Rufus Wainwright, Under The Bridge, review Halfway through this extraordinary concert by singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright in a small nightclub in the bowels of Chelsea Football Club, the club's owner, Roman Abramovich, and his entourage swept in. Russian oligarchs" appreciation of lush, camp, heart-breaking New York show tunes and torch ballads has gone undocumented to date. However, it speaks volumes about Wainwright's eclectic back catalogue and prodigious talent that his music appeals to smooching couples, beardy musos, middle-aged women and billionaire football club owners alike. Wainwright's two shows in Under the Bridge marked the start of his first tour with a full band in four years. They come ahead of today's release of his seventh album, Out of the Game, with Amy Winehouse producer Mark Ronson. Out of the Game follows a tricky few years for Wainwright following the death of his beloved mother, songwriter Kate McGarrigle, in 2010. Recent offerings have included an opera, Prima Donna, and Songs for Lulu, a piano-led tribute album to McGarrigle. His new album's "California 1970s vibe" is therefore a return to pop, a return to fun. And with Ronson on board, it's clearly a shot at the mainstream chart success that has oddly eluded Wainwright. He opened the show with Candles, the album's closing track, which is a ghostly paean sung almost entirely a cappella. It was neither upbeat nor fun, but it was spellbinding. I try to do all that I can, but the churches have run out of candles. Wainwright looked like a man released as he worked through the album. Songs such as Welcome to the Ball and the breezy title track were as light as blossom. He danced. He made wry asides, at one point joking how the album was mixed in London and therefore has a "dark, smelly, expensive" feel. During the album's "dance song," Bitter Tears, he shook a tambourine with a look of mock horror on his face at the fun he was having. Highlights included the touching Song of You, written for fiancé Jörn Weisbrodt, and 14th Street, an old stomper that is like a fantasy collaboration between Leonard Bernstein and Morrissey, only better. At moments like this it was easy to see why Elton John called Wainwright "the greatest songwriter on the planet." He was backed by an obscenely talented eight-piece band containing an array of recording artists in their own right, such as folk musician Teddy Thompson and soul-jazz star Krystle Warren. Will Out of the Game make Wainwright a megastar? It should, but it probably won't. The songs are almost too dazzling for the charts. Will he care? He probably will, but he shouldn't. Any musician who is capable of putting on shows like this, with songs like this, with a band like this, has already won.