baublebauble

Yeah. 

Watched Alice on the SyFy channel on Monday. Cute, British, (engaged if wikipedia can be trusted), and absolutely adorable.

Andrew Lee Potts.

Oh my god - where do I begin? It was just stunning. You know when you hear really really beautiful music and you feel so completely blissed out that it totally doesn't matter that you're sitting so far away from the stage and you can barely see anything because experiencing this gorgeous music live is totally worth it? That was what it was like. It was just gorgeous.

And the guests!! There were so many - perhaps I should clarify. Every year Rufus and his family hold a Christmas concert in New York and they invite all their fabulous musician friends to come along and play. This year they held the concert at the Royal Albert Hall, but the set-up was still the same and boy were there some big names - French & Saunders, Ed Harcourt, Guy Garvey of Elbow fame and Boy George to name a few.

Rufus and Martha Wainwright - photos not by me obviously, because I was up up up in the circle. Good god the Royal Albert Hall really is ginormous. For more fabulous photos go check out this generous Rufus Wainwright fan's album: http://picasaweb.google.com/LysWant/ANotSoSilentNightWainwrightsFriends?feat=directlink#

Then obviously there was the Wainwright/McGarrigle family-clan, all of whom were beautiful obviously. Martha Wainwright confused me by appearing onstage decidedly un-pregnant-looking despite the flowy dress and half-way through she made a little announcement with her husband:


"Usually when we do these family shows I let my older brother Rufus do most of the talking - that suits me just fine. But I wanted to take just a very quick moment for myself personally and my husband Brad Albetta to give a great thank you to a few people who are in the audience tonight. I was planning on rolling onto this stage at eight and a half months pregnant - and my plans changed when I gave birth three weeks ago here in London.
Brad and I had a beautiful son, his name is Archangelo, he was born 15th November. We were staying in Camden and we had the good fortune of been close to a very good hospital, University College Hospital and we were lucky to have been brought there and so Brad and I from the bottom of our hearts wanted to thank the doctors and nursing staff at that hospital. And I'm glad we were where we were, and I remember at night at around two in the morning I had been admitted and things were happening and I leaned over to the nurse and I said "Is this where I should be?" and she said "Yes it is" and she was right. And I'd also like like to thank very quickly the NHS.
Brad and I have truly been humbled as Americans to be treated under your system and the reason we've been fully treated is because we were on work papers and I've got to say we were damn lucky because if we were in the States we'd have been up shit's creek.
I'd like to thank you for the great system you have here and I'm looking forward to our public option in America."


I should point out that the friends I were with consisted of one medic, one biomed student and one bio-engineering student - so there was a lot of general self-congragulations going on when Martha praised the NHS.

Also I've become a complete convert to the cult of Kate and Anna McGarrigle. The folk-baby in me who loves accordions and fiddles and pretty harmonies fell comletely and utterly in love with Rufus' mum and her sister. There's one song they sang that still totally haunts me and it's called "Proserpina" about Persephone and her marriage to Hades from the point of view of Demeter. I can't find it anywhere. And it is seriously distressing me because it was so beautiful and I really want to hear it again and I honestly hope a cleverer fangirl/boy than I has videoed it for youtube - or even better, that the McGarrigle sisters actually record it properly. That would be amazing.

Martha Wainwright and the McGarrigle sisters.

My only complaint about the evening would be that there wasn't nearly enough Rufus. Which I suppose is fair enough really - it wasn't meant to be a Rufus Wainwright concert. It was a Wainwright/McGarrigle Family and Friends concert. But I did so desperately wish that Rufus had sung more. I'm sure I could count all the songs he did sing on one hand - I guess it's not a bad thing, because the show definitely show-cased lots of the amazing lesser-known-talent (like Sloan Wainwright who is an amazing singer and has been causing quite a stir on the Rufus Wainwright forums) but still.

Anyway, the songs he did sing were just as beautiful as you would expect from him. And he brought his boyfriend onstage for a German version of Silent Night which was just very very sweet.

Rufus: This is my boyfriend - Jorn Weissbrodt. *kisses-said-boyfriend*

~Reactions from our row~

Ginie and Holly: Awwww!!!
Mark: *jealous* What a shame...
Ginie: Tsk, Mark!
David: ....?



He also sang Minuit Chretien without a microphone to test out the acoustics of the Royal Albert Hall. I was pretty damn impressed. As I may or may not have mentioned, I was sitting pretty damn high up, but you could hear him perfectly.

Anyway, pretty early-on in the concert I realised there would be no autograph signing taking place whatsoever. Looking around the Royal Albert Hall (which I may or may not have mentioned haha, but it's huge) I realised that there was no way any autograph-signing was taking place if there are 5,000++ people at the concert. Which there were. Because maximum capacity at the RAH is 5,544 including people standing in the Gallery and all seats and Gallery-space was definitely taken. So I now have a Judy Garland drawing with a Christmas note that I don't quite know what to do with. I'm hoping he'll come back to London again soon and if his next concert is a slightly smaller affair then maybe I'll give it to him then.

Not concert-related - it was so great to see Mark again! But the terrible thing about being briefly re-united with someone you miss is that when they leave you miss them even more.

I hope this account of the concert wasn't too hard to follow. Basically I had a lovely night.....and if anyone hears anything about Proserpina they must tell me.

Much love,

Ginie

PS.

The Set-list:

First Half
7 Joys of Mary
Christmas Wrapping
All I want
Some Children
Christmas is for Kids
Run Rudolph
Cherry Tree Carol
River
White Christmas
Il Est Ne/Ca Bergere
Madranque
Fairytale of NY
Silent Night

Second Half
Old Waits
Mary Had a Baby
Proserpina
Your Big Secret
3 Anges/Home for Xmas
Merry Xmas Baby
Wise Men
Minuit Chretien
What Are You Doing
War Is Over

Encore:
Bleak Midwinter
Thank God Its Xmas

1. Won the Client Interview competition.

2. Progressed to the third round of the Senior Moots.

3. Christmas is coming. School is ending, for a bit.

Ziz.