Review: Rufus Wainwright

****

A man, a guitar and a very grand piano? On the opening night of his European tour, Rufus Wainwright strips everything back except his personality, his charisma and his self-deprecation. The songs deliver over a 90-minute set that may be unadorned (and, indeed, sometimes quite raw), but they are underscored with a special kind of intent that never once has you yearning for the textures and swirls a full band can provide.

For fans of Wainwright’s more grandiose gestures (these include diversions into opera, covering Judy Garland tunes, dressing in drag and enhancing his baroque pop music with a tightly packed blend of strings and horns), such sparse accompaniment might have been disappointing. Those who have watched Wainwright cover the bases in his career, from small venues upwards, will have taken no small pleasure in seeing him once again sail through a gig by the seat of his jeans.

Another bonus is that Wainwright's tour is in support of his just released best-of collection, Vibrate , which means there is, unusually, a bias towards old material. In lesser hands, perhaps, a rummage through the "hits" could be more a lesson in hand-wringing than celebration, but Wainwright's sense of decorum shines through as much as his justified self-admiration for his material.

He starts off, a little rough and ready, at the piano with Vibrate (from 2003's breakthrough album, Want One ) and continues with the likes of Going to a Town ; Jericho ; Cigarette s and Chocolate Milk ; I Don't Know What it Is ; The Gay Messiah , and The Art Teacher .

Dipping between piano and guitar (and engaging in a brief co-singing stint with support act and half-sister Lucy Wainwright Roche), Rufus occasionally straddles the line between nervously busking it and delivering superlative show-stopping moments that fasten you to your seat.

The former are, perhaps, best forgotten (a rare occurrence in Wainwright's case), but the latter (notably on The Art Teacher ; Dinner at Eight ; and Candles ) offer business-as-usual displays of the songwriter's knack of getting to the heart of the matter with a waspish wit and a beautiful, ice-melting voice.