Sheer Perfection

And when you need me I’ll always be here-Rufus Wainwright

Tonight, again, Rufus Wainwright sung only to me. The Perth Concert Hall was filled to the brim, but it was just me and him in the room. This man speaks to me like no other individual can. His lyrics are my thoughts, ordered, and written down so eloquently it astounds me as to how someone else could really and truly be thinking what I’m thinking but telling it so much better than I can.

Rufus Wainwright is painfully talented. A brilliant musician, his control over his vocals is unparalleled and lyrically I don’t think anyone could be as intuitive and as honest as he makes himself. He offers his audience up a part of himself when he sings to them and tonight, just like last time, he offered himself up to me. And not just himself, but he shone a mirror in my face and allowed me to look inside my own head like only he can.

I cannot express what I was feeling. Each song sweeps you in and as you listen to the words you’re taken on a journey through your own thoughts as the loves of your life flash before your eyes and you begin to remember all those little things about everyone you ever loved and how much you miss them and how much you loved being in love. He reminds you about those small little details like the winkles in the side of the first one’s mouth, or the smell of the second one, or the shape of the third one’s shoulders and the pain of loss is almost too much to bear. But then he reminds you that although these loves are too great to forget, there’s going to be many more- each offering you the things you can’t imagine missing now.

For two and a half hours tonight my brain was somewhere else. Away from the noise and business of the day time. Inside the vaulted room I was able to travel back to a time where things were just as complicated but seem so simple now. There was me, him, my dreams and the future we were supposed to have- and still will have.

The first half of the show was like nothing I’d ever seen before. I knew that Rufus was going to play his latest release “Songs For Lulu” in its entirety and I was a little nervous to say the least. The album is a strange one because its just him and the piano. All the songs are vocally demanding (as only Rufus Wainwright can write and perform) and so I was nervous that it wouldn’t measure up to the recording. I was similarly nervous because, as any music appreciator will tell you, a new album takes a while to wash over you and sink into your soul as albums tend to do and this one hadn’t really done that yet. I liked several songs and I had tried to listen to it all the way through a few times but I hadn’t succeeding in accomplishing the task. However, as he entered the stage adorned in a gorgeous cape with feathers around his naked shoulders I immediately lost all hesitations about what was going to unfold in front of me. The piano washed over me and his voice swept me into the place I remained for the entire first half. Completely compelled. The highlights were The Dream and the last song surprisingly, Zebulon, which I hadn’t warmed to very well before tonight, but now I will dream about. With a strange visual accompaniment in the background which was just shots of a darkened eye opening and closing I felt watched, but not threatened. It was a performance like no other and one I will not forget.

The second act was, as expected, warm and charming. In stark contrast to the first act which was engaging but slightly haunting, the second was like an old friend had come over and sat down at the piano in the lounge and just began singing the old songs you used to sing together. I was always partial to the Rufus rendition of Hallelujah rather than the Buckley or Cohen rendition, and tonight’s performance of said song was simply, perfect. Absolutely perfect- his control and command of such a big space with just his voice and a piano is remarkable.

If nothing else, Rufus Wainwright reminded me tonight of why I love him and I love how he speaks to me. I am reminded to do the things I love and be the girl I need to be. And I am forever indebted to him for that.