Monday, May 28 2007, 02:13 BST
Rufus Wainwright has done exceptionally well for himself with latest album Release The Stars. Standing proud at number two in the charts on its first week of release, it's the highest charting the Canadian-American has achieved thus far in his career. No doubt his week of sell-out shows at London's eminent Old Vic theatre, beginning with tonight's performance, will only help Wainwright to gain a touch more notoriety amongst the glitterati of the entertainment sphere and those of us who lead rather more humdrum lives.
Although tonight's show wasn't quite as star-packed as Wainwright's recent Palladium shows celebrating Judy Garland were (Sir Ian McKellen, Alan Rickman, Simon Amstell, Richard Wilson, Neil Tennant and Geri Halliwell, to name but a few, were present at those, while those spotted at last night's performance included Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Denise Van Outen and James Lance), the sparkling backdrop, shimmering lights and snazzily dressed band that populated the stage alongside Wainwright more than made up for this.
With a typically lengthy setlist that included a few oldies such as the ever-popular 'Beautiful Child' and 'Pretty Things' alongside the entirety of Release The Stars, with a completely random selection of tracks such as Irish folk song 'Macushla' and a couple of Judy Garland numbers thrown in to complement the mix, Wainwright's voice at times was so soft but so spell-binding that you could literally have heard a pin drop. The first half of the show concluded with album favourite 'Between My Legs', the Sian Phillips vocal voiced by the imposing Frances De La Tour.
Wainwright returned after the interval dressed in a rather fetching pair of lederhosen to continue the evening, which was over at the extremely early time of ten, a rather pleasant surprise for those worried about catching the last train home on a Sunday.
The only real problems in the two hour long set came with the uneven sound exhibited on the evening's "experimental" and crashing version of 'Do I Disappoint You', where at times it all felt a bit too much to handle, and the complex 'Tulsa', a peculiar rambling ode to an evening spent with Brandon Flowers and a couple of fans in the eponymous city. Wainwright felt bound to start the song over after (he said) his bracelet caused him to have "a Liberace vision".
He also attempted rather clumsily to re-do the ending of the tune, which contains an extremely difficult piano accompaniment, after some of the concluding chords did not go his way.
However, this issue aside, Wainwright was on top form tonight, and though it seems a distinct possibility that he may wear his voice out by the end of the week if he continues to put as much energy and force into it as he did in this first show, there was little to complain about. Wainwright knows what will please the crowds - just you wait until you see what he pulls out of the hat for his encore.
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