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Great venue, great night. The band was tight, sound was great and they played a fabulous set list. The new music is great but the finish was worth the price of admission. Thanks for a great experience!
I don't feel like I went to see a concert by the singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens. Instead I went to see experimental theatre by the performer Sufjan Stevens. It was exciting, bombastic, interesting, a little self indulgent and overall a very entertaining night.
Gorgeous voice, the songs of "the age of adz" sounded differently live, in an amazing way. Even better to see him live. I loved his little dance, by the way!
This was honestly THE BEST show i've ever been to. Sufjan's voice is FLAWLESS and incredibly beautiful. Not to mention amazing back up vocals by Cryptacize member, Nedelle Torrisi.
The show was small and very packed but seeing Sufjan play a venue like that was unbelievable. His voice was better than expected and the songs tight. Played plenty of new material, all of which was different but not entirely out of touch with his earlier work. He was also surprisingly easy-going. Maybe I expected some bizarre introverted artist but he was funny and appreciative of the crowd (who were incorporated into a few songs). Another surprise were slight changes to almost all of his songs live. New horn parts or bridges were added making each song a new experience from the album versions. If you have any interest at all in his albums I suggest you see him live, especially at a small venue like Lee's.
"You Are The Blood", Sufjan Stevens contribution to the momentous Dark Was The Night compilation album earlier this year, a cover of a song by Asthmatic Kitty labelmates Castanets, showed the first signs of Stevens new form which reappeared in its most developed phase last night at Lee's Palace in Toronto. Five unreleased songs appeared last night, three of which (Impossible Souls, Age of Oddz, Too Much Love) never heard before this tour, that explored this new form incorporating synth drum sections, climactic horn movements, and Stevens new approach to the guitar,.something "You Are The Blood" did not prepare us for. Stevens has developed a style of playing guitar with a whammy pedal and his guitar's dive bar that forces each performance to be something new and exciting. Repeating the same musical phrases is nearly impossible at this point. It became clear by the end of the night what the motivations behind this tour were. In addition to breaking a dry spell of not touring and being forced to relearn old material (the band struggled through complex songs such as Detroit), the question on everyone's mind is: what will become of these new songs? And the answer for Stevens, fortunately, is that he does not know. All in all the new songs, in addition to the newly reinvented and fantastic All Delighted People, and the classic Majesty Snowbird (the only song which did not improve in this new format) from the "Majesty Snowbird Tour" make up an albums worth of material (around 50 minutes) despite only being five songs. Stevens himself at one point referred to his new material as very "indulgent". Whatever Stevens is working towards, it is not another State-album and does not sound like anything near a complete album. But the tour could not make more sense. Capturing Stevens in this transitional phase allowed for great moments and interactions with the crowd. At one point in Impossible Souls he asked guest vocal performer Nedelle Torrisi of Cryptacize "what's the next line" and then "oh yeah". On Detroit she briefly continued to repeat the chorus after it ended to everyone's amusement. Casimir Pulaski Day was briefly interrupted by Stevens guitar strap falling off. He assured panicked band members mid-verse that "its okay, i can just hold it". The enthusiastic crowd was rewarded with a two song encore despite the show running late and a nod to his Canadian audience with a cover of The Innocence Mission's The Lakes of Canada.
Awesome! ..hot, but worth it. Loved the virtual tickets which made it impossible for scalpers to get tickets... I think all concerts should be set up like this. This was the first concert I've even been to that didn't have even ONE scalper trying to make money of someone else... GREAT IDEA!
