Recently, music guru Kyle England and I celebrated birthdays. They aren't on the same day mind you, but they are close enough that we like to go do something special, especially given that we have similar tastes when it comes to the arts. This year, the respective women in our lives sent us off to Las Vegas NV to take in some concerts. Actually, Kyle and I are concert whores. Between us, we've probably been to nearly two thousand shows. At some point, we at zboneman.com hope to make live concert reviews a regular feature on our site. With all the albums and movies we see, we get backed up from time to time, but sooner or later, it will happen. For now, I thought I'd give you a little insight into the shows we hit on this particular weekend.

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT

Rufus is the singing/songwriting son of folk legend Loudan Wainwright III. This guy has one powerful set of singing chops and has made quite the name for himself in the past few years with albums Rufus Wainwright, Poses and Want One as well as selections on soundtracks for Shrek and I Am Sam.

This isn't the first time Kyle and I had a chance to see him. Our first experience seeing Rufus live was during an opening slot for Sting a few years back. I'm a huge fan of the ex-Police front man, and at the time, I had just got into Wainwright's stuff. Certainly, I was excited two see these two performers on the same bill. Sadly, a good eighty percent of the crowd booed Mr. Wainwright for nearly his entire forty minute set. No shit! Despite our strongest efforts, Kyle and I couldn't get the noisy, disrespectful crowd around us to shut the hell up! I've seen crappy openers before and Wainwright was no crappy opener, but no one wanted to give him a chance. After that particular evening, we thought the chances of Rufus returning to Sin City were incredibly slim.

Cut to nearly four years later, he returned, only this time, it was with a full band and a brilliant album to support.

The setting was The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel. Kyle and I fully expected to walk into a room full of gay couples (Mr. Wainwright is a proud homosexual), but to our surprise, this wasn't the case at all. His audience was incredibly diverse. I don't want to give the impression that I'm some kind of a homophobic beast, because that's not the case at all. I'm just trying to illustrate the fact that through the years, Rufus Wainwright hasn't emerged as a phenomenal gay talent, he's emerged as a phenomenal talent period, and he proved it with an amazing two hour show featuring expertly crafted songs that could be best described as lush and theatrical.

Songs like "Movies of Myself" literally sent chills up my spine and Wainwright didn't miss a note. He was, if you'll pardon the pun, on fire. It should also be noted that this amazing song writer is also a great storyteller. He told a hilarious tale about meeting Celine Dion for the first time and while he painted the icon somewhat the bitch, he certainly displayed a fondness for her as well.

Wainwright is also a terrific showman. During an encore rendition of the stunning "Oh What A World", Rufus and his band hit the stage dressed as witches straight out of The Wizard of Oz. At the end of the song, Wainwright sank to the floor as if he were melting, and the crowd absolutely loved it.

Rufus Wainwright is an amazing talent. He fuses the best, swelling moments of a Broadway show tune with folk and a dash of alternative rock, and he does so with a rich, powerful voice. It's recently been reported that he's been courted to help develop a musical and he's also slated to appear in Martin Scorsese's upcoming Howard Hughes bio-pic The Aviator. The sky's the limit for this guy. If you haven't heard his stuff, you're really missing out. I suggest you pick up "Want One" (currently, he's working on the follow up "Want Two").

He may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I for one look forward to seeing his career blossom. He's that good. If you get a chance to see this guy live, by all means, go!

LIZ PHAIR

So Rufus Wainwright was amazing. During the course of this trip we also checked out Broken Lizard's hilarious flick Club Dread. It seemed only fitting that our final adventure would end the trip on a disappointing note. That disappointment came in the form of Liz "friggin" Phair.

The Boneman had warned me that she wasn't a very good live performer. He had seen her back in the day and confessed that he was less than impressed.

Phair has had a turbulent career to say the least. Early on, she developed a decent fan base mostly comprised of woman who identified with her chick power mentality, and in the beginning stages of her career, she did produce some fairly sizable hits such as the catchy "Supernova."

Oh, did I fail to mention that this woman is hot? She is incredibly sexy and her naughty, playful lyrics make her all the more attractive (check out a little ditty called "H.W.C. on her new album).

Phair has caught a lot of flack for her recent self titled album. Many of her original fan base have found it impossible to warm up to the poppy sensibility that's on full display on her latest disc. "Liz Phair" was produced by the all too smooth team known as "The Matrix," and not surprisingly, this gave the album an unwanted Avril Lavigne sound.

Still, Ms. Phair remains playful lyrically and there are plenty of gems to be found on the new album, provided you can forgive it for it's over produced style.

This brings us to Liz Phair live. The show took place at The House of Blues at The Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino.

Right out of the gate, I knew we were in trouble when Phair walked on stage with a head set microphone on her head." What? This isn't a rock show. This is a boring, bubble gum pop showcase and that isn't what I came to see!"

Still, I was willing to give the show a chance.

Unfortunately, just like a lousy episode of Saturday Night Live, the show never got better even as I sat there giving it every chance in the world to improve.

Firstly, there was zero energy. Phair looked genuinely bored up there. Sure, she's cute, but she looked like she could care less about the music.

Secondly, she couldn't play guitar and sing at the same time to save her life. She was completely out of rhythm and looked uncomfortable every step of the way.

At the very least, I thought there would be some kind of intensity to the old songs, but even they sounded stale. The show completely lacked energy, and because the audience was virtually comatose, Phair had nothing to feed on.

This was easily one of the worst shows I've ever seen. This isn't to say that I've sworn off Liz Phair. I'm still a big fan of her music and if I ever chose to see her live again, I hope she brings more to the table. Her early records suggest that she's got more fire than this.