Now that we are some way along on the runway to Christmas, seasonal songs have begun to pervade the airwaves in ever greater quantity; in our house it's no different. Our two favourite albums for the Christmas season are Phil Spector's A Christmas Gift For You and a compilation album given away years ago with Mojo magazine called Blue Christmas. The former is dominated by the joyously murky sound of the youthful Sixties pop groups that Spector produced, while the latter consists of a bunch of miserable songs by artists prone to introspection and cynicism. One such artist is Rufus Wainwright, whose 'Spotlight On Christmas' from an album recorded with his wider family is a folksy number with lots of festive tinkly bells and whatnot.
The Wainwright-McGarrigle clan, a family so talented they really shouldn't be allowed to have children just so other people can have a chance, descended upon the Royal Albert Hall on Wednesday for an event called A Not So Silent Night, a charity event for matriarch Kate McGarrigle's cancer foundation. This on-stage family get-together usually takes place at New York's Carnegie Hall, and this is the first time they've taken the festive jamboree off Manhattan Island and all the way to London. They were joined by a cast that included Boy George, various members of the Thompson family, including Linda Thompson and various grandsons and daughters, family friend Ed Harcourt, Elbow's Guy Garvey and Jenni Muldaur (also from a famous musical family – enough already).
Somewhat needlessly, the event was kicked off by Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, which I could have done without, though they did make amusing reference to the apparent complexity of the family affair about to take to the stage. In essence, here's the score (as I understand it): Kate McGarrigle and Anna McGarrigle are sisters who have recorded many albums of American folk music over several decades; Kate married Loudon Wainwright III and produced two children, Martha and Rufus; Loudon's sister Sloan Wainwright is also a singer; Loudon worked with and became good friends with Fairport Convention guitarist Richard Thompson, who, with ex wife Linda produced a number of offspring (including Teddy Thompson, absent from tonight's proceedings), all of whom are talented musicians as evidenced at A Not So Silent Night. One can imagine that the stage performance is simply a public version of the family and extended-family get togethers this esteemed bunch of individuals would have had each Christmas. Imagine the impromptu sing-alongs that might occur at that party.
Highlights were many, and often from the most unexpected quarters. Ed Harcourt, for example, came a close second to Rufus as most impressive male vocalist here. His duet with Martha on The Pogues's Christmas hit 'A Fairytale Of New York' was probably the finest, most louche cover of the song I've ever heard, with both singers acting like the seasonal drunks in the song; later, his version of 'Merry Christmas Baby' descended into jazz nihilism and was arguably the most impassioned performance of the entire night. Imagine a more credible Jamie Cullum to the power of ten and you'd get somewhere close.
Far from being an uplifting pre-Christmas spectacle, the evening had a maudlin tone only leavened by more uplifting performances such as Boy George's take on 'White Christmas', here rendered as a cod-reggae song; working with Antony Heggarty has clearly emboldened the troubled former Culture Club vocalist, his voice now able to resonate with a new, treacly depth. His duet with Rufus on 'What Are You Doing New Year's Eve' was as camp as you'd expect from these two individuals combined, but again provided one of the most joyous sections of the show. Guy Garvey leading off all the singers in a version of the Lennon / Ono staple 'Happy Xmas (War Is Over)' was another, only bettered by Sloan Wainwright belting out a gutsy, bluesy take on Queen's 'Thank God It's Christmas'. Earlier in the show, two performances from members of the Thompson clan – the Chuck Berry song 'Run Run Rudolph' by Thompson grandson Zac Hobbs and another by Kami Thompson (who Rufus described somewhat unfairly as a 'Dickensian slut') – served as rock 'n roll interludes, both displaying a brilliant rawness that the Royal Albert Hall didn't seem to know how to respond to.
In spite of the stellar talents on stage, it was clear from the audience reaction that the main draws here were Rufus and Martha. Mic-less performances from the former have become standard feature of his concerts, and here he decided to test how good the Royal Albert Hall was for acoustics with 'Minuit Chrétien', which was as breathtaking as ever. His duet with partner Jorn Weisbrodt on 'Silent Night' – two thirds of which was actually in German, so we should perhaps more appropriately label it 'Stille Nacht' – closed out the first half of the show, Jorn's lumpen tone somehow perfectly complemented by his partner's range. Martha, who became a mother just three weeks ago seemed to have adopted a maternal air in the proceedings, shepherding her tiny mother around with evident concern. The song 'Mary Had A Baby' was dedicated to the son she delivered less than a month before with the band's bassist Brad Albetta. Consequently, the quartet performance of the Wainwright siblings, their mother and Brad on bass on 'In The Bleak Midwinter' was appropriately sweet in a 'let's have a sing along round the piano' post-Christmas-lunch fashion, in spite of just how damn depressing that song is.
Rufus's début opera, Prima Donna, whose female lead Janice Kelly performed a duet with Rufus at A Not So Silent Night arrives on UK shores in April 2010 at the Sadlers Wells Theatre in Islington – tickets can be bought from here.
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