Last night’s Rufus Wainwright gig at the Colston Hall was quite an evening!

Anticipation levels in the hall were pretty high, when Rufus and his 6 piece band took to the stage, but I think few were prepared for the roller coaster evening which was ahead of us. It all started normally enough, as the band made up for the lack of an orchestra, bu playing subtle versions of some of the more exuberant recent tracks from Canada’s latest musical star.

However a few songs in, the strain started to show on the the vocal chords of Mr Wainwright, yet rather than diminish the evening, the problems added something rather special to the whole event. In the middle period of the set the poor chap had a 30 minute spell, when about 20% time the words just failed to emerge. The lips would move, but not a sound was heard. To his credit, Rufus just brazenly pushed his way through some of his difficult (to sing) songs, wincing and laughing along with the rest of us at his vocal mishaps.

The sheer force of his personality, took him beyond the limitations of his troubled vocal chords to a place where his human frailty was exposed behind his oh so confident manner.

Suddenly the voice came back, just in time for the astounding encores, where to got see more of Rufus (and his band) than one would normally expect in the demure surroundings of the Colston Hall. It was hilariously funny and musically outstanding.

We were shocked to see that when the house lights came up it was 11:20. 2 hours had flown past, if you get the chance to see him make sure that you take it.