Now that it's all sunk in...
So last Thursday started off with me oversleeping and missing philosophy. Oops. I dragged myself to World Art and got my exam back. Then I went to Common Hour and watched the acapella groups. They were good, but nothing could prepare me for the music I would hear later. I spent the rest of the afternoon fiddling around with Tristan's camera and compulsively changing my away message. Normally I have drawing on Thursday nights, but I decided to skip for the sake of Sufjan. I felt (notice use of past tense) guilty for lying to Warwick's face, since he's one of the nicest and most sane professors at the college. The concert, however, proved to be far better than learning about one-point perspective.
Nelson was a little later than expected because he was on-call. We rolled out at 5 and arrived in Lancaster around 6:30. I assumed Sufjan to still be relatively unknown. Boy, was I wrong! The line wrapped around the building, tons of indie/emo kids...with their parents. Real hardcore, guys. It was about a 20 minute wait before they started letting people in. We were surrounded by smokers the entire time. I guess getting lung cancer is the "edgy" thing to do these days. And can somebody tell me what kind of human being brings their iPod to a concert...
As soon as we got inside, we obviously tried to get the best view possible. This was a bit difficult considering the height difference between me and Nelson. We ended up being on opposite sides of the room. Nelson stuck out like a sore thumb. He's not what I would call your typical concert-goer. A few people were quite keen on dancing and violating his personal space, which I feel bad about.
I e-mailed the club earlier in the week, asking them about the schedule. They said that the doors open at 6 and the the opening act would go on at 6:30 for a 45 minute set. That plan got shot to hell. No sign of Mr. Stevens or his band onstage, just the occasional roadie. The club served us pizza and we waited for another half hour before Sufjan finally appeared. He introduced Half-handed Cloud, a one man band. His songs were very brief, but catchy. He didn't have a whole lot of range so he squeaked out the high notes. He was funny to watch because he tried to incorporate different instruments all by himself. Sufjan helped out once or twice, on drums and also some rubber tube that sounded like an oboe. Half-handed Cloud's set was 15 minutes at most. I don't know if the club was just completely clueless or if they cut it down since they were so late with letting people in.
Another 20 minutes of waiting, it was after 8:00 at this point. The crowd was getting pretty restless. Sufjan finally pranced out in his flashy patriotic jumpsuit, accompanied by the Illinoisemakers in their cheerleader attire. Sufjan is very awkward on stage but he's got a good sense of humor. The backup vocalists were never off-key and always full of energy. I give them a lot of credit. I had heard some reports of the trumpet player being sloppy, but I didn't notice anything major. They did lots of cheering, Sufjan gave some geographical commentary, and they performed all but three songs (no title track? weird) from Illinoise. I cannot describe the feeling I had watching him. Every emotion I experienced while listening to the album was magnified tenfold. He was absolutely stellar. Also, he extended the end of "Predatory Wasp" and kind of went crazy. To some it might be creative, but to most it would just be considered noise. It was very reminiscent of the stuff he did before the 50 States Project.
Nelson got a good laugh when Sufjan realized (in the middle of playing) he hadn't tuned his guitar for "Chicago" and one of the Illinoisemakers joked that he didn't stretch properly. It didn't detract from the performance at all, it just made the experience that much more real and memorable. He's not some flawless rock god, just an incredibly talented human being.
I really hate to complain since I had the opportunity to see his last show for the US tour, but I have to get it off my chest:
(1) I've read his set lists from other shows and it's far more extensive than the one he played in Lancaster. Thank you, fascists of Pennsylvania, for the 10 o'clock curfew!
(2) The crowd sucked for a couple reasons. They were unbelievably rude. They talked during his performance and clapped whenever the hell they felt like it. Second, they were not what I'd consider fans. Nobody was mouthing the words and they kept consulting the CD track list. It just seemed like very few people were familiar with anything pre-Illinoise.
(3) I know the club has to do its job to keep everybody safe, but they were still kind of douchebags. It was really just a terrible venue compared to the Paradise Rock Club or The Big Easy. Overall, just a very small and uncomfortable environment.
^ I don't want to sound ungrateful, but any seasoned concert-goer will tell you how important that stuff is.
The show was over around 9:45 and we went to hit up the merch table. They had some older albums and t-shirts. For one reason or another, they only had mediums. I loved watching all the indie/emo kids sulk because there weren't any smalls. Did you ever think about shrinking them? Idiots. We each bought one for ten bucks (what a steal!) and went outside to find about fifty kids, waiting to jump Sufjan. I obviously would've loved an autograph or a photo opp, but I heard he's not the best with dealing with fans. He's not mean, just uncomfortable with his newfound popularity. I'd hate for him to feel overwhelmed and I hope he made a clean getaway. The police were also roaming around to enforce the curfew, so I decided the best idea was just to leave.
I was worried Nelson wasn't going to enjoy himself. I wasn't sure it was his kind of music, but I saw him foot-tapping and nodding his head. He seemed really quite blown away once we left the club and he asked me lots of questions about Sufjan. Aside from the will-call thing, I really have no regrets. Anything negative that happened was basically out of my control, so I can't be too bitter about it. I also wish that Amanda, Tristan, Leah, Vourn, and Heather (who cares if you saw him already? haha) were able to make it, but hey, he's got 48 more states to write about!
I cannot possibly review each and every song, although you may have expected me to since I took so long to post this! My journal has lacked substance for months, so I hope that my musings and the media below make up for it...
SET LIST
1. The 50 States
2. The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders
3. Prairie Fire That Wanders About
4. Intro Cheer and Decatur
5. They are the Night Zombies!
6. Casimir Pulaski Day
7. John Wayne Gacy Jr.
8. Intro Cheer and Chicago
9. Intro Cheer and Jacksonville
10. Predatory Wasp of the Palisades
11. Intro Cheer and The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts
12. Illinois Cheer
13. Encore - A Good Man is Hard to Find
NOTE: The club didn't allow flash photography, so I apologize for the blurry ones. I tweaked them as much as I could with Photo Editor.
Nelson was a little later than expected because he was on-call. We rolled out at 5 and arrived in Lancaster around 6:30. I assumed Sufjan to still be relatively unknown. Boy, was I wrong! The line wrapped around the building, tons of indie/emo kids...with their parents. Real hardcore, guys. It was about a 20 minute wait before they started letting people in. We were surrounded by smokers the entire time. I guess getting lung cancer is the "edgy" thing to do these days. And can somebody tell me what kind of human being brings their iPod to a concert...
As soon as we got inside, we obviously tried to get the best view possible. This was a bit difficult considering the height difference between me and Nelson. We ended up being on opposite sides of the room. Nelson stuck out like a sore thumb. He's not what I would call your typical concert-goer. A few people were quite keen on dancing and violating his personal space, which I feel bad about.
I e-mailed the club earlier in the week, asking them about the schedule. They said that the doors open at 6 and the the opening act would go on at 6:30 for a 45 minute set. That plan got shot to hell. No sign of Mr. Stevens or his band onstage, just the occasional roadie. The club served us pizza and we waited for another half hour before Sufjan finally appeared. He introduced Half-handed Cloud, a one man band. His songs were very brief, but catchy. He didn't have a whole lot of range so he squeaked out the high notes. He was funny to watch because he tried to incorporate different instruments all by himself. Sufjan helped out once or twice, on drums and also some rubber tube that sounded like an oboe. Half-handed Cloud's set was 15 minutes at most. I don't know if the club was just completely clueless or if they cut it down since they were so late with letting people in.
Another 20 minutes of waiting, it was after 8:00 at this point. The crowd was getting pretty restless. Sufjan finally pranced out in his flashy patriotic jumpsuit, accompanied by the Illinoisemakers in their cheerleader attire. Sufjan is very awkward on stage but he's got a good sense of humor. The backup vocalists were never off-key and always full of energy. I give them a lot of credit. I had heard some reports of the trumpet player being sloppy, but I didn't notice anything major. They did lots of cheering, Sufjan gave some geographical commentary, and they performed all but three songs (no title track? weird) from Illinoise. I cannot describe the feeling I had watching him. Every emotion I experienced while listening to the album was magnified tenfold. He was absolutely stellar. Also, he extended the end of "Predatory Wasp" and kind of went crazy. To some it might be creative, but to most it would just be considered noise. It was very reminiscent of the stuff he did before the 50 States Project.
Nelson got a good laugh when Sufjan realized (in the middle of playing) he hadn't tuned his guitar for "Chicago" and one of the Illinoisemakers joked that he didn't stretch properly. It didn't detract from the performance at all, it just made the experience that much more real and memorable. He's not some flawless rock god, just an incredibly talented human being.
I really hate to complain since I had the opportunity to see his last show for the US tour, but I have to get it off my chest:
(1) I've read his set lists from other shows and it's far more extensive than the one he played in Lancaster. Thank you, fascists of Pennsylvania, for the 10 o'clock curfew!
(2) The crowd sucked for a couple reasons. They were unbelievably rude. They talked during his performance and clapped whenever the hell they felt like it. Second, they were not what I'd consider fans. Nobody was mouthing the words and they kept consulting the CD track list. It just seemed like very few people were familiar with anything pre-Illinoise.
(3) I know the club has to do its job to keep everybody safe, but they were still kind of douchebags. It was really just a terrible venue compared to the Paradise Rock Club or The Big Easy. Overall, just a very small and uncomfortable environment.
^ I don't want to sound ungrateful, but any seasoned concert-goer will tell you how important that stuff is.
The show was over around 9:45 and we went to hit up the merch table. They had some older albums and t-shirts. For one reason or another, they only had mediums. I loved watching all the indie/emo kids sulk because there weren't any smalls. Did you ever think about shrinking them? Idiots. We each bought one for ten bucks (what a steal!) and went outside to find about fifty kids, waiting to jump Sufjan. I obviously would've loved an autograph or a photo opp, but I heard he's not the best with dealing with fans. He's not mean, just uncomfortable with his newfound popularity. I'd hate for him to feel overwhelmed and I hope he made a clean getaway. The police were also roaming around to enforce the curfew, so I decided the best idea was just to leave.
I was worried Nelson wasn't going to enjoy himself. I wasn't sure it was his kind of music, but I saw him foot-tapping and nodding his head. He seemed really quite blown away once we left the club and he asked me lots of questions about Sufjan. Aside from the will-call thing, I really have no regrets. Anything negative that happened was basically out of my control, so I can't be too bitter about it. I also wish that Amanda, Tristan, Leah, Vourn, and Heather (who cares if you saw him already? haha) were able to make it, but hey, he's got 48 more states to write about!
I cannot possibly review each and every song, although you may have expected me to since I took so long to post this! My journal has lacked substance for months, so I hope that my musings and the media below make up for it...
SET LIST
1. The 50 States
2. The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders
3. Prairie Fire That Wanders About
4. Intro Cheer and Decatur
5. They are the Night Zombies!
6. Casimir Pulaski Day
7. John Wayne Gacy Jr.
8. Intro Cheer and Chicago
9. Intro Cheer and Jacksonville
10. Predatory Wasp of the Palisades
11. Intro Cheer and The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts
12. Illinois Cheer
13. Encore - A Good Man is Hard to Find
NOTE: The club didn't allow flash photography, so I apologize for the blurry ones. I tweaked them as much as I could with Photo Editor.