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Rufus Wainwright at Penn
Metrosexual unbound
LEWIS WHITTINGTON
Rufus Wainwright is one of those rare singers who sing better in concert than on recordings. His nasally voice and run-together lyrics are an acquired taste, yet with each CD release, Wainwright’s popularity grows. In live performance, he knows how to make the most of what he’s got, so all he needs is a guitar or piano— not the panoply of technical illusions many singers now rely on.
Jetlagged from Paris, Wainwright seemed très metrosexual for his sellout Penn performance at Irvine Auditorium, proving what a crossover success he is, since stylistically he is closer to Hank Williams than current campus faves like My Chemical Romance or the Killers.
Wainwright’s breakout hit CD, “Poses,” lyrically expressed all of his themes; and his autobiographical “Want One” and “Want Two”— chronicling his openly gay life as a rock star, substance abuser and celebrity punk— not only made him a gay diva but tapped the Byronic college crowd as well. Straight college women love Rufus: He is the gay man they want to sleep with anyway, and straight males want to know his secret.
In concert, Wainwright essays his latest hit, “The Maker Makes,” from Brokeback Mountain, into a baleful broken heart of a balladeer. Later in his crisp phrasing on “Pearls of China” and “11:11,” he demonstrates the jaded luster of a cabaret performer warbling art songs. Yet he can equally hold his own all swagger, brandishing an acoustic guitar and sounding a like a liberated Ricky Nelson.
Wainwright’s recent recreation of Judy Garland’s legendary Carnegie Hall concert— in Carnegie Hall itself— seemed completely pretentious: Outside of Jimmy James even most grand drag divas don‘t attempt Garland‘s iconic specter. But in fact Wainwright can belt out a song just like Garland, as he demonstrated in his Irvine show. After 90 minutes onstage his voice seemed even more forceful: You had the sense that he (like Garland) could have gone on all night.
Wainwright may be taking another page from Garland as he matures, laughing at himself one minute for forgetting lyrics, then turning the quietude of a ballad like Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” into a soaring inspirational the next.
LEWIS WHITTINGTON
Rufus Wainwright is one of those rare singers who sing better in concert than on recordings. His nasally voice and run-together lyrics are an acquired taste, yet with each CD release, Wainwright’s popularity grows. In live performance, he knows how to make the most of what he’s got, so all he needs is a guitar or piano— not the panoply of technical illusions many singers now rely on.
Jetlagged from Paris, Wainwright seemed très metrosexual for his sellout Penn performance at Irvine Auditorium, proving what a crossover success he is, since stylistically he is closer to Hank Williams than current campus faves like My Chemical Romance or the Killers.
Wainwright’s breakout hit CD, “Poses,” lyrically expressed all of his themes; and his autobiographical “Want One” and “Want Two”— chronicling his openly gay life as a rock star, substance abuser and celebrity punk— not only made him a gay diva but tapped the Byronic college crowd as well. Straight college women love Rufus: He is the gay man they want to sleep with anyway, and straight males want to know his secret.
In concert, Wainwright essays his latest hit, “The Maker Makes,” from Brokeback Mountain, into a baleful broken heart of a balladeer. Later in his crisp phrasing on “Pearls of China” and “11:11,” he demonstrates the jaded luster of a cabaret performer warbling art songs. Yet he can equally hold his own all swagger, brandishing an acoustic guitar and sounding a like a liberated Ricky Nelson.
Wainwright’s recent recreation of Judy Garland’s legendary Carnegie Hall concert— in Carnegie Hall itself— seemed completely pretentious: Outside of Jimmy James even most grand drag divas don‘t attempt Garland‘s iconic specter. But in fact Wainwright can belt out a song just like Garland, as he demonstrated in his Irvine show. After 90 minutes onstage his voice seemed even more forceful: You had the sense that he (like Garland) could have gone on all night.
Wainwright may be taking another page from Garland as he matures, laughing at himself one minute for forgetting lyrics, then turning the quietude of a ballad like Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” into a soaring inspirational the next.
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