{"id":1807,"date":"2010-10-25T06:10:42","date_gmt":"2010-10-25T14:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/?p=1807"},"modified":"2010-10-25T08:08:20","modified_gmt":"2010-10-25T16:08:20","slug":"sufjan-stevens-wiltern-lg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/?p=1807","title":{"rendered":"Sufjan Stevens, Wiltern LG"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I’d been looking forward to seeing Sufjan Stevens for quite some time. \u00a0 \u00a0Many years in fact, since after 2005’s Illinois he nearly gave up live performing – or at least touring.<\/p>\n

To my surprise the standing room only section at the Wiltern was filled with folding chairs. \u00a0Apparently someone had predetermined that this audience didn’t stand up, and they were right. \u00a0The only time anyone stood up was before Sufjan came back for the first (and only) encore. \u00a0If I’d have known that I wouldn’t have purposefully picked loge seating. \u00a0Every other concert I’ve attended at the wiltern in the lower section has been a disaster; people pack in like sardines and there is always some jerk pushing people around, forcing thyself in front of you, or just plain seven feet tall blocking your view. \u00a0I decided after seeing Mogwai a few years ago that I’d always buy Loge seats from then on. \u00a0So – of course, at this show, everyone downstairs is sitting nice and polite like.<\/p>\n

There wasn’t an official opening act. \u00a0The internet had reported that a band would open, but instead Sufjan’s pianist and friend DM <\/a>Stith<\/a> played four songs. \u00a0DM Stith is just one guy and a guitar. \u00a0It reminded me a lot of Glen Hansard’s busking act.<\/p>\n

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Sufjan opened with Seven Swans and once complete introduced himself, dispelling any myth about the proper pronunciation of his name. \u00a0I now finally know it is “soof – eee- yon.”<\/p>\n

He then proceeded to play 75% of his new album Age of Adz. \u00a0Some of this sounded much better with live instrumentation (Sufjan experimented with beatboxes and electronica on this album), especially the ending of the title track. \u00a0Sufjan would later explain, in an EIGHT MINUTE SPEECH before Get Real Get Right, that the entire album, and the imagery used were based on the life and art of Royal Robinson<\/a>. \u00a0Many songs (mostly those from Age of Adz) featured fantastical animated spaceship\/planet\/monsters imagery projected on a giant screen behind the performers. \u00a0The ending of Age of Adz in particular, with a descent through a long winding staircase in space reminded me of the ending of the live interpretation of Lateralus on Tool’s 2001 tour.<\/p>\n

Before getting to Age of Adz Sufjan played Too Much, which had a collage of what I guess I’d describe as narcissistic hipster imagery projected behind the band. \u00a0In the photo below he’s wearing a mask, but in most of the other photos the figure was clearly Sufjan himself just dancing around wearing a hipster tank-top and “vogueing.”<\/p>\n

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That was my first clue that Sufjan had taken an unfortunate turn as an artist… but more on that later…<\/p>\n

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Below is a shot from the beginning of Age of Adz showing Royal’s painting (and album cover) on the big screen.<\/p>\n

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I wasn’t able to capture it in a photograph, but during many songs a veil of thin material came down over the band. \u00a0This had two purposes. \u00a0#1 It made the band look fuzzy like a photo from an old camera (or a new camera with Vaseline on the lens) \u00a0#2 The fabric was actually a thin projector screen, and once in place crazy visuals were broadcast in front of the band, like on the song Vesuvius lava bubbled up until eventually rising above the band. \u00a0The screen was opaque though – so lots of light and visuals still came through from behind with spotlights circling and flashing silhouettes of the band on both screens from time to time.<\/p>\n

Towards the end of the night Sufjan announced that we’d better get ready for a long 25 minute journey (or something like that). \u00a0I groaned. \u00a0This meant we were going to be treated to the new song Impossible Soul, which takes basically one melody and tries to play it in as many genres as possible. \u00a0Now this wouldn’t be too bad, except for the fact that after the first ten minutes one of the genres was rap.<\/p>\n

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This hip hop element was no surprise at this point in the show though. \u00a0A few earlier songs from Age of Adz had embraced a hip-hop aesthetic, with Sufjan and his crew donning various paraphernalia and dancing appropriately. \u00a0The “funk” portion of Impossible Soul was particularly egregious though as, to my surprise, Sufjan dashed artistic credibility to the wind and turned on Auto Tune. \u00a0 Yes, Sufjan Stevens, the guy who wrote whole albums about states in the union, and writes melodies on the banjo…. used autotune.<\/p>\n

Why? \u00a0I have no idea. \u00a0But I certainly feel “becked.” \u00a0In 2002 Beck released Sea Change. \u00a0That album was his best album, devoid of any electronic influence, a stripped down almost “country” album. \u00a0It didn’t sell well (of course), but critics united in it’s praise. \u00a0So, I was determined to catch Beck the next time he was in town (Columbus at the time). \u00a0Soon, tour dates were released including the Wexner Center. \u00a0To my dismay he played almost the entire album Midnight Vultures, complete with a crew dressed up in 70s bellbottoms and fros with psychedelic\/disco visuals. \u00a0I was horrified and felt betrayed. \u00a0I had come to see him perform the only Beck album that rolling stone gave a five star review to – and I got “Sexx Laws” instead.<\/p>\n

Sufjan’s embracing of hip hop felt a little weird – but autotune crossed the line – and by the way – Sufjan, you’re a little late to the party. \u00a0It was LAST SUMMER that a rapper already\u00a0released\u00a0a song called Death of Auto Tune. \u00a0At one point Sufjan ran to the front of the stage with his dancers and started break dancing (or something, I’m not up on hip-hop dance moves).<\/p>\n

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To assuage the older fans like me, the next song was Chicago, which somehow felt a little forced.<\/p>\n

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Then it was off to the dressing room before an encore.<\/p>\n

The encore was a little strange. \u00a0The songs were all done with little instrumentation. \u00a0It started with Sufjan by himself on stage standing at the piano playing Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois. \u00a0 After that was an acoustic version of Casimir Pulaski Day, then a four man banjo group version of That Dress Looks nice on You, which I enjoyed but many around me in the audience seemed confused by. \u00a0To end the show Sufjan, alone on a darkened stage, fingerpicked his guitar and sang John Wayne Gacy, Jr.<\/p>\n

I heard people in the audience complain about the encore as they walked out. \u00a0Most of them thought it was “weird” that he ended the concert with such a depressing song about killing people. \u00a0Apparently these were fans that had never listened to Illinois in its entirety. \u00a0I almost agree with them though. \u00a0Rock and Roll tradition has certainly been to “rock the F out” on the final song and end with a bang. \u00a0An encore of acoustic numbers felt kind of like an afterthought to satisfy the “old folks” in the audience who had expected to hear older material.<\/p>\n

Complete setlist:<\/p>\n

Seven Swans<\/p>\n

Too Much<\/p>\n

Age of Adz<\/p>\n

Heirloom<\/p>\n

I Walked<\/p>\n

Futile Devices<\/p>\n

Vesuvius<\/p>\n

Now That I’m Older<\/p>\n

Get Real Get Right<\/p>\n

Enchanting Ghost<\/p>\n

Impossible Soul<\/p>\n

Chicago<\/p>\n

(encore)<\/p>\n

Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland Illinois<\/p>\n

Casimir Pulaski Day<\/p>\n

Dress Looks Nice on You<\/p>\n

John Wayne Gacy, Jr.<\/p>\n

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On the way to the car I noticed I’d parked right around the corner from Cafe Jack, which I’d always heard about but never seen: the coffee shop in a boat.<\/p>\n

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Here is someone else’s photo of it during the day:<\/p>\n

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On Sunday Sam and I went to the Melrose Trading Post to look for the “branch of life LA” booth that I blogged about after seeing on the Art Walk. \u00a0We walked around the entire thing twice and couldn’t find it. \u00a0We did, however, run into Sam’s coworkers who had a booth selling Halloween costumes there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’d been looking forward to seeing Sufjan Stevens for quite some time. \u00a0 \u00a0Many years in fact, since after 2005’s Illinois he nearly gave up live performing – or at least touring. To my surprise the standing room only section at the Wiltern was filled with folding chairs. \u00a0Apparently someone had predetermined that this audience […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1807"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1809,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1807\/revisions\/1809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}