Concert review: Rufus Wainwright at the Pabst Theater · Aug 29, 08:36 AM by Don
Rufus Wainwright may not be a platinum-selling artist, but he was a superstar in his own universe Monday night at the Pabst. Walking out with his band, everyone dressed in mismatching crazy quilt formal wear, Wainwright took center stage to sing “Release the Stars.” As the first chorus filled the room, a few dozen audience members brandished stars on sticks given to them by crew members before the show. Corny, sure, but a fun away to get the crowd involved. The song ended and a good chunk of the audience (which included Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick) gave Wainwright a standing ovation. I briefly thought, “Make him earn it, people,” but the singer had fun with all the adulation thrown his way. Later in the set, someone shouted, “RUFUUUUUUUSS,” just as Wainwright sat down at his piano for what would be a soft solo number. Wainwright’s response? “Yes. That’s my name. It gives pleasure when spoken.”
The set list, predictably, focused heavily on the new Release the Stars; every song from the album was performed. This was most likely because the show was being filmed by a crew headed by veteran documentarian Albert Maysles. Want One was well represented and two songs from Want Two were played, including “The Art Teacher,” from Want Two (an Enik favorite). “The Art Teacher” was performed twice; earlier Wainwright had warned that some songs may be played more than once for the sake of the documentary.
Over the course of the evening, Wainwright paid tribute to two important women: his mother, folk legend Kate McGarrigle, and Judy Garland. He performed “Macushla,” a traditional Irish song taught to him by McGarrigle, sans mics to show off the Pabst’s acoustics and his own pipes. He also did three songs popularized by his idol, Judy Garland, including “Get Happy,” which he did in drag (nice gams, Rufus!).
mp3: Rufus Wainwright – Macushla :: ripped from a YouTube video of the song being performed at the Gramercy Theatre in NYC on June 5, 2007
The comedic highlight was “Between My Legs.” Wainwright invited fans onstage to dance. His boyfriend, Jorn, came out from backstage to dance and provided the singer with a boost near the end of the song, but not before prompting one female dancer to play peek-a-boo with Wainwright’s legs. A few lines later a male fan get in on the act. When the Amazonian Jorn climactically lifted his sweetheart, things looked sketchy for a second; but the song ended with no injuries, just laughter and applause. Watch a video of the song:
The final number of the night was the randy, and somehow reverent, “Gay Messiah.” Wainwright makes clear in the song that he is not the messiah, only playing the part of the Baptist a la John. Aligning himself with a biblical figure? Okay, Wainwright’s ego is a wee big, but he projects that ego with humor and generosity. No one was the center of his universe Monday night (not even Jorn), but many played the part of stars.
Rufus Wainwright @ The Pabst Theater, 8/27/07: Release the Stars/Going to a Town/Sanssouci/Rules and Regulations/Tulsa/The Art Teacher/Tiergarten/Leaving for Paris No. 2/Between My Legs/The Art Teacher (take 2)/ – intermission – /Harvester of Hearts/Do I Disappoint You/A Foggy Day (in London Town) (George & Ira Gershwin song popularized by Judy Garland)/If Love Were All (Noel Coward song popularized by Judy Garland)/Nobody’s Off the Hook/Beautiful Child/I’m Not Ready to Love/Slideshow/Macushla (performed twice)/14th Street/Encore: I Don’t Know What It Is/Pretty Things/(French song, title unknown)/Get Happy (Koehler & Arlen song popularized by Judy Garland, performed twice)/Gay Messiah
Read the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel review here.
Read the Shepherd Express review here.
YouTuber and Wainwright acolyte “unugunu” has four videos of the show, including the aforementioned “Between My Legs” video, here.
The photo at the top of this post, taken by “lille,” can be seen in its original full-color uncropped glory here.
“cjfoeckler” has some photos of the show too.
Finally, here’s a perfect song for the end of summer from Wainwright’s mother and aunt:
mp3: Kate & Anna McGarrigle – Swimming Song :: from the sisters’ eponymous debut (1975)
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Songs in the MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 format are offered for a limited time only. Songs that are no longer downloadable from Timedoor can be streamed for several weeks courtesy of Hype Machine’s Timedoor Pop-up Flash Player. Dead mp3 links take you to the top of page one.
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Oh, thanks for the review! It was an amazing show! Thanks for linking the YouTube vids I put up too – everybody needs to see the amazingness (sorry for my lack of vocabulary, but there really isn’t any other way to describe it!) that was Between My Legs that night.
Can’t wait to see the final cut of the show on DVD. I’m incredibly anxious. :D
— Jackie Aug 29, 08:54 PM #