Yesterday morning, I got a text message from Lewis asking what I was planning to do that evening. When I said I had no plans, he invited me to see Rufus Wainwright at the Fillmore Auditorium that very evening. The tickets were already bought (his roommate, who was supposed to have gone, could not get the night off from work), and I am the next logical choice.
I had heard a couple of his tracks before (Lewis had played them for me) and I was impressed with his spot-on vocals and the strength of his voice. I compare him favorably to Andrew Bird, one of my favorite indie artists.
Well, I was totally unprepared for the sheer awesomeness that is Rufus.
Opening for him were two bands: A Fine Frenzy, headed by a charming young woman in a flower-print dress playing piano and singing with a very Tori-esque tone; and Sean Ono Lennon, the talentless hack son of one of the greatest musical geniuses of our era. I could’ve done totally without Sean–spent most of his set outside, in fact, smoking. It’s as though he took all the great qualities of his father and (vainly) attempted to morph them into a modern sound. It was not totally offensive, but Acid Rock has been done before, by better men.
Rufus, however… Oh, lord, what an awesome show. He’s got the “live performance” thing down pat. Unlike some artists who just show up and perform, live, the songs on the album they’re attempting to hawk, Rufus went out of his way to make it a unique and thoroughly enjoyable show. Not just performing the tracks everyone knew, but also doing a bit of Judy Garland (in drag, no less) and refreshing my memory of the grand song from Moulin Rouge called Complainte de la Butte, which is a delightful French folk song written in 1954 by Georges Van Parys.
If you get the chance to see him on this tour, you have my blessings. Particularly since Sean won’t be travelling with him anymore (his last show on this tour was last night). And if you can get your hands on some music by A Fine Frenzy, do so. I am optimistic that we’ll be hearing more from them.