We interrupt the cataloging of the weekend in New York to note that last night Jeff and I went to the Wolf Trap stop of the "Odd Man Out Tour" featuring Rufus Wainwright and Ben Folds with Ben Lee.
It was a pleasant evening, though a little warm, with the local heat advisory extending right up to the 8:00 concert start time. We were running about five minutes late, which meant that we--along with the many other cars arriving around the same time--were directed to park on the grass right near the park entrance since the outer parking lots were full. Jeff remarked that maybe we should come late more often.
There were a lot of high-school age kids there; I'd estimate that easily 80-90 percent of the crowd were under 25, and maybe half were under 21. Quite a few people left after Ben Folds's set, though, leaving a dozen or so seats in the two rows immediately in front of us empty during Rufus's, giving us a really great view. Cameras weren't supposed to be brought in, so I had left mine at home, but so many flashes were going off around us that in the end I kind of wish I'd taken mine with me anyway.
One highlight of the evening was watching the sign language interpreters, especially to see how they translated the strong language and adult content of some of the material. Ben Folds remarked to his interpreter, near the end of his set, that she would have to "wash her hands" after one of his songs.
It was a long show, lasting about three hours, though of course there was a fair amount of downtime between each of the three musicians, as the stage was changed out. Regardless, Rufus gave a long and energetic performance, moving quickly from one song to the next in his set of twelve. While sister Martha no longer tours with him, now that she is launching a solo career of her own, another sister, Lucy Roche (half-sister, I think, the daughter of Suzzy Roche and Rufus's father Loudon Wainwright III... boy those folksingers were/are an incestuous bunch), joined him onstage for a couple of songs.
Note: Jeff has posted Rufus's set list from the evening on his blog.
