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Elly Roberts reviews
Last year, Elton John declared that Rufus Wainwright was the greatest songwriter on the planet.,
Quite a profound statement from the king of pop himself. This was presumablybased on hearing 2004s Want One, followed earlier this year by thegroundbreaking opus, Want Two.
The latter is one of the greatest albums this side of Led Zeppelins FourSymbols and Pink Floyds Dark Side Of The Moon. Right now hesblasting away his contemporaries with a unique brand of classically orientated pop.He has no competition when it comes to boundless natural talent.
In addition he is an outstanding live performer and showman. His recentappearance at the Lowry consolidated his much vaunted credentials. Stunningonly serves to demean what I experienced this night. Lifting most of thesetlist from the above albums, Wainwright, son of folk legend Loudon WainwrightIII, nephew of Anna McGarrigle and brother of equally talented Martha, hebrilliantly showcased the masterpiece in just under two hours.
Backed by his fabulous six-piece band, the gay icon held court in outrageouslycamp manner, which at times proved to very disarming. For one whos known forhis overt flamboyance, he initially seemed quite subdued, but by the end hewould turn up the heat.
With his boyish good looks, Wainwright is a marketing mans dream and by thereception he received, you swear he was #1 in the singles charts. But thatsnot his bag: this guy is one hell of a serious musician with a great senseof humour, as we would later discover. His music is inspirational, innovativeand avante garde to and extreme and never bends to fashion.
Lyrically hes revealing,profound, honest and risqué: and he knows how to getit over. There is never a throwaway song on the albums, and its not wastedin his live shows either. The songs make the hairs on your neck standup.When the music kicks in it unsettles you to the extent you break out into acold sweat, and many times I was emotionally moved to tears, such is theoverwhelming effect.
Switching from acoustic guitar to piano,he delicately handled both like atreasured pet, gently stroking the strings and carefully tinkling the ivories.
His rendition of Halleluiah was simply breathtaking, as were MemphisSkyline and Waiting For A Dream. During the encore the self-proclaimedGreat International Superstar stripped off to his undies, cast a MissManchester sash, donned a fairys wings as he belted out Old Whores Dietin pure exhibitionism.
An epic night, and a high watermark of a musician on top of his game, who hassingle headedly changed the possibilities of popular music.
In context, Want One and Want Two are as groundbreaking asPet Sounds (Beach Boys), Sgt.Peppers (Beatles), Odelay(Beck) and Forever Changes (Love). For those whove never heard of him,its time to make contact with the next 21st Century superstar.
And Elly meets the great man himself..
Want One reference, courtesy of MVC Wrexham
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.