In 1982, Loudon Wainwright III made his first trip to Australia and brought his father along.
“We’d never done anything like that,” Wainwright says, speaking over Zoom from his home on Long Island, New York. “He actually wrote a column about the tour, and we had a wonderful time.”
His father, Loudon Wainwright Jr., was a columnist for Life magazine. Wainwright calls their relationship “tumultuous”.
“I feel so happy that we got to do that. We went swimming in the ocean for the last time together, in Palm Beach outside of Sydney.”
Now 80, he returns in February 2027 for his first Australian tour in almost 20 years. His children Rufus, Martha and Lucy Wainwright Roche have all kept up with Australian audiences, Rufus and Martha especially. Asked why he’s stayed away so long, he turns the question around.
“I don’t know why it’s taken so long. You tell me what’s changed.”
We spoke a few weeks after his 80th birthday concert at New York’s Town Hall on 12 September. Rufus, Martha and Lucy shared the bill with Christopher Guest, John Scofield, Joe Henry and others.
“We planned it for three or four months, and there were many times that I wanted to back out. I was terrified,” he says. “It turned out to be a wonderful, surprisingly cohesive, beautiful night. Everybody was great, and I loved hearing my songs being sung by and played by such talented performers.”
Lucy sang “Your Mother and I”, in which a father tries to explain a breakup to his child.
“She was the person that I had in mind when I wrote it,” he says. “She has a daughter now, my granddaughter Hazel. So it was just very powerful to hear her do that song.”
On his last Australian visit, I watched him help Lucy fix a guitar string mid-show.
“That’s what dads are for.”
Not all of his songs are that tender. His unexpected 1972 hit “Dead Skunk” made his name and then boxed him in.
“I was the skunk guy, and they were wondering when the next funny animal song was coming along,” he says of the record companies.
He rarely plays it now, though it closed the Town Hall show as the final encore. He counts Tom Lehrer and Australia’s own Barry Humphries among his heroes.
“I love singing songs that make people laugh. But I also, in my work anyway, can get more serious than that.”
Town Hall also revived “I.W.I.W.A.L. (I Wish I Was a Lesbian)”, sung by comedian Dave Hill with Wainwright joining on the chorus. I nearly fell off my chair when he played it in Australia, and I ask whether it still draws any pushback.
“Part of my job is to push the envelope a little bit,” he says. “I like to make people laugh, and I also like to make them squirm a little bit.
“I think lesbians actually like that song a lot. Maybe straight people would object to it. I don’t know.”
Will Australian audiences hear it?
“Now that I know it again, I’ve had to relearn it for the show, so I’ll have it in the quiver.”
His newest song began when he tripped over a root on a walk in the woods near his home and hit the ground hard. He wasn’t badly hurt.
“That’s a seemingly mundane thing to write about, but I really think people will relate to it, particularly older people.”
For the tour he’ll draw on more than 30 albums, mixing favourites with newer songs and possibly a few no one has heard yet.
“Everybody speaks English down there, so I’ll do my show,” he jokes. He expects to play for 75 to 90 minutes. “I’ll start out standing up, but probably end up sitting down, as is appropriate for my advanced stage.”
So after more than 50 years, what still gets him on stage? He goes back to 1951, aged five, performing for his mother and her twin sister in his aunt’s kitchen.
“Just the act of showing off, trying to get attention and pleasure from people you care about,” he says. “I wanted to do it from a very early age. The travel and the sleeping in hotels and the flights, all that’s a nightmare now. But once I step onto the stage, generally speaking, I have a pretty good time.”
He’s bringing his girlfriend, Susan, who has never been to Australia, and has a short list of his own: Palm Beach, good restaurants, good wine. And “I Wish I Was a Lesbian”? There’s a way to make sure it gets played. “You’ll have to shout it out,” he laughs.
Loudon Wainwright III – Australian and New Zealand tour 2027
Tuesday 2 February – Hollywood Avondale, Auckland, NZ
Thursday 4 February – James Hay Theatre, Christchurch, NZ
Saturday 6 February – Enmore Theatre, Sydney, NSW
Tuesday 9 February – The Gov, Adelaide, SA
Thursday 11 February – The Tivoli, Brisbane, QLD
Sunday 14 February – Melbourne Recital Centre, Melbourne, VIC
Wednesday 17 February – Astor Theatre, Perth, WA
Tickets are on sale now via Destroy All Lines.
Header image supplied
