Your backstage pass to the DFW music scene and beyond.
Rufus Wainwright, shown here at earlier concert, performed at Bass Hall on Saturday night.
FORT WORTH -- Stripping his songs to the bone, Rufus Wainwright dazzled in his Bass Hall debut Saturday night.
The 80-minute performance was fascinating for a number of reasons, not least of which was glimpsing an artist in transition. Wainwright has finished major touring in support of his most recent record, Release the Stars, and informed the rapt audience that he completed work on his next album just before traveling to Texas.
Caught in between records, Wainwright used the night to roam through his captivating catalog, reaching all the way back to his 1998 debut and stopping at points in between then and now.
Using only piano and acoustic guitar, Wainwright, clad in a dark suit and tie, showcased his luxuriant baritone and wry lyricism. Perfectly suited to the atmospheric acoustics of Bass Hall, Wainwright made excellent use of the room, which was often still enough to hear his fingers brushing guitar strings or settling down upon piano keys.
The singer-songwriter also premiered a trio of tunes -- Gimme What I Want and Give It to Me Now, What Would I Ever Do with a Rose and Sonnet No. 20 -- from his forthcoming, as-yet-untitled record, in a section he jokingly referred to as "Watch Rufus Rehearse."
Contrasted with the rest of the night's performance, this 15-minute span was easily his shakiest, but the largely melancholy compositions still exerted a powerful pull.
By the time he brought opener Joan Wasser out onto the stage for a stirring rendition of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah and segued into a selection from his debut opera Prima Donna, about the evanescent beauty of fireworks, it hardly seemed possible the show was already winding down.
The night -- a thoroughly masterful display from one of pop music's most compelling talents -- was, like, his aria, all too fleeting and altogether gorgeous.
Set list
1. Grey Gardens
2. The Maker Makes
3. Beauty Mark
4. Sanssouci
5. Gay Messiah
6. Vibrate
7. Gimme What I Want and Give It to Me Now
8. What Would I Ever Do with a Rose
9. Sonnet No. 20
10. California
11. Greek Song
12. Want
13. The Art Teacher
14. Zebulon
15. Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk
Encore
16. Going to a Town
17. Hallelujah (with Joan Wasser)
18. The Fireworks Are Calling