An Incredible Night

So last night I went on my first night out since the op, and what a way to celebrate my first two week's loss of a whole STONE, than by getting glammed up and heading off to The Palladium.

I went with my pal Paul to see the amazing Rufus Wainwright. He was doing this special concert re-creating Judy Garland's Carnegie Hall performance from the 60's. As you might imagine it was the gayest night in London! Old Compton Street was like a ghost town.

Standing outside having a smoke before we went into our seats waaaaaaaay up in the gods, I was looking around at the audience and my god, some of the most handsome men in London were out in force...with their boyfriends. Honestly it was like being given the keys to the best sweetshop in the world and finding out you're diabetic!

We began the long climb to the cheap(!) seats, a mere £75 each. In the bar, I did a bit of spotting and clocked Paul Morley and Robbie's old songwriting partner Guy Chambers, other faces I spotted through the night were Tom from Keane and Mighty Boosh boy Julian Barratt who I haven't seen for ages.

We took our seats and I was grateful we didn't have to walk down the steep steps too far, I suffer from vertigo at the best of times and had visions of tripping up and landing somewhere in the stalls!

There was 40 or 50 piece orchestra onstage and soon Rufus himself came out in a sparkly gold suit. From where I was sitting and with my dodgy eyesight he looked like a young Elvis. He began singing and my god! My heart was soaring. He followed the framework of Judy's show but made the songs his own.

After the interval he brought his sister Martha on, boy she sure scrubs up well! Her voice was wonderful too. Later he introduced Lorna Luft - the slightly saner daughter - and for one song it was really sweet to see her singing on the same stage as her mum once performed.

However, when she came back out again and started belting out another number, it was too much. She was honking like bloody Ethel Merman and doing all that wavering with the lines. I whispered to Paul 'Has she got Parkinson's" and that was all it took to set the pair of us off giggling for the rest of the show really. It was like being in church, everyone was so reverential that we felt we had to supress our laughter, so the pair of us just sat there shaking with giggles.

All too soon it was over, but it was a real event and worth every penny. I'm looking forward to seeing Rufus back over here doing his own stuff sometime soon...what a great performer he is.

On the tube home I bumped into my comedy chum Andy Smart, who I haven't seen in ages. He'd been at the Comedy Store doing their impro night. When I told him where I'd been and mentioned Lorna Luft, he told me that she'd once done a gig with Malcolm Hardee in Croydon or somewhere... no wonder she was wobbling onstage at the Palladium after that experience!