Ho Ho Fucking Ho.

A Not So Silent Night is a concert, or variety show, or something, that takes place around this time every year somewhere in the world, put on ostensibly by Rufus Wainwright, with his sister Martha Wainwright, mother Kate McGarrigle and aunt Anna McGarrigle participating.

Firstly, is this one of the most incredibly musically talented families ever to exist, ever, in the history of forever? Kate and Loudon Wainwright III begat Rufus and Martha. Loudon has since begat Lucy Wainwright Roache. Anna begat Lily Lankin. Loudon’s sister is Sloan. And they’re all fantastic! All but Loudon were present last night. I think...

Onwards. The night was a show to support the Kate McGarrigle Foundation, set up post her cancer diagnosis a few years ago. They booked the Royal Albert Hall, pulled in a bunch of friends (from Boy George to the singer from Elbow to Ed Harcourt (names are from memory...)), and basically made you feel like you were in their enormous living room, watching them fumble through a performance for family and friends devised moments before after a couple of glasses of mulled wine more than strictly necessary.

It was a shambles, but I mean that entirely in a positive way. They’re introduced by Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, they all come on, sing a carol or song or what-have-you together, and then take turns coming up to the front to sing another, in various permutations. So many of them appear to be related somehow, and over the three hours of the show they’re all up there, singing, playing an instrument, dancing, whatever takes their fancy. Rufus and Martha are ducking back and forth to introduce performers when they remember, they’re up the back chatting amongst themselves devising entertaining (to them, and because they seem like such children, entertaining to us) ways of introducing new people. They share anecdotes about their friends on stage and their own christmases together, the sing some more songs… it was a rollicking great time. Really. It was actually like a variety show, but pretty much all music.

Everyone involved was a truly accomplished performer, and they really span the gamut of genres. The McGarrigles are renowned folk performers, Martha and Rufus have done rock, pop, whatever between them, there are opera singers, ballad performers, and never have I seen a banjo so many times on stage. There literally was never a dull moment. The entire audience seemed to be wholeheartedly enjoying and involved in the production. It had, obviously, been rehearsed, at least the musical numbers, and they all knew what they were doing once the notes were played, but the sight of a lone scrambling roadie attempting to set up for each and every song, requiring chairs for some performers, microphones adjusted, guitars on and off stage, it all lent an air of hectic improvisation.

It’s a really hard show to review. Technically, there were problems, but who cares? They were all having so much fun, that it just didn’t matter, because that feeling of fun oozed over to the audience and didn’t let up.

Something I will definitely be looking forward to. They did it last year in the States, so I’m assuming that next year it will probably return there. Could be a good excuse for a December holiday next year, though.