Rock and Roots, Day 1

When I heard Rufus Wainwright was coming, I absolutely refused to believe it.  I mean, this is Rufus.  Whom I had to wait seven years to see in London.  No one else in Singapore seemed to know about him, except for Priya, and that was because we used to listen to him together back in the university when we were going through a massive Rufus craze.  (Now I know that Edie and Jia Min are fans too!)

I was so, so happy to be watching Rufus with Priya at last.  It was like a big pilgrimmage for us because we sort of discovered him together, followed him through the years and have lamented many times that he was not likely to come this way.  When we found out he was gay, we were completely crushed because it meant neither of us stood a chance with a man who played piano naked for four hours every morning.  

We used to watch the California music video on Youtube - this was back when he had long hair - and every time he got to the end of the first verse, said "Puh-leese" and sexily rolled his eyes, we clutched at each other and screamed.  I know, right?  I'm ashamed to admit that we once watched it ten times in one night.  

Well, he really did come to Singapore.  It's true.  I was standing in the front row.  

And he did sing California!

The day started with a Swiss lunch at Wine Universe - Edie, Shirin and I wanted to try out something for restaurant week and the set was only $25 with three courses.

We settled into a nice table by the window and I proceeded to stuff myself violently.

A melted raclette, Parma ham and cornichon starter.  The raclette really tasted like a fried goat's cheese that I used to eat when my relatives brought it down from Bangladesh.  When we fried it, the whole house stank up, but dayum.  Was it ever tasty.

Barramundi fillet with cauliflower mash and asparagus.  For someone who hates cauliflowers, I found the mash surprisingly delicious.

And coffee creme brulee.  Tasty but weird because the whole thing was warm, and in my mind, creme brulee is supposed to be cold.

I spent the whole afternoon wandering around Vivocity trying to get a lens cap for Big's kit lens.  Being an extremely forgetful person, I took the lens cap off in Australia and never found it again.  My mother used to say it was lucky all my body parts were attached lest I lose them too.  (Spoiler:  They sell no such kit lens cap.  My beloved camera has to go very carefully into a cloth bag.)

I met Priya just before Rufus' set and we trooped down to Fort Canning, where I ran into Jia Min, a friend from work.  (It's a good thing I wore my Dr Martens because by the time Robert Plant came out, the girl in front of me was standing on my toes.)

Someone called Kara Grainger opened.  She was hot and played some nice bluesy stuff, but by this time I was breaking out in cold sweat.  Just before a band or musician that I really like comes out, I start to get really nervous and there aren't many musicians I like more than Rufus, Ben Folds, The Beatles or Queen.

I'm going to skip straight to Robert Plant first because I'm going to leave the mess of crazy Rufus fangirl pictures to the end.  I thought Robert Plant was pretty cool.  He was chill and funny and his band was really tight, even though Priya didn't like them that much.

They had a really weird spacey vibe and lit lots of incense before they came on.  Plant himself kept dancing like he was about to do yoga and at one point, he started waving the incense over the audience with his hands, and I couldn't stop laughing.

At one point he even had this guy from The Gambia come out and sing and play a stringed instrument and we were all like, "Wait, I thought Africa was under Paul Simon's purview!".  Hah!  No.  But it was slightly strange.

Still I enjoyed taking lots of pictures and indulging in some mild headbanging.  The last "heavy" concert I'd been to was Iron Maiden over a year ago and I'd forgotten how much I missed it.

So, Rufus came out before Robert Plant and I thought that he was absolutely wonderful.  Until he set foot on the stage, I didn't actually believe that he was going to be there.  The last time I saw him, the act was a lot more dramatic and less relaxed and I enjoyed watching him in a more casual setting.

We were so close to the stage that we could see how light his eyes were and see the sheen of sweat on his face.  His voice is still so smooth and strong, powerful on the vibrato and he plays the piano like a God.

And of course, he's so preeetty.

He came out with some big sunglasses on and opened with The Art Teacher (what is with the mad love for that song?  I don't get it!) and then played The Maker Makes which sounded very ethereal.  Right before he started, he talked about Brokeback Mountain, then grinned and said, "This one goes out to all the homosexuals in the audience.  Live long and prosper!"

He's not the best guitarist, but the songs he played on guitar were lots of fun, including California!  Priya and I went nuts!  He even played on a Hello Kitty guitar that he bought in Korea.

I can't remember the whole setlist, but there were lots of songs I loved including Hallelujah (the definitive cover for me), Martha, 11:11 and Going to a Town, which always makes my hair stand on end.

I was hoping for some other numbers like Grey Gardens, Hometown Waltz or Vibrate (because I've never seen that song played live), but I settled for Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk as the finale.  Every rollicking piano lick on that song makes me want to jump for joy.

Halfway through, Priya squealed and pointed to his shiny shoes, a pair of studded smoking slippers.  I really want some too!

And of course, Rufus had to be a little bit of a diva.  He launched into the first line of Zebulon as the audience descended into hushed silence, then suddenly shouted, "Could you shut up those of you in the corner!" at a bunch of rowdy tech crew members who were laughing loudly on stage. Yikes.

He wasn't angry with the audience though and he let us know it when right before the last line in Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk a man in the audience shouted, "Marry Me, Rufus!" and Rufus broke into a huge grin and said, "Okay!" in delight.

Come on.  Who can be mad at that face for long?