Rufus Wainwright to perform new album Unfollow the Rules in livestream gig

Rufus Wainwright has announced he will perform his full forthcoming album this Saturday, June 27, during a livestream concert.

The singer-songwriter's Unfollow The Rules live show will start at 7pm BST on All Arts’ Facebook page.

Wainwright has termed the gig the ‘The Paramour Session’, after Los Angeles’ Paramour Ballroom.

“The Paramour Session will show a completely different side of ‘Unfollow the Rules’,” Wainwright said in a statement.

“Acoustic, stripped back, sparser, but in a Rufus Wainwrightian sense of course.”

The American-Canadian composer will be accompanied by a live string section, guitar and piano, with the pandemic forcing him to pare back his instrumentation.

“I want my fans to have an opportunity to hear the music live when the album comes out. The only way we can do this responsibly during these times is with acoustic instruments, and fewer musicians in a large space, where everyone can be six feet or more apart, with a super small crew.”

His new album Unfollow The Rules will be released on July 10, and will feature previously released tracks ‘Alone Time’, ‘Peaceful Afternoon’, ‘Damsel In Distress’, ‘Trouble In Paradise’ and ’You Ain’t Big’.

Wainwright recently announced a string of UK tour dates for October and November of this year.

“For me, thinking about this tour is like a light at the end of this dark tunnel that we are all in together,” he said at the time.

Rufus Wainwright took part in the ‘Stonewall Gives Back!’ concert in April and the ‘Royal Albert Home’ series during quarantine.