Rufus Wainwright may be an acclaimed musician, but even he makes mistakes from time to time.
Wainwright made several errors throughout his performance Friday night, each time smoothly starting over, but the audience only cheered louder and clapped harder than ever.
"You think Mozart ever did that?" he asked after hitting a wrong note.
Headlining the Social Planning and Events Committee's fall concert at Irvine Auditorium, Wainwright drew a sold-out crowd of about 1,260, according to SPEC Concerts co-Director Matt Mizrahi.
The Canadian-American performer, known for his rendition of the song "Hallelujah" in the movie "Shrek," entered the stage an hour into the show to a thunderous audience reaction.
Wainwright worked up the audience with his words as well as his songs. Cheers and applause turned into shouts of "Hey!" in response to his comments on Penn.
"Can we talk about how beautiful this campus is? It's gorgeous," Wainwright said. "Especially considering what surrounds it - . it's very scary around here."
The performer also injected his politics into the show.
He told the audience that after he had been away on a trip to Europe, "finally the Republicans start to crumble," adding "there's going to be a reckoning occurring" in American politics.
He later dedicated his song "Gay Messiah" to former Rep. Matt Foley (R-Fla.), who has been in the news for a sex scandal involving a former page. The song's refrain features the lyrics "better pray for your sins."
The concert attracted an eclectic crowd which formed a line that curved more than halfway around Irvine before the show.
Most echoed the sentiments of Wharton junior Ben Linder, who considers himself a "very big [Wainwright] fan."
Justin Twardy, who came from the Princeton Theological Seminary to hear Wainwright play, said he has been named the number-one Rufus Wainwright fan in the nation according to the social music Web site Last.fm.
Musician Jill Stevenson, a relative unknown, opened for Wainwright, saying the event was "the biggest gig I have ever had."
After an audience member yelled out "Have my baby," she added the phrase into her next song to roaring applause.
