I apologize for the length of time between posts about the Sufjan concert, its just taken me that long for the awesomeness of the night to finally sink in. But seriously, the performance at the Paramount was one of the best (if not the best) concerts I've ever been to.
It was the first time I had ever been to the Paramount Theatre, which I was a little bummed out about at first because I think that a general admission show is the best way to see music in a live setting. After everything was said and done Sunday night, however, I realized that the Paramount was a nice change of pace (dare I say classy?).
We arrived midway through opener, My Brightest Diamond's set, having never heard her before (aside from some myspace streaming), I was pretty blown away by her vocal ability, and her performance really set the crowd up for what was about to happen. Sufjan came out after a lengthy intermission (that's what those civilized theatre-goers call it, right?), and played an awesome set that included selections from Illinois, Michigan, Seven Swans, some new material, and even a Christmas song. This was the last stop on the tour and it sounded like it, the backing band (or shall I say orchestra) was flawless, and Sufjan had a slightly hoarse voice (which was only evident when he was speaking in between songs). One thing that surprised me about Sufjan's live performance was his onstage banter, listening to his albums I had always figured him as more of a soft-spoken individual, but this was definitely not the case. He rambled on telling some pretty off the wall stories, some of which either went nowhere, or were used as song introductions. One example was a story about a plastic owl that was placed on a stool next to him that was stolen outside of a Perkins restaurant in Columbus Ohio... totally random. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not criticizing Sufjan's stage banter, it was actually really funny, and quite entertaining-- a good change of pace, after you've heard an entire song about a serial killer.
Highlights of the set included a solo acoustic performance of John Wayne Gacy Jr., a slightly more uptempo rendition of The Predatory Wasp (with a minute long piano/guitar freakout at the end), Jacksonville, Lord God Bird, Majesty Snowbird (also with an extended freakout session not heard on the previously posted mp3), and of course, the encoure, Chichago. My only beef with the setlist was that he didn't play 'That Dress Looks Nice on You', one of my favorites from Seven Swans (hey, there's always next time). In all, it was a great night of music, one that will be hard for me to top in the future, and I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I'm pretty excited to see what Soof comes up with next.
Here's the original Christmas song Sufjan performed: That Was the Worst Christmas Ever!
be sure and check out the 5-disc Christmas album from Sufjan and friends when it comes out November 21st.
On another note, fuck the police. Seriously.
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