Live Review: Sufjan Stevens

As the spotlight shone solely on Stevens and his guitar for Death With Dignity, grainy footage of young children and families lit up the multiple hanging LED screens, long slivers arranged like stained-glass window panes; across the set, family and nature scenes recurring. Carrie & Lowell tracks continued until the album’s penultimate song, some kept in their stripped-back form – guitars, piano, drums, banjo, bar chimes – while others were rearranged, heightened. All Of Me Wants All Of You became a trip-hop freak-out more in the vein The Age Of Adz, Stevens getting loose in the legs. Fourth Of July had its contrast turned up, stunning in all its light and shade, sustained notes, the buzz of the bass and the plink of piano keys as Stevens and co-crooned “We’re all gonna die” and the purple spotlights spun in a Mexican wave. The 1-2-3-4 thud of the drum amplified the dizzying array of emotions coursing through the hall for this conversation between Stevens and his dying mother. Two-thirds into the set, Stevens finally spoke, firstly thanking us, then launching into a lengthy monologue about life, death and mortality. He told us about his uni basketball team’s assistant coach, Bob, whose catchphrase was, “Look alive out there!” He admitted he scoffed at that back then – “Can you tell me something a little more sophisticated?” – but has grown to make it his prayer: “It’s very simple and profound... look alive and be alive.” Then the first riff of Casimir Pulaski Day drew elated gasps and claps from the crowd. “Sorry, all my songs are about death, even the happy strummy ones,” Stevens said afterwards. 

It seemed the most affecting moments were the songs at both ends of the Sufjan spectrum. On one side, there were vocal-and-guitar songs like No Shade In The Shadow Of The Cross, with Steven’s syrupy vibrato on show and the male-female harmonies just flawless, as they also are in To Be Alone With You, which had us all in awed silence until seconds after the last note rang out. On the other end of the scale, Steven’s folk metamorphosed into an unrecognisable beast, as with the extended orchestral post-rock version of set and Carrie & Lowell closer Blue Bucket Of Gold, which induced some sort of spiritual high among audience members (religious beliefs or lack thereof regardless), in part thanks to the two disco balls peeking out behind the LED screens sending hundreds of little light rays running over every surface. The powerful sound washed over us in waves, the intensity rattling our bones. Everyone leapt to their feet in the first of two standing ovations for the night. The four-song encore began and ended with two much-loved Illinois tracks, Concerning The UFO Sighting... and Chicago, respectively, a perfect conclusion to a two-hour event that had everyone feeling like changed people. Observing punters exiting the hall, one could see many dazed, flushed faces and hear breathless exclamations. That’s the kind of electric, lingering effect a Sufjan Stevens concert tends to produce.