Rebel prince charming

I didn’t ever get around to reporting on the Rufus show last month (among many other things), did I? Well, time to bring this out of “draft” status.

So yeah, Thom and I went to see Rufus at Lisner. Amazing. I was still in a daze for days after. First off, Rufus looked fantastic. So sharp and crisp in his suit with flower in the lapel. As usual, he was the belle of the ball, and sprinkled the show with hilarious little anecdotes, cracking us (and himself) up. He and the band took a little time to warm up (“Vicious World” sounded a little off to me), but they were hot the rest of the night. It was great to hear most of the songs with full band (especially “Gay Messiah,” which we’ve heard now and then with different arrangements). I’m sure Rufus is happy about that, especially given the care that goes into producing such lush sound on the albums; it must be a rewarding experience to reproduce it live. My only quibble was the sound that night. The levels were a little off, especially the background vocals. You could hardly hear the usually forceful backing on “Go or Go Ahead,” for example.

Still, it was great to get some of the older songs too. “Beauty Mark,” “April Fools,” “Grey Gardens,” et al. totally took me back to the early days. Okay, “early days” being only a few years ago, but still. “One Man Guy,” fantastic. “Nuits de Miami,” heart-breaking.

I ran into a bunch of my message-board peeps, before and after the concert, and we hung out by the stage door waiting for the man. Rufus was gracious as always. I told him “great show,” and had him sign my Want CD cover. Le sigh. Fantastic night, indeed.