Morning:
8°c
John Aizlewood's rating
, The dark side of Yule with Wainwright family
By
John Aizlewood
10 Dec 2009
A Christmas show is becoming a tradition for the Wainwright clan, as Rufus, sister Martha, their gloriously batty mother Kate McGarrigle (but not father Loudon), plus in-laws, cousins, aunts and chums gather for an evening of festive song.
Yet, this family is a most contrary one and despite French And Saunders’s chucklesome turn as compères, “festive” was pushing it and not for nothing did Rufus thank the rapt crowd “for letting us be so depressing” towards the end of a marathon show that concentrated on yule’s darker side.
There was little yo-ho-ho factor, unless Boy George’s singing a reggae-inflected White Christmas with as much dignity as a man in a pink top hat and three-quarter-length trousers could muster counts (and in a strange way it does).
Instead, there was breathtaking boldness in Rufus singing Minuit Chrétien without microphone; there was soul-baring from Elbow’s Guy Garvey on a spine-tingling run through Joni Mitchell’s bereft anti-carol, River and anger in McGarrigle’s highly charged Proserpina.
But if merriment remained elusive, there was uplift as, just three weeks after giving premature birth to a boy, Arcangelo, at UCH (“thank you for your NHS; if we’d been in America we’d have been up shit creek”), Martha belted out the spiritual Mary Had A Baby and Garvey somehow injected new resonance into John Lennon’s hoary old Happy Xmas (War Is Over), while Queen’s Thank God It’s Christmas was fabulously re‑imagined by Rufus and Martha’s aunt, Sloan Wainwright. Christmas magic, indeed
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Reader views (6)
It was a shame Rufus decided to take the night off after us travelling some 190 miles to see him. Whilst his sparce performance was excellent, other performances were patchy. The McGarrigle Canadian Folk Show was quite good, enhanced by Martha's strangely twitching leg! (Had the epidural not completely worn off!)?
French & Saunders would have been better employed elsewhere. They were never that funny anyhow, and certainly have not improved with age.
The sound quality would have been slightly improved had the performers used victorian megaphones. There again, if you are a fan of underwater singing, you would have enjoyed it.
Having said all that, Go, Go, Rufus. Can't wait to see you again (on your own, completely unaccompanied by any other family members).
- Lynne & Richard Stockdale, Wakefield, UK, 11/12/2009 22:47
Report abuse
We travelled quite a distance to the capitol to see the show - and were not disappointed. Although already being fans of Rufus and Martha, we were not prepared for their incredible live voices compared to recordings. I can now appreciate it when people have compared their voices to that of 'angels'. On the morose side? Yes, but hey, it's the Wainwrights, what did you expect? The family are quirky, bordering on a tad 'barking' which just added to a genuine performance; no gimmicks or over-production - just pure talent. Yes, Martha did sing more than Rufus, but opened our eyes (and ears) as to how good she really is. Who would have thought that one of the aging aunts or cousins would pull off the most fantastic version of 'Thank God it's Xmas' at the end. As a forty-something I've seen my share of music concerts over the years covering various genres, however, I've never been as attentive even spellbound whilst watching and listening to their family and guests performances. Breathtaking.
- Mark, Herefordshire, UK, 11/12/2009 16:08
Report abuse
Did I see the same show as the other critics? The whole evening was so depressing with an appalling choice of material, except for the special performance without pa of Rufus. If you liked Martha then this was for you the Martha Wainwright Show, she hogged the stage with her strange presence, and body movements. I am a Rufus fan and to have him really only sing twice was a very big dissapointment. The audience felt down only really coming to life when applauding Rufus's solo performances. The Royal Albert Show is not a good venue any more, the pa system is totally inadaquate, unable to give clarity and volume to the weaker members of the family, everything should be moved to the O2 where the customer is looked after.
What a pity some of Rufus's guests who only sang once but were clearly talented could have performed more and his close family performed less.
Jenni Muldaur sings once only what a waste of an amzing voice,
A waste of a possible great evening.
- David, London UK, 11/12/2009 13:19
Report abuse
Thoroughly enjoyed the performance even if it did get a bit "dark" sometimes. Rufus looked and sung like an angel as always. Only thing that spoilt it was the 2 fifty-somethings in the seats in front who kept twisting in their seats like 2 kids on Smarties! Can't wait to see Rufus again sans the family when he comes back to the UK.
- Simon, London, UK, 10/12/2009 18:01
Report abuse
The whole event was incredible. Rufus sings like an angel (and looks like one!), his voice is perfect. Martha was fabulous and I loved her wacky outfit and red shoes. Every song was unexpected like opening delightful Christmas presents - with Martha and Ed singing 'Fairytale of New York' and her version of 'Christmas Wrapping' (The Waitresses) and the mixture of English, French and German songs. I loved every second of it. All of the guests were fabulous. Guy Garvey was incredible, French and Saunders were funny. Boy George being up there on stage was such a treat. I would have liked to have heard more of him. His presence on the stage just made it even more special and his voice is like treacle. To have both Rufus and George on stage at once was a dream come true! I do love George singing ballads but that's just because his voice is so beautiful and I want to wallow in it, but I really enjoyed them both being on stage and the dancing. The Royal Albert Hall is a lovely venue but I agree the sound quality wasn't great but it was easy to put that out of my mind. I did hope to hear more Rufus in the second half, it felt like a bit of a teaser to not hear enough of him singing, Martha sang a lot more than Rufus did - she has a great voice but I'm a Rufus fan. There was so much musical talent and such tremendous voices on the stage, it was a very very special and unique evening. Again again!!!
- Maxine Hedges, Wokingham, Berkshire, 10/12/2009 16:36
Report abuse
A lovely programme and great singing --- what we could hear of it! The sound quality was so poor (that famous Albert Hall echo) that all Dawn and Jennifer's festive banter was lost to us, and some of the more rocky tracks were painfully distorted. Oh well, back to the DVD.
- Jane, London, UK, 10/12/2009 15:23
Report abuse
