LIVE AT THE BARBICAN CENTRE - RUFUS WAINWRIGHT
The last time Rufus Wainwright played at the Barbican Centre, he was supporting his mother and aunt, at the tender age of about 20. “The audience hated me.” He remembers, “But they liked my jacket!” Now it’s up to a younger, less well-known member of the Wainwright-McGarrigle dynasty to open the show once again. Rufus’s sister Martha may not have the flashy jacket (or, it seems, the bra), but she certainly has the voice to live up to the occasion. Throwing caution to the wind, she leaps straight in with the lyrical fury of “Bloody Motherfucking Asshole” (soon to be released on Drowned In Sound), her voice cutting through the venue like a beautifully deadly knife. Seemingly much shyer onstage alone than with her family, Martha shifts awkwardly from foot to foot, stumbling over her words between songs, but this doesn’t soften the impact of her music at all; the haunting “Year of the Dragon” and a melodically melancholy new song, containing the refrain “I have lost so many friends” the highlights of her sadly short set.
I say sad but (and no disrespect whatsoever to Martha) everyone of course wants Rufus to get to the stage as soon, and play as long, as possible. After all, this is the first time he’s brought a full band to the UK, the first time much of Want One is to be showcased on these shores. Easing the crowd in perhaps a little too slowly with the soft refrain of “L’Absence”, any fidgeting is soon cut short by the rousing introduction of “14th Street”.
The stage is filled by guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, drummer, and the incredibly talented backing singers, Joan Wasser and Martha, who add guitar and, in Joan’s case, violin. With all this, how could “Want One” not be brought to life in all its glorious technicolour? Okay, so there’s a little lost in the way of intimacy, so Rufus keeps his between song banter to a minimum, but that’s a small price to pay for what is gained musically. It’s not just the newer songs that receive the full treatment for the first time over here - the stirring “Go Or Go Ahead” is soon followed by a jaunty re-vamp of “Matinee Idol” from Rufus’ first, self-titled, album. Some songs are merely added to from the acoustic versions: with a little backing, “Want” soars even above those dreamy realms it inhabited previously, while “Beautiful Child”, a song I was never overly keen on either on record or live acoustically, becomes, well, beautiful!
Still, despite his fewer comments, Rufus has lost nothing of his sense of humour. It being close to Halloween, for the first encore of “Oh What A World”, the entire band return to the stage resplendent in witches’ cloaks and hats, melting down to the ground at the finale, Wizard of Oz style. Beautiful, funny, haunting, melodic, miserable - even political (he dedicates “Gay Messiah” to John Kerry) - Rufus somehow manages to combine everything into one show. Does the man have no faults these days?!
Set-list: L’Absence/14th Street/Harvester of Hearts/Movies of Myself/Natasha/Go Or Go Ahead/Pretty Things/Matinee Idol/11:11/Vibrate/Memphis Skyline/Hallelujah/Gay Messiah/Want/Greek Song/I Don’t Know What It Is/Dinner At Eight/Beautiful Child/ Encore 1Oh What A World/Cigarettes & Chocolate Milk Encore 2California/In My Arms
