So Sufjan Stevens was in Dublin last night at the Olympia and I went with Tyler, a friend from CFI (Matt, through a series of unfortunate events, was unable to attend.)


St Vincent opened the show - just herself and her guitar. She's quite a musician, and let's just say her songs matched the unique, interesting feel of the evening (you can hear some of her stuff on myspace, here).

Sufjan was, quite simply, amazing. First of all, he brought along his whole darn band, which includes a five piece horn section (!), drummer, 2 guitars, St Vincent on bass and a harpsichord thingy, and Sufjan himself played guitar, piano, and banjo (all very well, i might add).

The theme for the night/tour is flight (apparently), so the whole gang had on huge sets of wings made from kites. And he played every song he has that has anything to do with birds, flying, wings, UFOs, wasps, etc. It was a good setlist, mixed from various albums - 1 or 2 from Michigan and Seven Swans, quite a few from Illinois, a Christmas song and one or two new ones.

The thing about Sufjan is that you're never quite sure how seriously to take him. The whole concert event has a bit of a fantasy feel to it, like something Sufjan would have thought of when he was 5 or 6 and then recreated it with a bunch of really good musicians. It's like a thrown together church pageant by overly creative and bored people. His stories are fanciful, the costumes are funny, and the songs vascilate between silly and powerfully serious. Even the set is outrageous - they start the concert with 20-25 inflatable Santas and Supermen that get thrown into the crowd at specific songs.

Tyler and I were chatting as well at how interesting it is that so many people like Stevens and this type of extravaganza. One of the first songs they played is called 'The Transfiguration', which literally just recounts the biblical story of the transfiguration. And people went wild after he played it. Go figure. I found the concert to be an intensely spiritual experience at times, but also had a great time and found myself smiling or laughing out loud throughout the evening.

A few songs didn't get played (would have liked to hear 'Decatur' and 'Casimir Pulaski Day'), but some of the highlights for me were: Chicago, The Predatory Wasp, John Wayne Gacy Jr, The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts, That Dress Looks Nice on You, and, last but not least, Jacksonville - which they ended with, and was fantastic.

Long story short: if you ever get the chance to see Sufjan and his travelling companions, do it while you can.

By the way, Sufjan has a new Christmas album out, and you can listen to it streaming here.