I went to see Rufus last night. He was beautiful and ephemeral, as usual. It was great, overall; he played Beautiful Child, Art Teacher,Hallelujah, and finished with Gay Messiah, among others...I got there early, even though there was a sizable line even 3 hours in advance, and got in the second standing row, center, right in front of Rufus and his oversized sparlkey brooch =) Sadly, he only played for an hour and was followed by Ben Folds, who most of the people were there to see. There were these incredibly obnoxious, attention seeking teens directly to my right who were shouting and making jokes during Rufus' performance, complaining about him, etc. Damn humans. I have to go to an all-Rufus show next time. Or at least one where he is playing last (the next show in the tour is in Toronto, and Rufus plays last and for an hour and a half....damn canadians, always get the better end of the deal). Ben Lee played too; he was a bloke from down under, and he knew how to rock. I'm sure Ben Folds would've been amazing if I were a fan of his music; I just don't know any of his work except The Battle of Who Could Care Less, which he didn't even play. But he put on a good show, and I'm sure it would have meant a great deal to me if I had a background in him. But I didn't, and it therefore didn't, and it is a true tragedy, but oh well.
Ever notice that there is an artificiality about musicians? Maybe it's just me, but there is still a glass wall between me and a performer. Being 10 feet from Rufus evoked similar feelings as watching his concert on DVD...same thing happened when I went to see Keane-- I think the superstardom of these folks ruins their humanity; it's very hard to maintain the reality of Rufus Wainwright playing songs off his albums right in front of you! And sometimes I feel I'm just as good off listening to the CDs.
But it's still so beautiful, and I am now on a quest to go to every Rufus concert I can, and also to meet him in person at some point. He is so amazing. Aah....
