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A beautiful and excited crowd politely stormed the gates of The Paramount theater Friday night to catch one of indie-rock's most unlikely superheroes, Sufjan Stevens. Arguably the most anticipated and talked-about show of the year this side of The Stones, Sufjan and his prodigious backing band provided a salivating audience of Austinites a glimpse into their corn pone mystique, and we weren't disappointed. If anything, as many questions were raised as were answered about one of recent music's most curious and potent success stories.
Opener My Brightest Diamond's brief set threatened to upstage even Stevens with her engaging stage banter and incredible pipes. Channeling Joni Mitchell in her heyday, lead singer Shara Worden placated then blew away the restless crowd with genre-defying material and masterful musicianship. At one point, abdicating his throne, the drummer positioned himself and his drumsticks in front of a Steinway. As Worden began to sing, the sound of taut piano wire being strummed and struck converted any in the crowd who doubted the strange, energetic songstress. If her album is anywhere near as good as her stage show, don't hesitate to purchase it.
Steven's career has led him to wear many hats: "World" musician, lo-fi folkie, bedroom electronica composer, and mini-symphony conductor, to name a few. Friday night, he inhabited another identity. Opening with "Sister" off of Seven Swans, the show began in familiar territory, climaxing in gorgeous crescendo. Having noticed during their silent entrance that each of the 15 members of his band were wearing sets of matching butterfly wings, Stevens explained their presence at the end of the first song. Requesting that he be referred to as "His Majesty Snowbird" and his backers as "The Chinese Butterfly Brigade", Stevens then picked up a banjo and launched into a slightly sped up, yet equally precious version of "Casimir Pulaski Day."
As video montages played in the background, changing with each song, Stevens and Co. went on to perform a well-picked array from his last three albums. "Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head" from 2004's Greetings From Michigan, chugged along agreeably. Getting the jump on post-Halloween merriment, he played "That Was the Worst Christmas Ever", followed by the unabashedly religious "The Transfiguration," predating his "crossover" albums.
Stage banter was limited to various bashful permutations of "It is so good to be here" (although at one point he seemed to forget what city he was in -- big no-no, Sufjan). Notable blurts include his spoken epilogue to a song about supercomputers: "i know there are so many songs about the supercomputer... it's such a cliche, I couldn't help it." Cue audience laughter. Before beginning "Jacksonville," he noted that the city was "a small town with a big heart." Aww, snuggles.
To sate those who'd arrived hoping to catch a glimpse of things to come, Stevens introduced a new selection from a "series of songs about birds" called, coincidentally "Majesty Snowbird." A lengthy piece, it showcased Stevens' hallmarks: a series of mini-climaxes, exhausting dynamic switcheroos, and meticulous arrangement all bolted together by an ironclad musical theme. Its inevitable, dramatic conclusion arrived in the midst of a Trans-Siberian Orchestra-esque octave-stacked guitar solo, complete with key modulations that even Yanni would blush at. It was both exhilarating and a little confusing. Were we witnessing Stevens' evolution into orchestral Prog-Rocker?
The set ended with the tender and towering "All The Trees Of the Field Will Clap Their Hands," at which point Stevens and the band left the stage to a standing ovation. After what seemed like an unusually grueling bout of encore applause, Stevens returned with four of his bandmates to perform "John Wayne Gacey" and "The Dress Looks Nice On You." After so many go-for-broke renditions of his pieces requiring a larger band, the smaller ensemble was a refreshing twist. Both songs captured the beautiful sparseness of Sufjan's earlier albums, with each person onstage contributing delicately, perfectly.
In closing, a reluctant shout-out to the "heathens" who denigrate this pious prodigy. With every set of wings that awkwardly brushed against a live microphone, creating an unpleasant scraping sound in the main speakers, Stevens' superfluous cloying became a little more inescapable. To name a common gripe, his last few albums have trended to include ever more preposterous song titles. Like a grade school history-bee champ with Tourette's, Illinois, in particular, has annoyed a few. Also, his lack of stage presence and negligible connection with the audience won't do much to assuage those who see more sanctimonious posturing than substance.
Whether he chooses to wear the mantle or not, he comes across as a tiny Mozart performing miniature symphonies with more precocity and less bravado. Unfortunately, there are many Salieris at the gates, searching for ways to undermine his burgeoning legacy. This multi-instrumentalist, who has wowed millions with his catalog's unapologetic beauty, has also possibly set himself up for failure, cobbling ever larger shoes to fill for himself and his music. Yet, as much of his material deals with searching for the redeemable in the seemingly lost, whether it be states, cities, bible characters, or himself, lets hope that His Majesty Snowbird remains humble and keeps his feet on the ground.
Considering that he plays on his tiptoes, that might be too much to hope for. But it's certainly endearing.
Flickr photo by Clare Yee Yee
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great review.
amazing show.
i heart the harmonizing violinist. let her know, please. thanks.
It was pretty damned amazing from my viewpoint and I was very glad I skipped out on Van Morrison for the show.
The Saturday show was awesome...Sounds like he played almost the exact same show both nights.
Witnessing the savior of American(a) music in his 'youth' sure was something to write home about. Feel free to download a desktop image from Saturday night:
800x600px:
http://tinyurl.com/rpqh8
1024x768px:
http://tinyurl.com/qgscl
1152x768px:
http://tinyurl.com/pzd96
1600x1200px:
http://tinyurl.com/rnh9r
Photo Credit: Chris @ gorillavsbear.blogspot.com
whoa, nice wallpaper
no offense, but i'd say that's a rather naive statement to make, no matter how good his music is. you're one of those "rock is dead", "rock is back" people aren't you?
the show saturday night was great. does anyone have a set list?
My introduction to Stevens was at the ACL taping at the KLRU studio on Sunday night. His performance and material were mesmerizing. Haven't heard any of his work on CD.
I, too, used to love Sufjan. Then I saw his show, which was like sitting too close to a Boy Scout earning his Eagle or the golden boy of a church choir that loves himself way more than anyone, even you crazed fans, ever ever could.
The reviewer here for the most part is crazy in love with his royal songbirdness, but even though I can tell he's cribbing from other reviews, I'm glad that even this congregation member sees the negligible connection bit and continues to entertain the possibility that it's a lot of sanctimonious posturing. And while the idea that Sufjan could ever hope to "remain" humble seems like it is too late by about 23 years, the idea of him being a tiny Mozart came across to me during the show, too.
In AMADEUS Mozart comes off as a total prick with his little laugh and everything, but obviously his music has transcended his own personality defects. And yes, you can argue that the music couldn't have even existed without those defects, and the same is true of Sufjan – the sweeping grandiosity of the string section (whether they're "his band" or not) can't exist without the sweepingly grandiose way Sufjan likes to see Sufjan in his mind's eye.
Whether the world of indie rock works the same way as the world of classical music… I think we'll have to wait 200 years to know for sure. For my part, I'd argue that he's not doing anything fully original enough the way Mozart did and the way The Flaming Lips do or The Beatles did. Give Coldplay or Snow Patrol a little backing from the Tosca String Quartet and you've pretty much got the same thing musically. Lyrically, obviously, Coldplay and Snow Patrol go after the songs about broken hearts and the sweeping grandiosity of love itself instead of trying to prove how awesome they are by playing vaguely Nabokovian mind games of mixing in metaphors and wordplay, but that's why they get to be on MTV while Sufjan gets to have all the hipster kids who are too cool for songs about love.
Wonderful review, and totally fair criticism, if I do say so myself. It's the cloying that irks me, and I'm not sure if I'll ever get over it.
So maybe the criticism seems fair because it's my own, but I'm not sure if seeing him play would have done much to change my mind overall. I'm willing to admit he's a talented musician, and I'm even willing to admit that his compositions are inspiring at times and even bordering on brilliant, but at the end of the day, I can't like everything that's brilliant, right or wrong.
Mighty Beast: while I wouldn't be quite so willing to throw the Colplay comparison into the ring (despite my reservations about Sufjan, Martin & Co. make my skin crawl these days in a much worse way), I can see where you're coming from. "Too cool for songs about love" strikes me as particularly apt in this case: it always seemed to me like the Sufjan set is more in love with the self-conscious and unnecessary insertion of intellectualisms he's so very fond of (and look at me, taking part), leaning on the "but he's a genius" explanation to support their mystic relationship with things we aren't even sure Sufjan himself understands.
In any event, the never-ending conversation about him is always interesting to me, I love to hear what other people's impressions are.
mightybest you're entitled to your opinions.
accusing this review er of plaigarism is another thing. we here write because we love to write. we don't troll the internet in search of blobs of text to repackage.
just'cause you don't like where i'm coming from doesn't mean you need to demean this website and debate with unfounded criticisms.
for pete's sake, can't we keep it real?
What's up with the foundation-free meta-critique, there, Mighty? "Cribbing"? Are you from the past?
Damnit, I'm sorry. Now I'm meta-critiquing too. Now no one will read my mighty wind either. And since no one will be reading... milkshakes make me poop.
truecraig,
theres a place for people with your problem. you're not alone.
www.themilkshakemakesmepoopgroup.org
be strong, bro.
I attended both the Friday Paramount show and the Sunday KLRU ACL taping. I found Sufjan to be much more endearing and present on Sunday than he was on Friday. And despite any hint of the grandiose, it was the most awe-inspiring and even magical show I've ever seen, and I'm not ashamed to admit it.
i was at the same shows as katy and agree that the quality of the music and the sincerity of his performance outweighed sufjan's grandiosity. not sure it was as good as damien rice at the paramount in 2003, however.
To be clear:
I wasn't accusing anyone of plagiarism with my "cribbing" comment. I just meant that to point out that I haven't read much of anything else about Sufjan online and it seemed apparent that you had in the way you were talking about the critiques other people have had of Sufjan. And reading those other things is obviously not a bad thing and is totally what you should do when you're writing for the love of writing. And while I don't agree with your love of His Royal Pompous Eagle Scoutbird, I actually dug the writing. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have read far enough down through the review before just posting a COMPLETELY sophomoric critique of the show where I said something more like, "Sufjan smells like dirty cheese when he forgets to wear his sleeves on stage for his encore."
Hm. That would have summed up my thoughts in far fewer words...
ok, mightybest. thanks for the clarification!
Here are the other setlist from this weekend:
Saturday - 9/16
1. Sister
2. Lord God Bird
3. Casimir Pulaski Day
4. Detroit
5. To Be Alone With You
6. Dear Mr. Supercomputer
7. Jacksonville
8. Predatory Wasp
9. Abraham
10. A Good Man is Hard to Find
11. Majesty Snowbird
12. Seven Swans
Encore
13. Chicago
Sunday - 9/17 - Austin City Limits Taping
1. Lord God Bird
2. Casimir Pulaski Day
3. Jacksonville
4. Wasp
5. Detroit
6. A Good Man Is Hard To Find
7. The Dress Looks Nice On You
8. Chicago
(taping was done with the wings on!)
i loved your review!
just one question for ya: do you know when this will be airing on the teevee?
Austin City Limits will present Sufjan Stevens followed by Calexico on Saturday, Nov. 17.
MightyBest, you seem to have some serious reservations against Sufjan, and that's fine. But not if you make rash, unwarranted comments because of those reservations. You are attacking the character of Sufjan Stevens. I don't think that's fair, when it sounds like you are just sick of the praise he recieves.