Loading...

Rufus Wainwright - Kelvingrove Summer Nights 2022

01 Aug 2022
Share

Rufus Wainwright - Kelvingrove Summer Nights 2022

A show that took me by surprise

Day 4 of Kelvingrove Summer Nights welcomed American-Canadian singer Rufus Wainwright to the bandstand, best known for his cover of the Leonard Cohen classic Hallelujah, it was a nice sunny day and the day was completely sold out, it was set to be a great night.

My introduction to the Wainwright family was during my days at university, one of my old lecturers was an avid fan of Loudon Wainwright III, he couldnt get enough of him, my coursework for that module was to build a website all about Loudon Wainwright III and being an honours module, he made me research about him, extra marks for telling something that he didnt know, upon doing so I discovered that his daughters, Martha Wainwright, Lucy Wainwright Roche and his son, Rufus Wainwright, were also musicians.

The stage was dominated by large grand piano in the center as support act Alas De Liona began their set, getting the attendees ready for the main event.

After the support and a 30 minute interval, Rufus came on and bowed to the audience as he walked towards the grand piano, beginning his set with Gray Gardens, following with with This Love Affair, with Rufus saying to the crowd they should dedicate this song to Boris Johnson, resulting in huge laughter.

If you dont get the joke, the song contains the lyrics "I dont know what Im doing" and "I dont know what Im saying".

Vibrate was played before Rufus got off his chair and picked up his guitar playing the likes of Greek Song and Jericho, he then explained about his experiences at Glastonbury and when he dressed up as Annie from the TV show of the same name during a live performance.
Rufus returned to his piano to play Art Teacher, My Little You and Early Morning Madness, before picking up his guitar once again to play Gay Messiah, Want and Peaceful Afternoon, as the sun went down, everybody was taking in what was happening with joy.

Contrary to Suzanne Vega a few days before, who said "We all speak English and understand each other", Rufus admitted to the audience that he cannot understand a single word what the Scots say, it resulted in both laughter and groans. He then spoke about the time he played a gig at a Pride event in NYC. "We had the Empire State Building in rainbow colours" he said, as he performed Somewhere Over The Rainbow.

Rufus then gave his little sister a plug to the crowd, saying that "Marthas on the road", "I think shes in Spain at the moment.... uh, yeah I think she is in Spain, but shes coming to Scotland very soon", she will be playing as part of the Edinburgh International Book Festival on 13th August.

Ciggs was the final song of the night before a short encore happened, Rufus returned to finish the set with Going To A Town and concluding with Hallelujah.

It was a show that took me by surprise, you had one man, a piano and a guitar, I wouldnt have thought that the gig would be as engaging as it was, a terrific performance from Wainwright and he had the sold out crowd in the palm of his hand.

You can view a full gallery of the concert via the link below, review and photography by Stewart Fullerton.

Click here for gallery.

 

This article has been viewed 968 times

Comments

Review - Rufus Wainwright - Kelvingrove Summer Nights 2022 - Glasgowmusic.co.uk