Hey guys sorry I keep posting in this thread after the fact when it's mean to be about shows you're looking forward to but SUFJAN STEVENS LAST NIGHT, OH MY GOD.
I saw him when he came out here in 2008 and while I thought it was a very good show I didn't think it was amazing, apart from in isolated moments like when he sang "Casimir Pulaski Day". Plus, even though I like the Age of Adz if you'd told me before last night's concert that his set would consist almost entirely of songs from that album I would've been underwhelmed.
But after seeing last night's show I think I appreciate and understand the album a whole lot more.
First up, the visuals: it's so rare in the indie world for a band to go all-out with the visuals, but Stevens' show was in a major theatre (allocated seating! A top-of-the-line sound-system and proper mixing!) and the show itself was suitably theatrical. The band's clothes were all adorned with fluorescent paint and fluorescent strips in various colours, and when the lights were dim they shone out amazingly. There was a backdrop behind the band onto which was projected brilliantly executed animations which actually related to and informed upon the songs being performed. During the finale (more about that later) Stevens adopted a succession of ridiculous head-dresses which made him look like he was auditioning for a part in some indie Village People act. Only in a good way. His back-up singers performed synchronised dance moves but not so slickly that it seemed over-rehearsed. In fact the whole thing had a lovely DIY aesthetic which stopped it all from seeming too slick.
There were eleven people on stage, including two drummers and two trombone players. The sound was absolutely huge. The experience was of an artist finally shaking of his past achievements and screaming in full flight into the future, and that excitement carried over into the audience.
The last song before the inevitable encore was "Impossible Soul" - all 25 minutes of it. Before performing it Stevens told the audience all about his experiences of beginning to write the Age of Adz, and about how he'd started experimenting with a different style of songwriting in which he went into the studio and started with a sound and saw where it took him, and explained that "Impossible Soul" was the culmination of that. By this stage I think even the Illinoise die-hards in the audience had been won over by the sheer power and exuberance of the show, but hearing him explain the process of starting making music again, and explain why Adz is so different from his previous work, it was impossible not to feel happy for the guy because he was so obviously relieved and excited about this new stage in his musical career. All the way through the set a translucent screen had been going up and down in front of the band, with images projected onto it, and then part-way into "Impossible Soul" another screen, previously unseen, in the shape of an enormous diamond, came down mid-stage, and the two dancers started dancing behind it, silhouetted, and different colours were projected onto it, and it looked amazing. And then, most extraordinary of all, at the peak of "Impossible Soul" just over half way through the song hundreds of balloons of all colours and sizes were loosed from the ceiling and fell down onto the audience, and there was an explosion of glitter on the stage, and the dancers encouraged everyone in the audience to stand up from their seats which everyone did in an incredible rolling wave from the front of the theatre to the back, and for the next ten minutes everyone in the audience was standing and dancing and batting balloons around to each-other and it was unbelievable, just the perfect joyous culmination to a spectacular gig.
There was about a five minute standing ovation before Stevens and then the band came back out onstage for the encore, which consisted of three songs from Illinoise: "Concerning the UFO sighting . . ." and "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." (both Stevens solo, first on piano then on guitar), and then, of course, "Chicago". And then it was over. Two hours precisely of one of the best and most amazing gigs I've ever been to.
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Topic: You people go to shows, right? What future shows are you excited about? (Read 940632 times)