It could easily have gone so horribly wrong. When Rufus Wainwright’s tour manager appeared on stage to request that there be no applause for the first half of tonight’s show, the announcement was met with a few raised eyebrows and knowing titters. When the singer himself made a protracted grand entrance in a dramatic feathers-and-silk costume, the words “self-indulgent” were heard under more than a few breaths.
Yet somehow, when coupled with the starkest material he’s recorded in years, Wainwright’s strange rule worked. Taking only the briefest of gaps between songs, the intensity of the ultra-personal songs from his new album – performed in sequence – was reinforced by a respectful audience’s silence and eerie visuals by artist Douglas Gordon. From the intricate ‘Who Are You, New York?’ to heartrending closer ‘Zebulon’, his “song-cycle” made for a focused and powerful 45 minutes.
The lack of banter and applause was more than recompensed after an interval, too; here was the other side of Wainwright’s personality, the witty charmer who gives us updates on his family (Martha’s doing great, by the way) and compares the beautiful venue to a “carriage” to rival Vicar St.’s “pumpkin”. Top-heavy with material from his first two albums, the second half of the show saw airings of ‘Beauty Mark’, ‘Grey Gardens’ and ‘Matinee Idol’, while closing with a tribute to his late mother (a rendition of her own ‘The Walking Song’) completed the emotional slaying that was triggered by the poignant ‘Dinner At Eight’.
A masterful display of ambition and talent by an exceptionally gifted musician.