I ended up getting the last ticket to the show (long story) and having to go by myself. It turned out I could not sell the ticket because it was set up to prevent scalpers which is cool I guess.
Anyway, I get there and it was this cool venue that is basically a huge cavernous basement. It was a pretty tight venue. I am horrible at guessing sizes of crowds but it couldn't have been much more than 500 people. No wonder it sold out so insanely fast.
I joined the tight group of crazy Sufjan fans at the front of the stage. I met some cool people and swapped Sufjan stories. It was cool just feeling the vibe.
I have never been the type of person who would get excited about seeing a famous person. The only time was when I wanted to kick Micheal Moore off the ramparts when we saw him in the south of France. But there was definitly something going on when he walked out on the stage and started to help set up instruments for the opener's opening band. I had to keep reminding myself that this is kind of crap that Sufjan himself would despise. Why are we worshipping him? So that was pretty much going through my mind in endless circles the first several minutes of seeing him. Am I a messed up indie-boy or what? I could have reached through the crowd and grabbed his ankle, I was that close to him. Weirdest. Feeling. Ever.Anyway, it was a sweet show. The openers where Montreal band Shapes and Sizes who where a last minute add-on. Interesting but they need a bit of work live. Possibly because they were doing it at the last minute and where missing someone. The second band was Cryptacize who where pretty much awesome. I definitely want to check out more of them....
When Sufjan started up you could have heard a pin drop in the epic quiet parts and the sound of everyone whisper-singing along for Casimir Pulaski Day was something I will never forget.
The trumpets where a super nice touch that I wasn't really expecting. The trumpets simply "make" Chicago.
And two crazy things happened at this show. Right in the middle of one of the super intense new songs a girl behind me fainted. The whole concert stopped. The lights came on, Sufjan and the band started asking questions, someone told Sufjan that he was too intense and eventually the girl woke up and was escorted out. Sufjan decided to skip the rest of that song and the show continued.
The second thing was the encore. First the band went off and after the obligatory cheering some came back and they did a few more songs. But then the lights came on, the radio came on and it was pretty clear that the concert was over. But no one (and seriously NO ONE) was leaving. Everyone kept cheering at chanting 'One More Song'. This went on for probably 20 or 25 minutes and I had decided that since I was so close to the front and the venue was so small I was not going to leave. But sure enough Sufjan came back on (looked reluctant) and did another song. Everybody was going crazy but of course it quieted right down when he started to play. Gotta love indie folk-rock shows.
Anyway, it was a fantastic time and I can now cross that off my list of Life Goals. Next is to do the El Camino de Santiago.
2 comments:
So what song were they playing when the girl fainted?
And what song was the encore's encore?
Aaand pretty much what was the whole setlist?
PS. I'll never forgive you... :P
The encore was John Wayne Gacy and the unplanned encore's encore (after an eternity of cheering) was There's Too Much Love.
The song where the girl fainted was a new one that I don't know the name of.
He played all the classics and probably about 4 or 5 new songs.
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