I was going to get myself organised and do this all in one hit. It's not going to happen ... surprise, surprise. So, I'll do it a bit at a time ... because I suppose I'm doing it for me anyway.

BUT ... I think there are still a couple of shows coming up in the US. Go!! Just bloody do it!

I don't know how may ways I can say BRILLIANT. More later ...

Cameron Adams is a twat ... more on him later! But his review captures the sentiment.



Michael Dwyer usually comes up with the goods and he's done that here.

Both these reviews are from the second night. More later Oh, and the photo wasn't from either of the Melbourne shows. Later ...

I stayed over, it was the only way I could do it. It still completely buggered me!

The place I stayed was literally spitting distance from Hamer Hall. The reception area was 15 metres or less from Hamer Hall Stage door. My room overlooked Hamer Hall's roof and enormous air-conditioning unit, and straight in front of me was a view towards the MCG and Rod Laver Arena, and I watched the traffic not moving for several hours before the big cricket match with India at the MCG on Friday night. I missed my quiet street way away from all the crap. I do NOT like the city at all!

I got competely lost finding the place at midday. My daughter, who knows the city well, got sent way away from where she wanted to go when she drove in after work. Bloody cricket and Steven Spielberg. Streets were shut off while they filmed some mini-series.

She ended up parking in the city centre and walking. She made it in time for the opening act and was hot, sweaty, tired etc! She wished she hadn't bothered and I never sat through it the second night. Some girl plus guitar, quite good at what she did but SO beige!!! They all sound the same!

Rufus more than made up! More later ...

http://www.australianstage.com.au/reviews/...right-1089.html

Rufus Wainwright
Written by Georgia Fox
Saturday, 02 February 2008


Can you ever have too much of a good thing? After watching hedonistic performer Rufus Wainwright grace the stage of Hamer Hall for just under three hours, one can only wonder. Then again Wainwright's lush arrangements have so consistently romanced his audience over the past ten years; it was reassuring to find this live performance nothing less than decadent.

Opening with the eponymous track from Wainwright's latest album Release the Stars, the bar is set. Oversized mirror balls descend from the rafters, pitching stars across the Hall and confirming that, yes, Rufus has entered the building. Forever partial to shocking people with glamour, Wainwright swaggers on stage in a lime green, satin suit wearing enough bling to shame 50 Cent.

The all-male seven-piece band rock out in garish patchwork suits inspired by the stars and stripes of the American flag, which also serves as a backdrop. Yet the giant flag has been altered to reflect Wainwright's anti-American sentiment, as expressed in the album's single, Going to a Town. Black and white stripes replace the traditional red to “represent all that is wrong with the United States', while intricate brooches form stars in the top left corner. "America is a lot like Judy Garland right now: gloriously f**cked up!"

Despite the glitzy trimmings, Wainwright does not take his supreme talent for granted. He approaches each song as if it were his final tribute to love, truth and beauty, but mercifully it is not, allowing us to revel in his languid tones over and over again. Indeed, the percussive Beautiful Child best articulates Wainwright's apocalyptic attitude: And when they finally fall/ these wailing walls and burning crosses/ Gods, twilight and all/ Oh, how I'll feel like a beautiful child/ such a beautiful child again.

Unfortunately lyrics such as these are often lost due to Wainwright’s stylistic tendency to slur his word, yet it is difficult to fault anything else in his delivery. Wainwright makes the soaring melodies seem effortless and few could tackle such a demanding range and long phrases without his superb vocal control. In this regard he undeniably outshines famed family members Martha Wainwright, Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle.

Wainwright once said that he wishes he had his sister's voice, but it is hard to believe that anyone would desire to give up their greatest musical asset. Admittedly, Wainwright's vocal chords were in particularly top form last night, genre-hopping from hypnotic waltz Leaving for Paris to the momentous, Do I Disappoint You, without falter.

It would appear that, at 34, Wainwright is in the prime of his career. Since overcoming crippling drug addictions in 2003, Wainwright has only surged to greater heights, both musically and in the charts. Putting all his energies into music, including the New York Met commissioned opera Prima Donna, Wainwright is finally lifting off. Now that he has "released the stars", after pumping out four similarly stellar albums, perhaps, for Rufus Wainwright, too much of a good thing is never enough.


I don't agree with the comment about his diction, I think it is great. That is one of my pet peeves, not being to understand people, so I can lay claim to being something of an expert

He does have an interesting way of saying the "e" vowel sound (which has caused all sorts of whinges from people with nothing better to whinge about!) but other than that it just sounds like this lady is a little hard of hearing, maybe?

I never saw him three years ago, I knew about it and I just couldn't do it and I have been regretting it ever since. I wanted to SO much, but you know ... whatever!! I will spare you I just so wish I had.

Oh, and THE SUIT was FABULOUS ... lime green satin fluoro with a black upside-down pattern that I thought was camels and oases?! Because they were the wrong way up it was a bit hard to tell! I read on his message board that it was atomic waste ... but I think now that was a joke! It was certainly different and the sparkles were blinding! WOW! One of my daughter's flatmates (a young bloke of 24) likes Chris ... has seen him a couple of times. My daughter came with me the last tour and finally appreciated what I love about him (CI) Anyhow, she sent a text message to her flatmate in the interval, saying "Chris Isaak, eat your heart out!" Reference to the suit lol. She had a lot more jaw dropping to do before the show was over

More later ...

How am I doing?

Well, just a little side note here. I had never been to a show at Hamer Hall where the sound was great. I've made excuses ... not suitable for a rock or pop concert (much better for classical or spoken word). Well, I take it all back because it CAN be fantastic.

Rufus and his super-dooper band (7 plus himself) proved it over two nights. I sat in seats I've had before (both nights) and I've been disappointed by some famous people regarding the sound quality. All I can say now is that they should have got their bloody acts together and there really were NO excuses.

The sound at these two shows was perfect ... 20/10. Not one bum note either night.

I said the same thing about Wilco's 2 shows at the Palais, St. Kilda last year. I didn't think it was possible for the sound there to be consistently good. Again, I'd been disappointed by a lot of big names on occasion (including Chris Isaak and Silvertone). Then along came WILCO, never played there before, and what do you know? Poifect And again a big band (6 of them).

I digress ... back to Prince Charming

These are the reviews from the first night in Melbourne on his official message board. There are some great photos and some terrific write-ups. They seem like a really nice, very intelligent, funny crowd. Read further than the Melbourne shows if you want to. I think you'd enjoy.

First a link to the thread, then a couple of the reviews. But please, take a look and see the photos. I can't sit to the computer long enough to put them all up here.

melampus (what a joy to read this person is! I am assuming female but the audience was very interesting ) has been to all the Aussie shows, still one to go I think. Lucky, lucky ducky ... oh to be young and single and fit

I enjoyed the reference to Melbourne being better than Sydney lol. FANTASTIC both nights, but Friday was such a blast and such a hoot. Back with some from night two later .... vegemite references here, poisonous spider discussion next time

http://boards.rufuswainwright.com/showflat...=&fpart=all

PortraitPainter

Hi peeps, able to log on at long last. Well, Melbourne gets 10 out of 10 for the best audience in Australia so far. Really enthusiastic which made for a great atmosphere. The venue was another stunner, a different era from the splendour of the State in Sydney. The auditorium seemed 50's/60's - very stylish . . . I loved it. The stage was so big, when it came to Get Happy, the boys had such a big area to cover during their runarounds that they occassionally collided in mid-air. As this tour progresses I am in awe of the live version of Leaving for Paris, which on repeated hearings, seems to be taking on a life of it's own. It brings the audience to it's knees, time after time. Certain boardie chums (who shall remain nameless) confessed to not being fussed about LFP on the album . . . . but were smitten by the etherial discordant atmosphere of the live version. For myself, I am repeatedly a puddle of emotion every time I hear it. . . . . . and the trick opening to NRTL caused the audience to take a sharp intake of breath at it's beautiful start and stunning change of emotional gear from laugh to despair within a breath. It's hot here today, hope I'm making sense.



The top Melbourne audience earnt a slightly longer than normal final bow at the end. All in all a top show. Roll on tonight

--------------------
. . . so please be kind if I'm a mess . . . . .

melampus

Dear Boardies,

Here I am again, at another internet cafe, and almost ready to head to my fourth Rufus show in a week!!!! Now I am about to say something a bit controversial, so brace yourselves.....

The show last night in Melbourne was, IMHO, even better than the two Sydney shows. Hard to believe it is possible but yes, it is true! I don't mean to make the people who could only go to the Sydney shows feel bad about not being able to come to Melbourne -- the Sydney gigs were phenomenal, after all. But last night Rufus and his band were *incandescent*. The audience loved loved loved them and I think they were pretty happy, too. Surely they must feed off our energy. And the place just erupted.

I took a few notes during the intermission about what Rufus said etc -- he was pretty chatty actually -- and I will fill you in on those maybe tomorrow, when I am back home in front of my own computer and not on some strange thing with sticky keys ('sticky' in that they stick, and 'sticky' in that they are covered with some kind of noxious goo.) But suffice to say, he mentioned his belly and so Rufus, on the microscopically remote chance that you are reading this, the thing I said about your little tummy-tum on the 29th was said with love, and it is really only a very little baby tum, so don't get too stressed about it, OK?

Being fortunate enough to have the chance to go to so many shows has allowed me the luxury of really studying the band, the lighting, the show in its entirety. The first gig was dedicated to staring holes in Rufus; last night I spent about half the time studying his remarkable band. This might have also been due to the fact that he was wearing the 'radioactive waste' suit again and there's only so much a Melampus can take, OK? Anyway, I was in the second row, and the seating was right up against the stage, so I had a fantastic view. In fact, I think I spent a bit TOO much time studying the band, because Cameron (with whom I had chatted in Sydney, and who was now smack bang in front of me) actually caught my eye and *recognised* me which was a bit embarrassing but also thrilling too, you know. Durng the intermission the chicks behind me told me I was a groupie!!! Melampus very embarrassed!

Anyway, there were a couple of times during the concert when I actually said out loud, "god this band's good" or words to that effect. Those times were during Do I Disappoint You, when the music just all swells together in that crescendo before the 'galloping' section, and then again in Slideshow, when they go from the megahuge horns to -- bang -- just Gerry's guitar solo. They are so bloody tight, polished without being slick -- actually, they sort of stuffed up the end of BML but that just proves they're human and what's more, they recovered the song without any trouble. I actually started to feel sad in the third act because after these gigs, who knows when we will see them again?

There were so many highlights -- Rufus' voice is holding out beautifully -- but one of the best for me was watching Cameron and Matt working the basses together during Leaving for Paris. It was absolutely fascinating, even more so because the sound at the Hamer Hall was superior to that in Sydney and you could hear every instrument, and every voice, very clearly.

(Afterwards I chatted to a girl who was in the very very very back row and she said she could hear Machusla perfectly.)

I must also give major kudos to the lighting people, whose skills both complement and compliment the music -- just bloody excellent, well done.

Anyway, I must dash off and get ready for my (almost daily) dose of joy, so, until the next dispatch....



OMG I almost forgot to mention that I bumped into the lovely Al who was at the first gig in Sydney. He's not a boardie but he was swapped pictures with the lovely George, who is a boardie (occasionally). Apparently George is also a musician, with a MySpace page, and Al checked it out and you know.... could this be the first stirrings of a relationship....??!! Could this be our first Rufus Romance?? Anyway, I told Al to invite me to the wedding. Good luck guys!

--------------------
Be banging on my crib excited by noise

Hopping and jumping around here.

Rufus did Between My Legs just before the 20 minute interval.

On the CD the spoken word part was done by none other than English/Welsh actress Sian Phillips, who is now in her 70s and is best remembered as Livia in the brilliant BBC drama series I, Claudius.

http://www.jadis.demon.co.uk/pictures/goddess.htm

That was about the last time for me that TV was compulsory viewing. We watched it religiously, every Sunday night, in Sydney, on a 12 inch black and white telly, before we had colour or a video recorder.

Just super, and if I thought I'd live long enough to watch it all again I'd get the DVD box set

Anyhow, obviously she wasn't going on a demanding world tour, so they held auditions, via YouTube (or XTube, as Rufus said!) for local fans to fill in.

2 girls did a great job the first night in Melbourne ... see the link to the message board and photos.

The second night it was 2 guys, Lee & Carl, a gay couple I think ... again, a great job, though I think they wanted a bit more than their 15 seconds of fame

ANYWAY, going back to Cameron Adams review right at the start.

What a smart arse ... yeah.

I don't know a lot about the ancient Romans, but like I said, I DID watch I, Claudius.

Caligula (see review again!), brilliantly played by John Hurt in the series, was a cruel, sadistic, devious pervert.

I hardly think any of that applies to Rufus. Stupid Cameron Adams.

Take a peek at the link below ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/cinema/features/iclaudius.shtml

and a quote ...

"Undoubtedly the most shocking moment, however, is the revolting end to 'Zeus, By Jove!' (tx. 8/11/1976) when Caligula (an appropriately outrageous John Hurt) murders his pregnant sister (who he has married), and then cuts the foetus out of her womb and eats it."

I couldn't watch it, even in black and white!

more later ...

I've never heard of Rufus, Stuff. I take it from what I read he's a performance artist more than a singer?? (o.k. I admit, I didn't read it all word for word, but I skim pretty good. ) I'm glad you really enjoyed yourself! My ears pricked up when I read your comments about 'I Claudius'. That's one of my favourite mini-series EVER. You'll never see better acting anywhere. Sian Philips was amazing as Livia, and Derek Jacobi was superb. I remember it originally aired when I was a teenager, and video recorders had just hit the market and I BEGGED my parents to get one, but of course they didn't. As soon as I got a job and could afford one, I bought one for the entire house, and eventually they repeated 'I Claudius' and I taped every episode (in betamax no less! ). I lost the tapes years ago of course. One day I'll get the DVD boxed set. It just such an incredible journey, the whole show from start to end. It was one of the things that got me interested in drama (which I went on to do at uni, as you know). Anyway, good to see you around again.

Hi Cheryl, I hope you're bearing up.

Don't skim ... I'll be asking questions.

Rufus is a one off, a huge talent, a great singer and a writer of wonderful songs. He's amazing.

www.rufuswainwright.com

Start there and read more if you really care. There's lots of stuff up there that will tell you more than you need to know.

You've heard of him now ... just remember the name. He's the best.

I got his first CD off Amazon after reading about him nearly 10 years back on one of the Isaak boards. I love you Chris I have kept up ever since.

I hear what you say about I, Claudius. Memories are made of this and stuff

Here's a link to the comments on the RW board about the second Melbourne show. I've had an emotional week ... laughed, cried. Rufus does that to ya

more later, isn't the weather lovely today?! And don't forget, you'll be tested so do some in-depth reading

Again, read the forum. get a feel for it. See the photos. Great people.

http://www.rufuswainwright.com/

Here's a link to the thread about the second Melbourne show.

http://boards.rufuswainwright.com/showflat...=&fpart=all


melampus ... Word of the Day: Rufidivist (noun, adj., from the English 'recidivist'): an individual afflicted with the chronic tendency to repeat or habitually attend Rufus Wainwright concerts.


Here I am, home again, facing a pile of steaming laundry, a garden half-dead from drought and an unnecessarily large huntsman in the kitchen*. Even though I still have the Hobart and Adelaide gigs to look forward to, I couldn't help but feel a slow depression starting to creep up on me ... all the fun is almost over! Oh, the anguish!

As the admirably athletic Portrait Painter (whose sprint for the tram would have left a gazelle panting in the shade) has already pointed out, last night's show was a blast, although just slightly lacking the energy of the previous show (February 1). Maybe this is because many of the people who went to the first show also went to the second, and so they knew what to expect? That said, the girls to my right had never seen Rufus and they screamed their lungs out. And the woman behind me gasped audibly at his beautiful Foggy Day and “Macushla, and was delighted by his between-song patter. And yet again the band got a lengthy standing ovation and a lengthier-than-usual bow in return.

Besides, I can't imagine how Friday's show could have been topped.

Rufus also mentioned how good the audience was that night. And like the first Melbourne show, he was chattier than he had been in Sydney. He is very self-deprecating; not at all the egomaniac as he is often portrayed in print media interviews. The following are some highlights:

The first talk break: On Friday he welcomed us to his Judy show. This was a sarcastic swipe at the mistake made by ABC television's 7:30 Report (that implied that he was here to do the Judy show); he said he'd watched the report on TV. He was obviously pretty annoyed/frustrated by this blunder, because he made a similar comment on Saturday night, but this time he cleverly switched the joke around so that it was Judy who had copied Rufus show ... it's hard to explain, but it was a good one.

On Saturday night, when he explained the meaning of the flag backdrop, he went on to express his pleasure at the impending departure of George W. Bush and received a hearty cheer. I suspect he feels more comfortable making such comments in this country and not in North America. As usual he sort of fluffed around explaining things, then gave up and said that he was "just trying to sound smart, OK?"

(Meanwhile, I was delighted to discover that the star in the top left corner of the flag is in fact a crab. I think I also spotted a strawberry, a crown, and what appears to be a giant earwig. But I digress.)

Before Sans souci: He mentioned that the song contained a controversial line -- Sweet master race. On Friday he said that Australians were the master race because we all have such great bodies and he, with his belly, is an anomaly. What's with the belly? What's that we would say if we saw it. On Friday he again said that we Australians would fit the bill, since we are so beautiful and witty and friendly and nice. He said it was lucky we were nice, otherwise he would be in big trouble! (Meaning a certain other Master Race weren't quite so pleasant to the GLBTI community ... and several million other people.) Aww, shucks Rufie!! But please go visit your optometrist...

Before Matinee Idol: On Friday he mentioned it was written after River Phoenix died, but that now there were also parallels to Heath Ledger. He noted that both River and Heath had died after convincingly playing gay people and they're both blond! Theories theories theories... People laughed, you can't keep a good queen down. And besides, it's better to laugh than cry.

Before Leaving for Paris: He said that Melbourne was the Paris of Australia, “which is why you're all stuck-up ... no, just kidding! He took care to pronounce Melbourne the right way, i.e. Mel-bin not Mel-BORN; he seemed to find this amusing, and I guess it is. He mentioned that LFP had been written for Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge, and that of course since it was left off the soundtrack, her career's gone nowhere... Barefoot and pregnant... No, actually she's very sweet.

BML: On Friday night the lovely Anna and Selina took to the stage. Rufus watched them arrive and said, Why don't I just go home now ... [they're] too beautiful. Saturday's spoken-word bit was done by a couple of young guys whose names I did not catch -- not even when I saw them both on my plane back home this afternoon! Then, driving home from the airport, who should I see on the street leading to mine but one of the BML guys, with a bag of shopping! Freaky deaky!

Oh, and when Rufus explained how and why he was going to sing Macushla he mentioned that this was how Nellie Melba would have sung (ie, without a microphone). Yay Nellie! he cried. (Dame Nellie Melba was one of Australia’s greatest sopranos and is featured on our ten-dollar note. She died in 1931.) I know this is dumb, but the way he said "Nellie" just cracked me up. That, and the look he had when he was getting Judified: like a little boy sneaking into his mother's handbag. Actually, at the first Sydney show his bathrobe lapel was slightly askew when he sat and when he caught us sneaking a peek, he drew the robe up to his throat very quickly with the campiest 'gasp! how dare you!' look. These little things still make me smile now.

This post is far too long so I will shut up BUT before I do, I must say thank you to all the people who said nice stuff about my previous lengthy ramble. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Also, locals might be interested to know that the tall, bespectacled guy from Tripod (can't remember his name, sorry) was spotted at Friday's gig and Julia Zemiro (Rockwiz etc) was there on Saturday.

And NightOwler, thanks for the lift home! I hope you have recovered from your exhaustion. You've gotta pace yourself!


Time for bed -- at least it's not laundry...

* big hairy spider, often (but incorrectly) called a tarantula


--------------------
Be banging on my crib excited by noise

I am so jealous of this person!!!

There were some other famous names at the Saturday show too (read towards the end of the link). I also saw one of my son's ex-girlfriends, which I really didn't need ... didn't speak to her.

Also ran into an old friend who was sitting very close to me. She isn't so good, which was a sad shock.

I knew a little of what to expect with the full band show, but I had deliberately not read much in the way of reviews and articles and I didn't even try to catch any TV programs (therefore I missed the ABC program that stuffed up and said that Rufus was doing his Judy Garland show ... much to his annoyance! Got to love our ABC )

A week before my shows I was convinced I couldn't do it, but I did and it will one of my best ever memories.

Anyway, I DID know that he would be wearing Lederhosen. My daughter didn't and she just cracked up when he came onstage. Her little face was a picture She said "that is a SERIOUSLY offensive outfit!"

Dare to be different is what I say. We both agreed that Freddie would approve

Anyway, the Irish song he sang without microphones and with the French Horn accompaniment, was one my dear Dad used to listen to. He had several recordings by John McCormack. Lovely.

It's called Macushla (without the h on the end, Cameron) and is a girl's name) Beautiful and very brave of him to do it.

Macushla
(Rowe, MacMurrough)
Macushla, Macushla your sweet voice is calling
calling me softly again and again
Macushla Macushla I hear it's dear pleading
my blue eyed Macushla I hear it in vain

Macushla, Macushla your white arms are reaching
I feel them enfolding, caressing me still
fling them out from the darkness my lost love Macushla
let them find me, and bind me again if they will

Macushla, Macushla your red lips are saying
that death is a dream and love is for aye
then awaken Macushla, awake from your dreaming
my blue eyed Macushla awaken to stay.

Lots of YouTube clips of Rufus doing the song, around the world, here.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_quer...amp;search_type


This is a clip from the Sydney show ... not the full one, but very good sound. And there are a few other clips on the same page. In fact, if you loved sitting in front of the computer (which I don't!) you could spend a month with Rufus, at least!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtyBxNX_UP0

(and if you spell the name wrong, like the reviewer, and search under Macushlah, you'll find even more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ92i188gXc


Now then ...

Learn a little about John McCormack and listen to the original (recorded 1910, I think it says) Lovely.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCormack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7T9kDLGzqY

Hey! Thanks my friend. It's strange living in a Laika-less house, but we will adjust. I still think I hear her outside my door when I'm on the computer.... I keep the door shut usually, but she used to have this trick of shaking her collar so I'd hear her. I'd jump up and open the door for her to come in, and then she'd just be happy to just lie down at my feet for an hour or so. If that didn't work, or if she was feeling a little impatient, she'd just nose the door open herself. I'd hear the door start to swing open, look up, and there would be her face appearing around the corner, looking so cheeky as if to say 'There - see what I can do, aren't I clever!' But yeah....it's still a sad house at times. We will get another dog eventually (and definitely another husky - I couldn't have any other kind of dog now) but we'll wait a few months at least, I think.




Rufus sounds quite fascinating, and I know he MUST be pretty damn good for you to like him so much. I'll look into those links you posted as soon as I get some time - promise, and will report back. In the meantime, did somebody say TEST?!?! Yikes! I'm outta here!!

Cheryl, I know how much that doggy meant to you. It's good to see you getting out and about again a little bit. Take it easy ...

HE IS THAT GOOD



I'm going to put just a couple of articles or three up and a couple or four more reviews, because they are just so damn good!

I hope a few people, at least are enjoying the read. At least I'll know where these few bits are .... you just wouldn't believe the mess this computer is in. Like I said, it's really for me but I hope a few others get sucked in as well.

This isn't the post I meant to make (I just lost the whole thing). Nevermind ...

This first article is by Michael Dwyer, one of the reviewers right at the start.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/music/the-li...68380.html(nice pic here too)


The lives of Rufus

January 25, 2008


As a pop star, the Wainwright boy has arrived. By Michael Dwyer.

IN THE slightly envious words of his kid sister, Martha Wainwright, "Rufus always knew what he wanted". While she humbly deferred and prevaricated over her brilliant career, he locked sights on his yellow brick road the first time he was hauled out of bed to sing Over The Rainbow at one of his showbiz parents' parties.

His audacious impression of Judy Garland's signature tune had the ring of a fait accompli on his first Australian tour of January '05. Even flanked by his gifted sister and their mesmerising mother and aunt, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, he seemed almost incandescent with destiny.

The intervening three years have seen it come to pass. Last year's Release The Stars topped a five-album spiral of escalating confessional and symphonic ambitions. His latest release, Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall, is the whimsical conceit of a 34-year-old stage prodigy with little left to prove.

"I've definitely made a notch in the wall of the prison cell of entertainment and things are looking up," is his wry progress report.

"I'm not making millions of dollars, playing baccarat in Vegas with Snoop Dogg but I'm proud of the fact that I can bring eight (band members) over to Australia. I'm satisfied with that reward."

Well he might be. Wainwright's last Melbourne show was a modest solo recital at Manchester Lane. Then again, he gives the distinct impression that, in his head at least, he has already outgrown the prestigious velvet sanctum of next week's two Hamer Hall engagements.

"This is my life's work in a certain way but once you've completed your life's work, you've got to move on to another life," he says. "I don't wanna end it here. I just don't like to stagnate, which I find tends to happen a lot with pop careers.

"My great fantasy to some day write a great opera is kind of down the line now," he reveals. "So what that does, in terms of this whole pop thing, is it really makes it a game, and not too personal, and something that I can enjoy. And that will get me laid."

The last, self-effacing gag is self-defence. Pop artists aren't generally allowed to be as cocksure as Rufus Wainwright, in words or music.

Even with Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant ensconced as "executive producer", Release the Stars came close to overwhelming the lavish parameters of Wainwright's Broadway-influenced style.

"Neil was kind of my adviser," he says. "He would give me his opinion from time to time about how things were going and I'd either agree or disagree. I respected him so much because he has been able to accomplish his goals being a pop star while at the same time maintaining his integrity."

Again, the P-word is tossed off with the slightly patronising air of an artiste with grander ambitions than making the masses whistle on their way to work. And while he almost concedes the charge of excessive production, he qualifies a little frostily that "there are certain moments on the album that are the most intimate of my life".

That's the Wainwright magic, of course. For all their stylistic differences, fans of Rufus are usually fans of Martha because the blood-and-guts of life experience is the essence of their work.

"I just like my songs to be utterly enrapturing. I think people who don't like my music are people who don't necessarily want to pay full attention to things. They're more into the ephemeral pleasures of life.

"With my music, if you're listening, you really have to be very dedicated. And that's a very operatic tradition. You have to be dominant, musically."

Commercially, of course, opera is anything but dominant. Wainwright's ambition and relatively young and passionate fan base may be a potent combination for New York's Metropolitan Opera, which has commissioned his work, and conceivably for opera in general.

"Yeah, there's definitely the sense that they need me more than I need them," he says, untroubled as usual by false modesty. Certainly, the Metropolitan's Peter Gelb has been effusive in his hopes for the work in progress. A "drawing room drama" titled Prima Donna, the French libretto involves a singer who falls in love with a journalist.

"There's not much to really talk about now," Wainwright says. "It's in its infancy but needless to say, it's gonna be very musical. That's all I'll say. It's gonna be VERY musical."

Rufus Wainwright and his band play Hamer Hall on February 1 and 2.


http://www.smh.com.au/news/music/last-aria...1369131816.html
(photo of Rufus here wearing the t-shirt he wore at his Auckland show ... more about that later on!)

Last aria as a folk hero

Emily Dunn and Elicia Murray
January 30, 2008



IF ALL goes to plan, tonight may be Sydney's last chance to see American-Canadian singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright in full folk-hero flight.

On tour to promote his fifth album, Release The Stars, Wainwright told SiT he would soon be reincarnated as an opera composer.

"That is the avenue I am turning on to right now," the singer said. "I will probably always have a few [pop] shows, to be able to feed myself on oysters and caviar … I will never truly be able to walk away because there is no money in opera."

Wainwright's opera Prima Donna, commissioned by New York's Metropolitan Opera, will be his first official foray into the genre, although he admits many of his pop songs have an aria-like bent.

In Australia, Wainwright is best known for his tribute shows; from Leonard Cohen and Judy Garland - a recording of his famed Rufus Does Judy Live At Carnegie Hall was released this month - and the folk-music heritage of his father, Loudon Wainwright III, sister Martha and mother, Kate McGarrigle.

His love of classical music and opera, he says, helped set him apart both from his generation and from the folk tradition which "was always a little bit too heterosexual, about who was the fastest banjo player, who was mating with whom".

And while he is used to females sharing his stage, there will be no heterosexual confusions tonight when Wainwright performs with his all-male band.

"Traditionally I had two women on stage and I would dress them up like dolls," he explained.

"I think it diluted the show. Only because now I am the pretty one, I get to prance around like the flower I am."

Wainwright performs at the State Theatre tonight.


http://www.smh.com.au/news/gig-reviews/ruf...1157611129.html

(another nice photo with the caption "The Ruf, the Ruf, the Ruf is on fire!" LOL)

Rufus Wainwright

Bernard Zuel
January 25, 2008

Rufus Wainwright has moved beyond the ruby-slippered legend and is turning to opera.

AMERICAN singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright spent a lot of last year being Judy Garland. As you do. Or at least replicating her famous Carnegie Hall concert from 1961, song by song, emotion by emotion - though not exactly costume by costume, even if one or two outfits came close.

We didn't get to see the show here - only London and New York did - and when Wainwright plays in Sydney it will be with a band but without Garland. Still, the shows left their mark on him.

"Honestly, the next big thing for me is the opera, because that's been my lifelong ambition and fascination," Wainwright says. "That is taking up all the mental space. And there's a large mental space there now that Judy's gone. She really carved out a cathedral that you have to replace with something."

Wainwright's ability to be both arch and romantic, to build songs with an emotional landscape as complex and challenging as his dramatic pop melodies, has had him singled out as a rare, if inconsistent, talent since his 1998 eponymous debut album. Sometimes even he believes his songs could get on the radio and sell a lot, though the jury is still out. Possibly because even when there's only his languid voice and piano, his songs feel like mini-operas and Broadway musicals channelled through pop.

Still, when he plays with a band he both rocks out and camps up, a highly entertaining combination - something that Sydney audiences can expect. Was the Rufus-does-Judy show another of his life's goals ticked off?

"I wouldn't even say it was a life goal, it was almost like ... I don't mean to say this and be disrespectful but it was almost like her life's goal. Meaning that I had this funny little idea, in the car listening to the album ... Somehow that spark ignited this forest fire and, next thing you know, it's happening and I really do feel like there was a sort of cosmic bubble that I punctured and all of this seething need to live - whether it was her, all the songs or the songwriters I don't know - but it happened and I went along with it. I loved every moment of it. I love Judy and I love the songs but there was a sort of nether force guiding that whole project."

Gee, after his most recent album, his fifth, Release The Stars - which started as an intimate album for not much more than voice and piano and ended up with orchestra, massed voices and big, big songs - who would have thought that a small idea of his would blow up into something almost excessive?

Wainwright chuckles in recognition. "Yes, that's never happened before."

The opera, commissioned by the New York Metropolitan Opera, has been on the horizon for several years now for the passionate operatic fan. The first act is mostly written, next he has "the meat" - the orchestration - which he estimates will take him a year and test him like nothing he has done before.

"And you know, honestly, with the amount of respect I have for composers who have gone before me, I'm not going to even scratch the surface of what's possible, or of what's been done, with my first opera. It's a tall, tall mountain."

Is there a libretto yet? "I'm working on it [at] the moment with a friend. We're doing it in French. English is lovely in so many ways, except opera," he deadpans.

Can we look forward to a death in the first act? A suicide in the third? "There's no death. It's more of a Strauss-ian, late Strauss-ian situation within the drama. It's a very drawing-room sensibility."

Intense but contained? "Yes, intense but contained and the harrowing drama, the harrowing situations of real life."

Speaking of harrowing situations of real life, the end of each year usually means a McGarrigle/Wainwright family show, bringing together the offspring of the McGarrigle sisters Anna and Kate (mother to Rufus and Martha, his febrile and talented sister), Loudon Wainwright III (father to Rufus, Martha and a few more from a second marriage) and sundry relatives.

Given the family's propensity for writing about each other in their songs, up to and including Martha's song about her father, Bloody Motherf---ing Asshole, yet still remaining amazingly close, it's always a psychosocial treat to witness it. But there wasn't one in December. And it wasn't just because of Kate McGarrigle's health battle, which at one stage had looked life-threatening.

"Frankly, the problem [last] year was that I had this two-month monster tour of Europe that I only got off of a few days before [the Christmas show would have been held] and I absolutely refused to go into another production, especially Christmas. I love Christmas but I also love to enjoy it," he laughs.

Is his mother better? "She's doing great. She is fierce - a warrior woman, as we all know. She's got that sort of potato famine without the potato face."

Does he see that in himself? "I was on my website the other day ... and in there was this picture where she and I were facing the same direction, the angles of our faces were in a similar spot and we both have the same eyes. I am blessed for it because they are very, very strong. And I don't mean beautiful, they are beautiful but there is a kind of resilience there."

It must give him some confidence that whatever other adversities come up, beyond a crystal meth addiction and a generally indulgent life, he probably has the strength to fight back.

"Yes, I'm eternally indebted to both of my parents for really being so strong that perhaps it ruined their relationship but in time created Martha and I, who are pretty tough cookies," he says, jokingly adding, "If anything it's an argument for procreation and then divorce."

Would he consider the procreation part? "Ah, well, my boyfriend loves children and we've been together for almost three years, so I'm sure the question will pop up at some point. I personally don't, only because I think children are faking it [he laughs]. I think they're as intelligent and as literate and as aware as adults are and when they're acting like children, they are pretending."

That may have been true of the young Wainwright but I don't think we can all claim such precociousness.

"I know, I'm a bit hard. My bark is much bigger than my bite; I'd make a great father."

It's not something he would rule out? "It's not something that has ever really attracted me but I don't know, I think that that can turn on a dime. Everyone thinks only women go through this but I think men go through it as well; you suddenly start to feel the need to continue your line. To be around youth and to impart your wisdom becomes quite primordial. We'll see."

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0...5003421,00.html

Night out with Rufus Wainwright

Noel Mengel

January 27, 2008 11:00pm



EVEN if you knew nothing about Rufus Wainwright it would be impossible not to be entertained at one of his concerts. Moved, too.
Perhaps a little shocked to find him recreating Judy Garland's iconic Get Happy dance scene from Summer Stock, complete with fedora, blazer, stockings, high heels and seven-piece band as his dance troupe, as part of the encore. But always entertained.

Which is not to say Wainwright is not serious about his music. He is, and is one of the finest songwriters to emerge in the past 10 years. But as the proudly gay son of a famous family of musical entertainers, he knows how to put on a show.

And one which makes most other pop concerts feel rather drab in comparison. "Singer-songwriter" doesn't begin to explain the scope of Wainwright's music, inspired as it is by cabaret, Broadway, show tunes and the great writers of the American songbook, or his performance, which is about as far removed from the floor-gazing singer-songwriter type as it is possible to get.

Last year Wainwright released two albums: a sumptuous collection of original orchestral pop songs, Release the Stars, and Rufus does Judy at Carnegie Hall, his tribute to Garland's 1961 New York concert.

This show, the opening night of a short – and sold-out – Australian tour, draws on both, assisted by a superb seven-piece band of multi-instrumentalists who, rather than quietly doing their bit in the shadows, are almost as interesting and engaging as their leader.

Sometimes that's through the colourful textures of Wainwright's music, which has space for banjo, french horn, trumpet, sax, flute and, in one song, two electric basses and a bowed stand-up bass.

And sometimes that's through sheer exuberance, all pitching in to create a choir as required, or putting down their instruments to take part in the frenetic spirit of the Get Happy sequence.

Stripes are in this year. Wainwright takes the stage in red-and-white striped suit and costume jewellery, with the band in an equally fetching array of colourful stripes and sparkles.

One of the early highlights is Leaving For Paris, with Wainwright at the piano – he explains the song was written for Baz Lurhmann's Moulin Rouge but rejected – accompanied by the aforementioned bass triumvirate.

It's quiet spaces demonstrates Wainwright's gifts for classic melody and the tender melancholy of his delivery. But he's not about to drown in introspection, there's as much hope and fun in these songs as there is heartbreak.

After intermission Wainwright returns to the stage (in the Bavarian lederhosen he favoured for the cover of Release the Stars!) and dips back into his catalogue for Matinee Idol, while A Foggy Day from his Garland show reveals the breadth and range of his voice.

A magnificent reading of I'm Not Ready For Love ignites the adoring crowd, as does an encore of Poses. All this and Get Happy too, with Wainwright miming to his own performance of the song.

Some people want the big roles, some people want the good roles. Wainwright wants them both. And delivers.


http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story...5013577,00.html



Ruthless Rufus's rootless sexuality



Sean Sennett | January 29, 2008


AT home, the New York-born, Canadian-raised Rufus Wainwright often refers to himself as the Duke of Duchess County. Tonight he's christened himself The Queen of Queensland.

A consummate showman, Wainwright continues to shine as a singer, composer and interpreter of songs. His comic timing remains spot on, and he maintains an endearing, cavalier attitude to sending up his sexuality.

Tonight's backdrop is a looming black and white American flag. The black and white stripes are, in Wainwright's words, a representation of "racism, poverty and all the other stuff that clouds the USA". The stars are replaced by a smattering of giant silver broaches, which Wainwright typifies as the "wonderful things about the USA".

Resplendent in a candy-striped suit, Wainwright was at ease alone at the microphone or seated at the grand piano. When he stood at the front with an acoustic guitar, the band excelled.

He was backed by a three-piece horn section, stand up bass, drums and two guitarists, who manoeuvred from concert hall slick to a mood bordering on urban folk in an instant. Band leader Gerry Leonard deserves any accolades that come his way.

Opening with Release The Stars, Wainwright wasted no time in showing off his impressive register. Sanssouci, with Will Vinson starring on flute, was a joy. Wainwright revealed that Leaving For Paris was rejected by Baz Luhrmann for the soundtrack of Moulin Rouge.

The song was performed with two electric bass guitars, while Jeff Hill played the stand-up bass with a bow.

Tonight none of Wainwright's Brisbane based internet fans took up the online challenge of performing a spoken word passage for Between My Legs, so the task fell to Tivoli staffer, and in-house man for all seasons, Potatoe. Delivering the lines with a sense of menace, the cameo provided a perfect closer to the first half of Wainwright's show.

Returning in lederhosen, Wainwright drew cheers with Do I Disappoint You and garnered further applause for donning his best Australian accent when asking for "waaaater". Other standouts included Beautiful Child and Not Ready To Love.

The encore saw Wainwright at the piano, in a bathrobe, for a stunning reading of Poses. As the stage was cleared, Wainwright sat by the apron and reached for his red lipstick, high heels and earrings. It was Judy Garland time, and Wainwright set about having his way with Get Happy. Not wanting to spoil the surprise, Wainwright's encore is a glorious hoot. The show itself is an exercise in sheer joy and nothing short of a triumph. Not to be missed.




http://www.smh.com.au/news/music/get-happy...1369221742.html

(another super photo here!)


Get happy? They were in raptures over this finale

Reviewed by Bernard Zuel
January 31, 2008

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT
State Theatre, January 29

TO BEGIN with the end may be a little unfair. After all, the preceding 2½ hours traversed a lot of terrain, stylistically, musically and emotionally.

We had swung from a Gershwin cover (done slowly and deliberately) and an original number seemingly channelling Weimar cabaret (with banjo) to a song that came across as a meaty take on the Byrds crossed with the Fifth Dimension (if arranged by Jimmy Webb) and another that could easily be '70s AM pop (with a flurry of double entendres).

We had heard the astonishingly beautiful '50s film melodrama in song The Art Teacher performed with piano and French horn; the elegantly wasted Leaving For Paris performed with two electric bass guitars and one double bass; and an Irish folk tune, Macushlah, sung without a microphone as brass and acoustic bass played beneath.

We had seen nearly the full gamut of this Canadian-American's talent, not to mention a versatile and often brilliant band, and it was impressive enough. But, as Rufus Wainwright might well say: what the hell, if it works then do it.

He had arrived for the first encore wrapped in a big fluffy white bathrobe, surprising enough before you even consider his costume for the second act (lederhosen) or the outfit in which he had begun the show (bare-chested under a suit of bright, crossed-patterned stripes adorned with glittering brooches, and shiny silver shoes). Having sung two elegiac songs at the piano - I Don't Know What It Is and Poses - Wainwright moved to a chair at the front of the stage where he attached rings and earrings, slipped on high-heeled shoes and rather expertly applied lipstick. Then he moved to the back of the stage as the band returned, now in tuxedos and bow ties. But they weren't playing; they had become his dancers and he had become, as the robe was thrown off to reveal his long legs clad in black stockings under a double-breasted jacket and hat, Judy Garland.

As the "dancers" moved around him, with varying degrees of competence but undoubted enthusiasm, in classic cabaret choreography, Wainwright/Garland mimed to his recording of Get Happy (as in "forget your troubles, come on get happy, we're going to chase all your cares away") with the verve of an old-style hoofer and the vamp of the modern queen.

The room erupted. Laughter and applause mixed with hooting and hollering. He'd had them in the palm of his hand before, now they were putty, and few seemed willing to disagree with the sentiments of the final song, performed acoustically and touchingly, that here was the Gay Messiah.



http://www.gaynz.com/articles/publish/24/article_5544.php


Review: 'Opera Hunk' Rufus Wainwright's Auckland concert

Posted in: Music
By Kitten Power - 5th February 2008

Review: Rufus Wainwright at Auckland's Powerstation, Monday 4 February 2008.



Rufus Wainwright kinda prance-struts onto the stage of Auckland's Powerstation. He is oozing camp heat, from his floppy hair, to the scarf tied around his neck and t-shirt emblazoned with "Opera Hunk".

Wainwright's also sporting a greenstone tiki, a welcoming gift from his label which he describes as "kind of a foetal surfboard" then laughs "no, no it's spiritual".

He's flying solo tonight, with the costs of bringing a band down so far deemed too hefty. We, and Hobart, get the dressed down guitar-piano show.

But the loneliness of the stage suits Wainwright. He arches above the piano and the crowd hushes as he launches into gorgeous song after gorgeous song, each dripping with an air of being alone. As he agonises over each lyric you can see what he felt what he wrote each word.

The whole set is gorgeous, but the heart rendering I'm Not Ready To Love does it for me. His eyes closed he loses himself in it - "I'm not ready to love; I'm not ready for peace . . . I'm giving up the dove to the beast."

The mixture of pain and ecstasy Wainwright has been through in his life is etched on his face. From coming out as a teenager, apparently being raped at age 14, becoming addicted to crystal meth, a seemingly fractured relationship with his father - it's all there. You can also see the music that brought him through; from opera, to Jeff Buckley and of course – Judy Garland.

Also an influence, he tells us, is someone a little closer to home, Kiri Te Kanawa. He says he loves her because she's a diva . . . and a bitch. But a "cool bitch" he says, and "she has every right to be".

I am holding out for The Beatles' Across The Universe, Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah or a little Judy, but it's not to be tonight. As much as he is clearly inspired by the trio, tonight is all about Rufus.

He finishes with a flourish and promises to be back with a full band after he finishes the opera he is writing, Prima Donna, about the day in the life of an opera singer. If he needs a cool bitch diva to model it on, never mind Dame Kiri, he doesn't need to look any further than himself.

Kitten Power - 5th February 2008

The Auckland and Hobart shows were added in and it was just too expensive to fly the band all that way for a couple of gigs. Fortunately, Rufus puts on a wonderful show on his ownsome!

He does the same show with his band (you can understand why and it doesn't matter ... I would happily have watched it 10, 20 or more times, it's so good). When he's playing solo he wings it, depending on how he feels at the time.

At $79 a ticket for the full band show and around $70 for the solo show it's the best value EVER! Unbelievable.

Alright, well ... I know I have to pack it in and get back to reality.

Rufus and the band have left the country. I won't put much more up, thank you for your patience

Superb, stunning, sensational. It takes an awful lot to impress this cynical old bird. (Couldn't find an online review of Hobart that I didn't have to pay for. What the?!)

Anyway, I wish I could have frozen it all to keep forever. I guess the foggy memory will have to do. What a bloody brilliant one!


http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1501119/...jectid=10491149

Rufus Wainwright, The Sami Sisters at the Powerstation

3:20PM Thursday February 07, 2008
By Russell Baillie

He called our Dame Kiri a "cool b****", described his gift pounamu pendant as a "foetus surfboard" and said we were getting the same show as Hobart because they couldn't afford to fly the band there either.

But if Rufus Wainwright risked sounding in print like he wasn't here to make friends, the New York-based singer-songwriter did quite the opposite in his marvellous and sold-out first New Zealand appearance.

He's the second Wainwright through town in recent times, having been preceded by his singer-songwriter sister Martha and followed by his funny folk-singing father Loudon III in a couple of weeks

But unlike those of his mainly solo acoustic relatives, Wainwright's albums have often relied on some extravagant gestures. Early on he admitted he wouldn't be playing some of the songs off last year's Release the Stars due to his lack of band.

But Wainwright and his voice accompanied by his elegant piano playing or guitar worked out just fine, especially as his depressing - his words - ballads were nicely countered with his between song patter. Opera fanatic Rufus did say that about Kiri out of admiration. Oh and even if his famous folk-singing mother Kate McGarrigle remembers NZ was being "awful" from the time she was here, he thought things had obviously improved.

Anyway, thankfully the comedy didn't overtake the music which reminded that while Wainwright is a stand-out artist for being an openly gay who's won a following from both teams, his music songs mix up his classical training, his operatic leanings, his Leonard Cohen-esque lyrics and his ear for a good tune to beguiling effect.

Wainwright'set still had a backbone of pared-back Release the Stars songs like his political ode to America Going to A Town ("You took advantage of a world that loved you well") but also stretched back through his ten year career and beyond - an early highlight was the tender The Maker Makes from Brokeback Mountain.

It might have a lacked a little momentum with the emphasis on the heavy hearted numbers. But with Wainwright's resounding tenor proving a thing of power and beauty live, it was some enchanted evening.


Review of Rufus Wainwright at Norwood Town Hall, Adelaide. (Obviously not a big enough venue for the huge opening number of the other shows!) But this is a GREAT review just the same ... good job, Belinda!

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0...5-16601,00.html

February 08, 2008 04:20pm

HE CAME, he sang, he conquered. Read BELINDA JACKSON's exclusive review of Rufus Wainright's performance at the Norwood Concert Hall last night.
STARS: 4.5
IN SHORT: Uplifting, poignant, camp.

THE WASH UP: HE stepped out on stage in a suit. A striped suit, spattered in enormous, glittering brooches, one nipping in the waist of the jacket against his bare chest. Rufus Wainwright let his long fringe fall forward as he sat at the grand piano for one moment, then tossed his hair back and opened his only Adelaide concert with his trademark thrilling vocals and the first track of his 2003 Want One album, Oh What a World.


Wainwright’s voice translated effortlessly to live performance, even performing one track, an Irish ballad, unplugged, and the entire band moved as easily between their many instruments as well as providing back-up vocals. The line-up on stage comprised a three-man horn section, drums, double bass/electric bass, guitar and finally, electric guitar played by musical director Gerry Leonard.


Lush and evocative composition, with layers of vocals, percussion and a healthy dose of French horn, Wainwright and his band played against a backdrop of a metaphoric American flag, with black and white stripe instead of red and white, and instead of stars, the flag was studded with enormous, sparkling brooches similar to those dotting the musicians.


“The black and white stripes signify everything that’s terrible with America, the brooches are everything faaabulous,” Wainwright explained at the end of his song ‘Going to a Town’ where he breathes the refrain, “I’m so tired of America”.


“I don’t know who isn’t sick of America, with all these damned elections,” the 34-year-old Canadian-American murmured to the crowd. “Why should you care about it?”


If anyone was deeply caring about Super Tuesday, they didn’t bother piping up at this point. That’s not to say the tone of the concert was completely flippant. ‘Matinee Idol’ was written for River Phoenix, the young Hollywood actor who overdosed on heroin and cocaine in 1993, and Wainwright paid homage to Heath Ledger, whose funeral took place in Perth yesterday (Saturday), the same day as Wainwright’s WA concert.


In fact, the evening was riddled with poignant moments, but just before it slid into maudlin self-indulgence, Wainwright would use his considerable wit and charm to pull all our spirits up. With his languid and vaguely naughty patter, we indulged his bad Tasmanian jokes (they’d performed at Wrest Point Casino in Hobart the night before) and played along with him.


“Now. We’re going to play charades,” he announced at one point. We all giggled with anticipation. “It’s a sort of musical interpretation of ‘Streetcar Named Desire.’ You can be Stanley and I, I’ll be Stella,” before performing ‘I’m Not Ready to Love’ from his latest album, ‘Release the Stars’.


This is a performer with a strong taste for dramatics, as witnessed by the competition run beforehand where the audience was asked to send in their best rendition of the spoken word component of the song ‘Between My Legs’. The winner in Adelaide was Bev, a middle-aged fan who moved enthusiastically on stage and stepped up to perform with Rufus without a trace of stage fright.


The second half of the show saw Rufus take the stage with a new costume – brown suede lederhosen, a black shirt, long beige socks and patent leather shoes. The lederhosen were inspired by time spent in Berlin, where he recorded his most recent album, ‘Release the Stars’. “Some people go to Berlin to get more cutting edge, I went and started wearing lederhosen and going to visit baroque palaces,” he says on his official site.


He pirouetted to delighted applause, and launched into a set that included Gershwin’s “A Foggy Day (in London Town)” and Noel Coward covers. It looked like the night was slowing down before he ramped it back up with the rocky ‘Beautiful Child’, which had the crowd bouncing in its seats.


In the last song of the set, each musician gradually left the stage, Wainwright first, and the three horns departing together, leaving just one musician, guitarist Cameron Greider, who took his sunglasses off for the first time that night, and wandered the stage, enthralling us with just a single banjo.


Eventually, he too walked into the wings, after flipping his plectrum joyfully into the crowd. There was darkness while the crowd stomped and clapped, then the band leaped back on stage, Wainwright emerging last, swathed in an enormous white, fluffy bathrobe. Was that a jewelled cravat peeping out at the neck?


He took his position back at the grand piano, took us through another few songs, and the entire concert hall was transfixed on a man in terry-toweling, in a single spotlight. He finished, we applauded, and a single stool was brought to the front of the stage.


He sat down, like a beautiful (and much taller) version of the 70s comedian Ronnie Corbett , as if to talk to us. But instead of saying a word, he took from a pocket an enormous, eye-blinding ring, and slipped it on one finger. He paused. He took another enormous piece of bling, and slipped it on another. Paused. Reached for equally enormous earrings, and clipped those on, too. Unearthed a lipstick. Then, without mirror, slowly drew a blood-red cupid’s bow on his lips and slipped the largest pair of black heels on his feet. The crowd oooohed breathlessly.


He stood up as the band tumbled, literally, back onto the stage in tuxedos, and, sheltered by one to protect his modesty, turned away from us, and dropped the bathrobe to reveal his final costume of the night: a black tux jacket that grazed the tops of his thighs and the longest, most elegant pair of legs encased in shimmering black pantyhose.


The audience squealed, and he launched into the vibrantly camp Judy Garland number, ‘Get Happy’, with a slapstick Munroe-and-men (Think ‘Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend’) dance routine. It’s hard to describe Wainwright’s music. Here are some genres that have been bandied about: cabaret, operatic pop, indie, rock… What is for sure is that by the end of the night, the 800-strong crowd was, to a person, completely charmed.













http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?Men...ContentID=57973

Perth Review ... last show, what a bloody triumphant tour.

(another super photo right here, if you click on the link. They must have been SO tired. That is a bloody hard show to do, to the highest standard, night after night).



Versatile showman a one-off wonder

11th February 2008, 8:00 WST


It’s hard to imagine anyone matching the polish and original virtuosity of Rufus Wainwright in concert.

On Saturday night, Wainwright and his seven-piece band, including an impressive brass section, walked on stage to woo and astonish the predictably packed Concert Hall audience.

Interestingly, the backdrop was a giant stars and stripes, but this American flag was a black-and-white version of the stripes (to represent all the horror and the bad things about America, he later told the audience) while the stars were remodelled as different crystal-like flakes (to represent all the good aspects).

And here, perhaps, was a parallel representation of just two elements of this artist: the vision that is able to see something the same but different and the gentle political aspect that is now apparent in his music (it’s amazing how non-nationalistic a flag can be when you change its colours.)

Dressed in a white suit with signature glitter badges, using a type of snatch and grab costume-throughout-the-ages style, Wainwright took fans on a trip through numbers influenced by opera, chamber music and vaudevillian show tunes, with even a tiny bit of folk influence thrown in.

Early numbers in the show were from his latest, self-produced Release The Stars album, which came out last year. It was a big, showy, round sound with Wainwright going from vocals to piano and guitar with effortless style and loose ease. Rules and Regulations, Tiergarten and Sanosoucia were delivered with equal powerfully charged emotion, as was his beautiful ballad Leaving for Paris, which was written for Baz Luhrmann’s movie Moulin Rouge but surprisingly rejected.

And here’s another thing to remember and cherish about Wainwright: no matter how much glitter he wears on his suits, no matter how many disco balls are suddenly set spinning, no matter how much camp and cheese are thrown into the equation, the 34-year-old Canadian American never comes off as anything but deeply genuine.

This was the last Australian concert for Wainwright before he finishes the tour in Los Angeles and New York ­ it’s a Valentine’s Day finale. Having toured in North America, Europe, Asia and the Eastern States before he performed in front of stalwart fans in Perth, the man admitted suffering from jet lag and even stopped suddenly in the middle of the second number of the evening to take it from the top.

It didn’t detract from the night. In fact, it was a reminder of the performer’s generosity in what he gives on stage and how obviously displeased he is with second best.

Knowing a high percentage of the Concert Hall crowd was waiting for the re-emergence of Judy Garland (“I’ll probably be doing bits of Judy for the rest of my life”) at some point in the evening, the final number was an absolute blast. Wainwright slipped out of a white towelling robe (as if he had rushed from the dressing room to perform the encore that the crowd was holding out for) into lipstick and stilettos for Get Happy with the band in tuxedos running about the stage in an approximation of an old-time Hollywood musical.

It was sublime and left you wondering if there is anything musically or performance wise the guy can’t do. A quick hand clap here for the band: they exchanged and interplayed vocals and instruments with an athletic precision that ensured a top quality night.

This was Rufus Wainwright’s first visit to Perth. You’ve got to hope he comes back soon.

Rufus Wainwright
Perth Concert Hall
Review: Helen Crompton

and an article from The Times. All I can say is


http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol...icle3205136.ece

From The Times
January 18, 2008



Rufus Wainwright, Judy Garland and that rainbow



Rufus Wainwright is tickled that his Judy Garland CD may scoop a Brit Award

Sophie Heawood

It’s hard to imagine Bruce Springsteen dressing up as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, or the rapper Kanye West singing Zing Went the Strings of My Heart. Michael Bublé’s dulcet voice is rarely heard discussing gay rights, and the hip-hop producer Timbaland tends not to bring his mother on stage for a duet of Somewhere over the Rainbow. So it’s funny to see all four artists sharing this week’s nomination for Best International Male at the Brit Awards with Rufus Wainwright, who has done all of the above and more in homage to Judy Garland.

“Only in England could Kanye West be sandwiched between Bruce Springsteen and me in the same category,” Wainwright giggles down a phone line on his way to Tokyo for his world tour.

Of course, Wainwright, 34, has released five albums of his own critically acclaimed music, but his biggest project to date, and what no doubt got him nominated, is his recreation of Garland’s legendary 1961 Carnegie Hall concert, which is released on CD on Monday.

“I didn’t want to mimic her but I do try and summon her a little bit. I imagine myself with pigtails and the gingham skirt, or with the Meet Me in St Louishat on, grabbing the guy’s sleeve on the trolley. When I was a little kid my favourite outfit was this little apron that I used to dance around in, pretending to be Dorothy, with a little lamb called Toto. I was like, ‘Let’s go to Oz!’ ” The more serious side of Garland’s songs hit him only in the aftermath of September 11, though, when Wainwright, who grew up in Canada, was living in New York. He watched America turn from victim into aggressor, “and destroy everything in its path. It was such a tragedy to watch that shift. Not that I was expecting America to roll over and take it – but I do feel that it could have been so different, so much wiser.”





Related Links

Rufus Wainwright: Live at Carnegie Hall
Exclusive video: Why Rufus Wainwright took on Judy Garland
Rufus, Judy and that rainbow

And then, one day, he put on the Judy Garland album of songs from that show. “I was instantly reminded of how fabulous America can be; of how much hope it has imbued throughout the world. And also how sophisticated the record was, whether it’s the songs, the arrangements or the set list, going from a big-band number to this little piano song. So that record was where I kept my secret love of America, in that safe little treasure chest with a little American flag, waving, amid this big angry Canadian polar bear. And I realised that I had to spread the word.”

And so he began the mammoth task of recreating her show, with full orchestra, in London, Paris, Carnegie Hall in New York and Los Angeles. I met up with Wainwright at his LA performance last year, chosen as the finale because he wanted to “put [Garland] to rest where she was her most beautiful and effervescent”. The glamorous audience brought picnics and champagne to watch Wainwright stand on his rainbow-shaped stage. After struggling with the demands of San Francisco, he conquered his voice with a truly spellbinding rendition of In London Town.

His family – mother Kate McGarrigle and sister Martha – and Garland’s daughter Lorna Luft all made dazzling appearances too, and Luft later told me that Wainwright had brought her mother’s music to a whole new audience. Yet her half-sister, Liza Minnelli, didn’t want anything to do with the show.

“Liza is very dubious of anything regarding her mother,” Wainwright explains. “I think she spent so much energy defining herself, and successfully so, that she can’t really afford to go there. But she’ll come around, I think, once the record comes out and it’s very successful – and I can pay for dinner, ha-ha.”

There was also opposition from Wainwright’s own family initially – his father (the folk singer Loudon Wainwright III) and mother were both concerned that the project might be professional suicide.

“Their knee-jerk reaction was that I would marginalise myself and be regarded as this gay anomaly. In the Fifties and Sixties, if you were a Judy Garland fan you were a homosexual and you were also doomed and tragic. Judy was a refuge from the straight world, but also a bit of a trap. But that was really on the heels of one of the most profound civil rights shifts in the history of the world, Stonewall, when homosexuals said: ‘We’re here, we’re queer and we need freedom’.

“Then once I started singing the songs, there was this obvious . . .” he affects a self-mocking luvvie voice, “as Jeremy Irons said after seeing the show, ‘a strange kind of relationship to the material’ that occurs when I sing it. I can’t quite believe how well it’s all worked out.” The Brit Awards will be televised live on ITV 1 on Feb 20 at 8pm.







­

Glad you had a great time Stuff! One of these days I'll read it all, so no questions until then!
Must check him out at Youtube too.

Don't worry about it ... you will if you want to

How was Shepparton?

There were lots of other things I was going mention but I got dizzy and the list I had in my head has evaporated

He has beautiful hands. We got a great view of him at the piano at the first show ... had row A, which is normally front row but they had the "pack 'em in seats" set up in the orchestra pit this time. So, we had the big main aisle in front of us and were on the centre aisle of the left hand block ... only 4 seats on the left hand bit on Row A. Excellent view, though I got distracted by all the photographers running up and down in front of us during the first 15 minutes or so.

The second night I was on the extreme right hand side, on the second row, where there wasn't actually anyone in front of me, so it was like front row. I've had that seat before, so I knew what it would be like, I sold better seats, but I decided to keep that one so I could get out quickly if I needed to. I'm glad I got it from both sides but when he played the grand piano with the lid down I couldn't see his face, only his legs! Even with the lid up, I couldn't see his hands! But he wasn't at the piano all the time, was out the front most of the time, is no guitarist by his own admission, but strums very nicely! It was still a great spot FOR ME!

Anyway, couldn't resist this article The DVD is better. He should have got the nomination for the Release the Stars CD.

I remember watching (well, it was on TV and I was there!) Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall in 1961. Not exactly my scene at the time, to say the least ... I just remember thinking she was a bit odd I didn't even see The Wizard of Oz till years later, when we bought the deluxe version of the video for my daughter when she was about 5!

She isn't really my cuppa, but I appreciate her much more now I'm grown up and know her background etc. Rufus is right in saying that he's bringing her songs to a whole new generation. No, he doesn't sound like her, doesn't even try thank goodness. But I know I would never have listened to any of these songs again if he hadn't taken up the challenge.

I'm rabitting .... here's the article ... good ole Daily Mail


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...in_page_id=1889


Rufus Wainwright: The little drama boy

By LOUISE GANNON - Last updated at 16:20pm on 15th February 2008





Extravagance and ego pushed flamboyant singer Rufus Wainwright to the edge. Now the decadence is over: he's ready to save Britney, hire Elton as his accountant - and win the Best Male Brit Award

The rain in Los Angeles is unseasonably heavy, and the long drive to meet one of the music industry's most colourful figures, Rufus Wainwright, is getting bleaker and bleaker by degrees.

Miles out of town, we pull up in the car lot of a giant industrial complex and are directed to a vast, anonymous, stainless-steel aircraft hanger.

The metal door cranks open and reveals a scene straight out of a Hollywood movie.


Inside is a vast orchestra made up of Hollywood hippies, New Orleans originals and a smattering of perfectly suited and booted cellists, pianists and trombonists.

They look as if they have stepped straight out of an afternoon shift with the London Philharmonic.

In the midst of them all is the handsome, rumpled figure of Rufus Wainwright, concentrating fiercely as he belts out the Judy Garland number Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart.

It is an unexpected moment of pure Tinseltown magic.

As his final note rings out, Wainwright starts to cough dramatically.

"Was that terrible?" he gasps. Then adds: "Oh God, I'm just so dreadful. But you all have to say that I'm wonderful or else I'll just be a nightmare."

Wainwright, who is nominated for best International Male at the Brit Awards on Wednesday, is one of the most dramatic performers you will ever meet.

As the 34-year-old throws himself down on to an old sofa in a makeshift dressing room – complete with wonky clothes rail and a Formica table, he raises an eyebrow: "One of?" he says. "I'd change that to the most…"

Described by Robbie Williams as "the talent I want to turn into," he comes from a royal family of folk musicians (his mother is Kate McGarrigle and his father is Loudon Wainwright III).

He has been befriended by artists from Elton John to Debbie Harry and Neil Tennant, but his career almost ended because of his addiction to class-A drugs, which led to rehab in 2002.

He has recorded music for a slew of movies including Moulin Rouge, Brokeback Mountain and Shrek, as well as appearing in the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous.

Last year, he embarked on a series of concerts paying tribute to Judy Garland. "Judy appeared to me to give me her blessing for the show," he says.

"When I had just started doing rehearsals for Rufus Does Judy, I came out of the first big orchestra session in New York and I went home on my own.

"As I was sitting relaxing, I suddenly experienced this horrific feeling of loneliness and exhaustion.

"I felt that Judy's aura had come down and enveloped me in a kind of tomb. It sounds crazy but she was definitely present.

"It was very brief but it was a sort of out-of-body emotional experience. I know it was her way of giving me her blessing to do the show.

"Sadly her daughter, Liza Minnelli, doesn't feel the same way. When I told her I would be doing this show she was horrified. She wanted nothing to do with it. I think she finds anything to do with her mother still so difficult.

I haven't seen her since. But in the show I dedicate I Can't Give You Anything But Love to her."

Wainwright's conversation is littered with similarly startling claims; he is possibly more entertaining off stage than on ("Well obviously") and an artist who would be right up there with the Eltons and the Robbies had he not overindulged so much when he first came to the attention of record companies ten years ago.

Emotionally, Wainwright often veers somewhere between huge vanity and great humility.

"I'm not where I should be. But that's my fault. I always knew I was going to be the biggest star in the world.

"But somehow I let so much other personal stuff get in the way – the usual cocktail of drugs, sex and ego.

"My first albums [Rufus Wainwright and Poses] were huge critical successes and I started to have a taste of the fame I had always craved.

"I handled it in my own way – by being as extreme as possible and collecting as many vices as I possibly could.

"I liked the combination of the gutter and the stars a bit too much and I felt it was almost my duty as an artist to be as debauched as possible.

"It makes for an interesting back catalogue of anecdotes but it's not a great career move," he says boldly.

"I have earned hundreds of thousands of pounds but I can't seem to get to grips with money.

"I am ridiculously high-maintenance.

"The money men at record companies start shaking when my name comes up because every project I do is so extravagant.

"The Judy Garland event involved lots of very expensive orchestras and lots of travel.

"Every video I do is over budget by the time I walk on set. I am massively extravagant in my personal habits.

"I have never cooked a meal in my life and always end up paying for dozens of people to eat with me.

"I buy gifts relentlessly. Elton John is constantly telling me off about my spending. I'm thinking of giving him a job as my accountant. He would be brilliant."

Just two days later Wainwright is psyching himself up for his final performance of his Judy Garland show at the Hollywood Bowl.

The atmosphere is charged.

There are Judy fans, Wainwright fans and hundreds of well-heeled Californians pouring champagne and eating picnics in the exclusive little boxes dotted around the stage.

Of course, he has managed to pull in several stars. Drew Barrymore is in the audience chatting to Jake Gyllenhaal.

Dita Von Teese arrives as the dusk takes hold and Judy Garland's other daughter Lorna Luft looks delighted, as she is to appear on stage with Wainwright for a celebratory song.

Dressed in jeans and a pale lemon open-neck shirt, his look is dandy meets downtown LA.

His mother and sister are both here and will also both perform on stage, although his family relations have proved as complex as the rest of his life.

"My earliest memory is my mum packing all our stuff into a van and leaving my dad.

"My parents were big folk singers, but they couldn't live together and there was a lot of bad feeling.

"My family, being like they are, have this need to express their emotions through songs, however vicious and tortured those feelings are. My sister Martha and I have done the same.

"You can find out a lot about love and hate in our family by reading our lyrics. We've all said and sung some pretty horrible things, but we're still all there for each other when it counts. That says something I guess."

Watching Wainwright is rather like watching a Shakespearean actor go through a facial warm-up.

He is big on expressions.

He flits from deep brooding to huge laughing and as he tells a story he pulls faces of joy, terror or sadness.

He is the master of creating an immediate intimacy and, due to his love of words, is a brilliant conversationalist, even when he is describing the darker memories that still haunt him; and one particularly awful one, being raped in Hyde Park at the age of 14.

Wainwright was visiting his father, who lived in London at the time, when he was picked up by a man after visiting a bar alone.

"I escaped by pretending to have an epileptic seizure," he says.

"It was horribly traumatic. I stopped having sex afterwards for years and didn't deal with how I felt for more than a decade.

"I toured with Tori Amos, who was raped herself, and every night after her show she would have these sessions for rape victims.

"I resisted getting involved for weeks and then I just started to talk to Tori about it.

"It was a terrible thing to happen but I haven't let it ruin my life. In a way it forced me to look at myself and go through all these emotions."

One of the reasons musicians like him so much is because he is a flawed hero.

"There's nothing like squandering opportunity to make you know exactly what to do the next time," he says.

He thinks he is now in a position to reach out to others whose lives are going off the rails.

"For example, Britney Spears has a strange fascination for me," he says.

"Right now, I think I'm probably the one person who can really help her.

"I've been in clubs when she has been there and I get these taps on the back from various members of her posse who tell me that she wants an audience with me.

"Each time we've both just stood and stared at each other in silence for a long time and then I walk away.

"For Britney it's probably just another mad episode in her out-of-control life. She is the product of Dark Disney and she needs help. No one seems to be giving her much right now."

Wainwright knows what it's like to go off the rails.

Like Britney, he too got almost to the point of no turning back.

"It's very easy to keep going down the dark roads, particularly once you get into that mindset.

"There has to be something big, someone enormous to make you stop. Something has to happen first; something really bad." He pauses.

"And then the journey back to sanity, back to normality is pretty tough."

It is because of his own experience that Wainwright is desperate not to waste his chances all over again. Watch him as he prepares to perform and yes, you see a diva, but you also see a perfectionist.

On certain songs he insists on repeating bars over and over again until he is sure they are right.

"I'm ready, willing and able to go for world domination," he says with a smile.

"Actually, I'm just ready to work hard and do what I need to do."

Music is everything in his life.

There's folk, there's Judy, there's rock – and there's opera, possibly his greatest passion of all.

"If I could be anything I would be an opera star," he says.

"I love opera, I want to write an opera.

"Everything about the world of opera has always held such a huge appeal to me. It's the grandness of the emotions and the beauty of the music. Listening to it can completely transport me to another world."

At the Brits, Wainwright will be in his element.

Mika, who is expected to walk away with several awards, is one of his most obsessive fans.

But whoever wins, one thing is certain: whichever after-show party he goes to, Wainwright will be the one holding court.

Rufus Wainwright's album "Live At Carnegie Hall" is out now on Universal.