8/24/05: Rufus Wainwright and Ben Folds at the Mountain Winery


Two fine troubadors of this generation

Some years ago at a Dave Matthews Band concert I discovered I was too old to sit in the lawn section of the Shoreline Amphitheatre. It was nothing physical. I just couldn't stand to be surrounded by teeny-boppers who considered the band on stage to be the background music as they met and mingled. I mean there I was seeing a band who actually bothers to jam and play each song differently than its recording, and I was trying to listen to their stylings through giggles and screams and other teenage mating calls.

Last night I discovered I'm getting physically old for certain concert venues! he Mountain Winery is a lovely environment, but damn those benches are hard and provide no back support, and if you're sitting in the side section somewhat back from the stage, then you have to have either your back or neck twisted the entire time. Let's just say I popped some Aleve before I made my coffee even this morning!

But...and this is a big but...those minor aches and pains were well-rewarded by three hours of awesome musicianship, flashes of wry humor, passion and drama and the feeling that we were watching these guys in a more intimate setting, like their living room, rather than with hundreds of other people.

We missed opener Ben Lee unfortunately, but arrived just in time for Rufus to start his set. Rufus Wainwright is one of my current musical crushes. His music is so lush and theatrical and open. And he's just cute as a bug. His voice and style is kind of mesmerizing, and yes, part of that might be due to the fact that there is an intense, droning quality to his voice. I mean that in a nice way if you can believe it.

The absolute highlight for me was his tribute song to Jeff Buckley, followed by his rendition of the song that Buckley was most famous for recording, Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah.

The better moments of Rufus' set were when it was him on the piano. Truth be told, the mix was really not working well when he was on guitar and his full band was rocking. The drums were way too hot, the vocals too subdued. One of my favorite songs, Beautiful Child, was really a bit of a muffled mess rather than an absolute juggernaut of a song.

Rufus is charming and self-effacing (maybe a little too much so...I really don't think he had to apologize to the straight men in the crowd for all of the over homosexuality...especially since the mix made it pretty hard to understand what he was singing anyway!) He started several songs over, once because his fly had come undone. It did make you feel like you were hanging casually with your musician buddy, not seeing an emerging star take the stage.

The mix for Ben Folds, however, was spot on. Crystal clear and one of the best balances I have heard in a concert in a really long time. Rufus plays a really nice piano. Ben is a virtuoso. As a longtime fan of Elton John and Billy Joel, I appreciate that Ben proudly takes on the mantle of singer/songwriter/piano man that Elton and Billy have ceded to a new generation. Although Ben does do it with a bit more intentional wit and sass than the other two.

Ben can swing from tender, sincere songs, such as his song for his daughter Gracie, to songs dripping with irony and alienation. And sometimes, as in his most well-known hit, Brick, he manages to sing tender, sincere songs with undercurrents of irony and alienation!

He's performing as part of a trio again, and his drummer and bassist are able support men, fine musicianship and strong backing vocals every step of the way.

Some people might point to Ben's melodic adaptation of Dr. Dre's Bitches Ain't Shit as a high point. It's an example of Ben's sometime frat-boy sense of humor I suppose. It makes me feel like a party pooper, but the few seconds of amusing irony derived from toxic, misogynistic words laid on top of a lovely piano-driven melody isn't enough pay-off for another 4 minutes of singing about bitches, hos, tricks and more.

The real highlight of the evening was when Rufus came out and joined Ben for a passionate duet on George Michael's Careless Whisper. Truth is, nostalgic novelty aside, that's a great song. And they just wailed on it. They need to record it...right now!

As always Ben got some audience participation going, giving us our assignments like some hip choir teacher. I have to say we were a very tuneful, attentive audience!

Great night of music, lovely evening that never got too cold. Totally worth a stiff neck in the morning.

Posted: Thu - August 25, 2005 at 08:24 AM       EmailFeedback

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