Rufus Wainwright soton guildhall review :: Wessex Scene Online

Rufus Wainwright soton guildhall review

16th November 2004
Thomas Howells

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Dec 05 - Martha Wainwright live at the Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms
Nov 04 - Cherry Falls live at Southampton Joiners
Nov 04 - Electrik at The Venue
Nov 04 - Winnebago Deal and The Tokyo Dragons live at Southampton Joiners
Nov 04 - Dance Review: Sonic Sessions

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Nov 05 - Roadrunner United - The All-Star Sessions

We arrived late to this gig, due to a foolishly late Chinese takeaway, resulting in the missing of all but one song of support act Martha Wainwright’s (yes, Rufus’s sister) set. Think a mix of a sort of female Devendra Banhart, shouting instead of whispering, and PJ Harvey playing neuvo-folk music and you’re getting close, sort of. Hard to tell when you only hear three minutes of music! Quite intense, with some nice French lyrics thrown in, Martha made for an interesting opening and certainly an artist to check out if you’re into that sort of thing. Plus her new ep is called ‘Bloody Mother ***** Arsehole’, so kudos for that.

After an expensive pint and a tshirt purchase, we made our way to our seats in the two thirds full auditorium to await the arrival of Rufus Wainwright. Back when the tour was announced I thought that the Guildhall (which must be around 700 capacity seated, maybe?) would be too big a venue for the artist. Largely unknown in the UK (at least outside of the Guardian/Independent/Times and NME sect), Wainwright’s music is a little too left of center (and, dare I say it, intelligent) to cater to the general public. He may have an epic and theatrical sound, but in my opinion these songs belong in an intimate club, not a cavernous concert hall. But still, Wainwright and his band (also including Martha on backing vocals) put on a fantastic show. Intricate musicianship, soaring vocals and a good choice of tracks spanning all four of his albums (including the imminent Want Two)., though the first half of the set dragged a little, seemingly made up mostly of tracks from Want One and the aforementioned sequel and not helped by the fact that Rufus’ vocals sound identical for a few of the tracks played. Still, a superb ending and encore which included Greek Song, Oh What A World (complete with what appeared to be witch costumes), Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk and the ridiculously catchy California was pretty much unbeatable.

Almost as a bonus, Wainwright holds great presence on stage and converses with the crowd between almost every song, amusingly and topically (‘Now that the republicans are in again, I’ll have to buy a real one’ he quips, in reference to his fake fur collar).

If there is any justice in the world, the release of Want Two will propel Rufus Wainwright further into the public eye and venues like this will be sold out on his next trip.