Rufus Wainwright in concert at Kenwood House, Hampstead
4/5
Historic Kenwood House was the perfect setting for Rufus Wainwright's vocal histrionics on Saturday night.
Strolling unannounced onto the intimate stage in an outlandish purple pin-strip suit, the flamboyant Canadian had Hampstead purring at his poetic pop ballads Sanssouci, Nobody's Off The Hook and Not Ready To Love, before launching into a quirky cover of King Of The Road - with support act Teddy Thomson twanging away on his ukulele.
Next came Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk, an operatic ode to the dangers of addiction and Vibrate, with the inspired line: "Pinocchio is a now a boy who longs to turn back into a toy."
The proudly gay singer turned stand-up comic between tunes, with Carry On-style quips about his sexuality (one about the phallic moon had the picincing crowd choking on their sausage rolls).
By the end of his stunning 90-minute set Rufus had even won over the rain, which respectfully stayed away until after the encore - a spine-tingling cover of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah (every bit as evocative as Jeff Buckley's celebrated version) on the piano.
Watching ten thousand picnickers eating out of this elegant oddball's hand was truly a sight to behold. And you kind of got the sense Rufus really wasn't even trying that hard.
By Richard Ferrer
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