrote this song while I was there.’’
Ray has talked openly in the past about his struggle with alcohol addiction and confessed he was once so desperate for food he ate scraps out of a wheelie bin.
Wearing neck-to-toe black, the 22-year-old Victorian pulled out a rendition of Fulsome Prison Blues and a singalong version of Bette Davis Eyes for his Wollongong performance.
Between the serious talk, he won the crowd over with some mall-themed banter.
‘‘Oh my God, there’s a moving mannequin,’’ he said, spotting a girl watching the concert from the Sportsgirl display window.
‘‘And another one. You can’t buy those clothes though. Because they need them.’’
The concert drew a front row full of well-groomed, screaming teenage girls but also good numbers of parents and young children.
Wollongong’s Emma Snelson said fans were drawn to Ray’s unusual song choices and personality.
‘‘He’s different,’’ she said.
Emma Newman said the singer had a genuine quality.
‘‘I met him in Melbourne before he was on the show and he was just a really lovely guy,’’ she said.
‘‘He stopped busking for 10 minutes to talk to my little sister about her guitar.’’
The concert was the first to put Crown Central’s capacity for concert-hosting to the test following the removal of the ampitheatre.
Temporary fencing was set up in the middle of the mall and arranged in patterns to guard against crushing.
Ray performed from a temporary stage set up in the shade of the western footbridge.
