Hi all... I too was at this concert, at the historic Wilshire-Ebell Theater in LA a week ago Friday. Wow indeed. His first real headlining tour, Rufus was more brilliant and vocally more perfect than I've ever heard him. I was at 6 of the shows on this tour. I too said 'hi' to Loudon in the lobby, when he got up during intermission to use, yes! the regular Men's RestRoom upstairs! He's such a kick, and so funny. He wouldn't tell me if he was going to join Rufus, Teddy and Martha on "One Man Guy" or not. So ... quel surprise! when he and his ex, Kate, joined their kids for the most amazing rendition of that Irving Berlin song. You could hear a pin drop during the silences. During the break...Kate played the piano, and Loudon and Martha did a little slow 2-step onstage behind Rufus, who smirked, thinking the audience was woo-hoo'ing for him! Jerome...you forgot to mention the final encore! after the family's "What'll I Do?", Kate and Rufus came back out. Now remember, the historic Wilshire-Ebell has played host to many many amazing musicians over the years, including the late great Judy Garland. So...it was with such wonderful and appropriate magic that Kate accompanied her son on the piano, as he sang one of, if not THE most beautiful version of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" I have ever heard. A lot of the audience had wept during "What'll I Do?" and ... we continued to weep during "Rainbow...". What a night! Such beauty. One of the highlights was his outfit! This suit! satin, and fitted matching jacket and pants, charcoal black with little white "#" marks all over it, with a satin shirt underneath of diagonal black and white stripes. Gorgeous! All of his Dreamworks Music label people were in the audience too, so the show was the most polished and seamless of any on this tour (I've been to 6). Dame Edna Everidge was in attendance as well, since...she is now in the cast of the TV show 'Ally McBeal', and ...on April 15, Loudon will guest appear as ....her LOVE interest! (Rufus said when he announced this factoid to us back east a week earlier: "so ...I guess my dad is gay after all.." <chuckle>. He loves to poke fun at his dad.
The 4 of them, Kate, Loudon, Rufus and Martha had performed "What'll I Do?" in New York, about a year ago, and also...at Kate's mom/Rufus's grandmother's funeral. SO very touching! For those of you with the capability, a friend of a friend took a 30 second digital video with her cooler-than-cool digital camera, of one of Rufus' encores... him doing the song he covered for the film "Big Daddy", called "Instant Pleasure", which was absolutely fabulous (to use the "f" word). Download and watch it from here: http://homepage.mac.com/richardsfgoldperson It's a gem. Rufus has oft named Joni Mitchell as one of his primary songwriting influences, and he too is truly one of the great singer/songwriters of our age, a brilliant young genius, in this fans opinion. We'll hopefully see great things from him in the future. I attended the 2 shows up here in San Francisco as well. Kate McGarrigle made it to both of them. Martha was the opening act for the 2nd show, and she is a fantastic chanteuse in her own right: truly amazing. Rufus joined her on one duet, and Kate joined the 2 of them in a trio, of one of Martha's songs. Martha just shines. Encores here in SF included his first ever song, "Liberty Cabbage" about his ambiguous (or is it ambivalent?) relationship with The United States of America. I *love* this song, coming from a gay person's heart as well. Also, he and Martha did the French version of "Nights of Miami" (Nuits de Miami), which fairly brought down the house both nights. The SF audience was 10 times more enthusiastic than the LA audience, and went apeshit many times, Rufus had to 'shhh..!' us and tell us to "stop already!" a couple of times. Joni would have loved it (I wonder if she was at the LA show - - - many 'celebs' were slid in after lights went down... and before lights went up) Richard in San Francisco - still under the Rufus spell n.p. - 'live' recording of Rufus and Martha singing 'Nuits de Miami' --- >Date: Sat, 09 Mar 2002 00:24:21 -0800 >From: "Jerome ." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Rufus Wainwright in concert (NJC) > >Hey all... > Just returned from a fantastic experience: Rufus Wainwright in concert. A >really funny and talented guy. For a swishy fella, he has a surprisingly >rabid following of young women. Teddy Thompson was the opening act and was >an absolute treat. Teddy is a member of Rufus' touring band so he came back >all of fifteen minutes after his set ended. Also, I literally bumped into >Rufus' dad, Loudon, in the lobby. And Rufus' sister, Martha sings backup. >She's great, too. Definite highlight was Teddy, Martha, and Rufus trading >verses on the senior Wainwright's "One Man Guy." As Rufus is so fond of >saying, "Fabulous!." Of course, nothing topped the set closer. Rufus and >Martha were joined by Loudon and mother Kate McGarrigle for a stunning >version of "What'll I Do." Wow. Wow. Did I say "wow" already? Anyhow, if >you know anything of Rufus and like what you've heard, check him out. On >more than one occasion, I found myself thinking that Joni herself would >approve-even with all of her high standards intact. If that doesn't sell >it, I don't know what would. Anyhow, that's all. Hope everyone's feeling >good. I sure am. > >- -J
