It's an extraordinarily warm feeling to see a mature and still wondrous Rufus Wainwright live.
He performed in all his glory at Dame Elisabeth Murdoch Hall at Melbourne Recital Centre on a warm night (11 January), with amazing local band Folk Bitch Trio as his support act.With a lovely piece of bling brooch on the lapel of his jacket, and after seating himself at the perfectly-tuned piano with his perfectly-tuned voice, Rufus delivered his songs and the songs of others, offered up with humanity and certainty. His voice is possibly now even more capable of holding the long notes as well as he was when we first met him as a beautiful young thing.
A born storyteller, his commentary and tales between songs were funny, human and kind. For those who know, the stories of his famous family were measured and treasured in his telling.
For those who do not know, I encourage you to seek out the McGarriigle family, Martha Wainwright and Loudon Wainwright III. This family is an actual Coat Of Arms of musical tradition.
Rufus was born into a family of truth tellers and singers, and he is renowned for telling his own truths so well, in a time when many gay men were silenced.
The songs and stories of his life and of his homelands in the US and Canada are utterly entrancing and he is possibly the only person on the planet that should sing Leonard Cohen covers. He does them complete and absolute justice.
As a fellow gig goer commented: "Everyone tries to do it, but no one does it better since Leonard left us, and it's practically his birth right. Because he is Rufus."
Magically and genetically blessed with such a powerful and beautiful voice, he is an extremely intuitive musician and there is a subtle mechanism at the heart of his storytelling. Rufus knows when to hit the highs and then go quiet. He just lets those amazing notes rest to allow his audience to feel it; and they do feel it.
Rufus told a story about the current LA fires and then launched straight into 'Going To A Town', which had the audience in tears and received thunderous applause. People, that is what folk music is about; and nobody does it better than Rufus Wainwright.
Folk Bitch Trio were also fine, providing delicate and sensitive backing vocals to the songs 'Hallelujah' (final song of the evening) and Neil Young's classic 'Harvest'.
Note to aspiring artists: Mention your merch! Rufus did it and it was funny and endearing. You've got to self-promote a bit, even if you are a Wainwright.
