Spring Break
The Daily OrangeEndearing musicians use personal flaws to entertain
By Nic Corbett
Posted: 3/6/06, 2:45 AM EST Section: Pulp
When singer Rufus Wainwright was waiting backstage to perform at Syracuse University, he and his sister, who had come along, had a "perfect play moment," Wainwright later told the audience.
He asked her what time it was, and she replied, "9:11."
"So that totally bombed when I tried to tell that joke about 9/11," Wainwright said, a song later, after attempting to get a laugh from the SU students, local residents and out-of-towners in the crowd.
Despite the faux pas, Wainwright did manage to get some laughs from his jokes about his own self-deprecation, the Academy Awards, America's new alliance with India, the recurring theme of death in his songs and his own forgetfulness with lyrics to his songs, a trait co-headliner Ben Kweller exhibited earlier in the night.
"The voice is here, but the brain is … back in the city," Wainwright said, who explained he hadn't done a concert in a couple of months because he is supposed to be on vacation.
The forgetful yet endearing musicians Wainwright and Kweller co-headlined at Goldstein Auditorium last night to a near-packed crowd.
After a 20-minute delay, indie rock artist Kweller took the stage first and went straight into a slamming guitar solo, bouncing back and forth from one side of the stage to the other to the crowd's cheers.
The 24-year-old singer apologized for his voice being a little off.
"I was out late last night," he said. "Not very responsible when you have to work the next day."
Kweller, who played without his band, alternated between an acoustic guitar and keyboards during his 45-minute set, thrilling his fans with "How Should It Be (Sha Sha)," "Commerce, TX," "Falling" and "Wasted and Ready."
When he sang "On My Way," the audience seemed to be at story time, listening with rapt attention to Kweller's story of finding the right path, making friends and falling in love.
During the song "The Rules," Kweller spontaneously transitioned into a guitar riffs from Metallica's "The Sandman."
He asked her what time it was, and she replied, "9:11."
"So that totally bombed when I tried to tell that joke about 9/11," Wainwright said, a song later, after attempting to get a laugh from the SU students, local residents and out-of-towners in the crowd.
Despite the faux pas, Wainwright did manage to get some laughs from his jokes about his own self-deprecation, the Academy Awards, America's new alliance with India, the recurring theme of death in his songs and his own forgetfulness with lyrics to his songs, a trait co-headliner Ben Kweller exhibited earlier in the night.
"The voice is here, but the brain is … back in the city," Wainwright said, who explained he hadn't done a concert in a couple of months because he is supposed to be on vacation.
The forgetful yet endearing musicians Wainwright and Kweller co-headlined at Goldstein Auditorium last night to a near-packed crowd.
After a 20-minute delay, indie rock artist Kweller took the stage first and went straight into a slamming guitar solo, bouncing back and forth from one side of the stage to the other to the crowd's cheers.
The 24-year-old singer apologized for his voice being a little off.
"I was out late last night," he said. "Not very responsible when you have to work the next day."
Kweller, who played without his band, alternated between an acoustic guitar and keyboards during his 45-minute set, thrilling his fans with "How Should It Be (Sha Sha)," "Commerce, TX," "Falling" and "Wasted and Ready."
When he sang "On My Way," the audience seemed to be at story time, listening with rapt attention to Kweller's story of finding the right path, making friends and falling in love.
During the song "The Rules," Kweller spontaneously transitioned into a guitar riffs from Metallica's "The Sandman."
