Rufus Wainwright is ___________

… a damn fine musician.
Does the guy sing anything bad? He is a diva to his core and loves allowing his voice to fill a room to the brim. His songwriting is interesting and his lyrics are socially relevant without sounding preachy or self righteous.

… bat-shit crazy.
When he came out in a bathrobe for the encore, I didn’t know what to expect. When he sat down in the front of the stage and started putting jewelery and lipstick on, I got a better indication. There was lots of prancing around in high heals, and the band looked like they were having a great time as the backup dancers. Luckily, it was only for the encore. Any more, I would have felt like I was at a bad broadway show. It was the perfect amount of weirdness.

… a good showmen.
The banter throughout the show was really funny and enduring. He knows how to put on a show. He sang an Irish tune with the horn section and bass player, sans the microphone. He played keyboard, guitar, and walked…. err, strutted across the stage like he owned the place. One of the last tunes was in French and took me to another place.

… a great singer.
A really great singer.

the others
I saw Sean Lennon last winter at Neumos and was really impressed. I was hoping this show would be equal to that. Unfortunately they came out and Seans’ microphone was only going through the monitors and not through the mains. They played the first song and nobody could hear the vocals. They eventually got it taken care of and continued the set. They played about 4 or 5 songs, one of which was a 10 minute instrumental. I would have liked to hear them play for 20 more minutes.

A Fine Frenzy opened up the show up and was decent. The lead-lady was very cute on stage. She had funny banter, a wonderful voice, good keyboard voicing, and was very easy on the eyes. I was disappointed by the rest of the band. I felt like they were afraid to turn up and fill the room. I couldn’t hear the keyboard player at all. I liked the drummer’s paired down drum set, but I only heard him break-out once and play with some, ummm, ka-putz (?).

Overall, it was pretty apparent to see that it was the first show on the tour. Lots of little things that weren’t quite there. Rufus’ band was by far the tightest, but they will sound phenomenal in in about 5-10 more shows.

I’d definitely check out this show again. Maybe they should call the tour: the sons of rock royalty.