Rufus in Denver

It was a family affair at the Ogden when Rufus Wainwright played there Tuesday night.

His sis Martha opened. Martha charmed the audience with little chatter in between songs. She said it's good touring with Rufus, because he writes a lot. "I feel envious and guilty," she said. The songs she sang included "Black Sheep Lodge" and she also sang one sang a cappella without the mic.

For Rufus, it was a performance in two acts. Part One was more art piece, Part Two traditional concert. For the first part, the audience was told not to clap at all until Wainwright had left the stage. He entered slowly wearing a dark cape on a dark stage and sat at his piano with a big screen behind him continually showing images of slow-blinking, dark eye-shadowed eyes. The first act included slow, melancholy melodies like "Zebulon," with others like the lively "Give Me What I Want and Give it to Me Now" punching things up. Wainwright is an intriguing songwriter, with layered piano melodies underlying the long notes he likes to have himself sing over them. It'd be interesting to hear a classical artist interpret them.

Anyway, in the second act, his playful spirit was back on display. He came out in a bright orange patterned suit and white shoes. He joked with the audience, saying Colorado seems to be the place where people who are really , really poor or really, really rich seem to come to drop out. ("I've done the drive from Denver to Aspen," he said. "That's the whole spectrum of dropouts") Songs in the second half, after an intermission, included his version of "Hallelujah" (Martha sang it with him as a duet)

He left off with "Poses," and "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk," and a song his late mother, Kate McGarrigle, wrote about his parents' courtship