Milwaukee at Last!!!
| Milwaukee at Last!!! | ||||||||||
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| Live album by Rufus Wainwright | ||||||||||
| Released | November 22, 2009 | |||||||||
| Recorded | August 27, 2007 at Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin | |||||||||
| Label | Decca | |||||||||
| Producer | Bradley Kaplan, Barry Taylor, Paula Quijano, George Scott | |||||||||
| Rufus Wainwright chronology | ||||||||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 73 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| The Buffalo News |  |
| musicOMH | |
| NME | (7/10) |
| Pitchfork Media | (7.2/10) |
| PopMatters | (8/10) |
| The Scotsman | (positive) |
| St. Petersburg Times | (positive) |
Milwaukee at Last!!! is the seventh album (and second live album) by Canadian-American singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, released in the United States on September 22, 2009. The album consists of live recordings from his August 27, 2007 performance at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in support of his previous studio album, Release the Stars (2007). Documentary film director Albert Maysles recorded a film of the same name for DVD, also released on September 22 in the US.
Following Release the Stars, Wainwright embarked on a world tour which lasted from May 2007 to February 2008 and covered North American, Europe, Japan and Australia/New Zealand. Believing he found the right backing band and that his voice was on a "solid plateau", Wainwright had the August 27, 2007 concert at the Pabst Theater recorded. Wainwright met documentarian Albert Maysles through their mutual friend Sean Lennon, and Maysles said he was "ready, willing and available" to assist with the project. In a September 2009 interview, Wainwright stated his reason for recording the concert in Milwaukee:
I'm in love with that theater, the Pabst Theater. It used to be the center of opera for the Midwest; it's this beautiful opera house in the middle of a cornfield. And I love midwestern audiences. They're so appreciative, and they're not so jaded, and they're real.
Overall, reception of the album was positive. Allmusic's Matt Collar wrote that Milwaukee at Last!!! was reminiscent of the "opera-esque aspirations" of Wainwright's previous studio album Release the Stars, with the best material from that album being delivered in a "timely, dramatic fashion that makes for a well-paced listen". Collar complimented the album, stating it showcased Wainwright as a showman and a "deeply creative songwriter with a superb knack for live performance". In his review for the St. Petersburg Times, Sean Daly commended Wainwright's performance of "Release the Stars", claiming he "swoons like a besotted cabaret star on the eve of retirement". Gary Flockhart of The Scotsman called the album "slightly cheesy", but "brilliantly over-the-top" and "definitely another good album from the preening prima donna".
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