Sufjan Stevens Day

Nov
15
posted by tommy

Today was a special day in Sydney. It was one that saw many celebrating the successful acquisition of tickets to see Sufjan Stevens or losing their mind with rage. Both of these outcomes became manifest at roughly 9:03am on facebook and looked a little something like this:

and this:

One way or another we’re seeing exclamation marks. That’s the sort of passion that the good Sufjan Stevens inspires. He’s been called the best song-writer of the past decade at some point, by someone, which is the sort of high praise that isn’t lazily dished out. After several conference calls Stevens and I decided that the best date for his Sydney festival show would be the 27th of January, dead on my the night of my birthday. We hope that works for you. Anyway, the essence of this message is a big
congratulations to those who scored tickets and even bigger condolences to those who didn’t. Four years ago I saw Sufjan play the State Theatre and it’s stuck with me as one of the best live sets I’ve ever seen.

I understand that there might be a few of you out there that have read through this angry that I’m demanding you know who Sufjan is. If you haven’t heard him, then I’m more than excited to be the conduit through which you’ll receive some life changing sounds.

Sufjan Stevens – For The Widows In Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti

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This is the track that best sums up my experience of Sufjan in both name and sound. The both have changed enormously since this song was put to record seven years ago but you’ll find that out if you’d kindly listen to the track immediately below.

Sufjan Stevens – I Want To Be Well

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This is my favourite from Sufjan’s recently released Age of Adz. You MUST listen to this at a loud volume and you MUST listen the whole way through so you can get to the ending which will toss you about like an emotional hurricane. Sometimes hurricanes get sad. Sometimes they get thoughtful and introspective. Hurricanes are people too.

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2 Comments
  1. Lachlan Payne
    15/11/2010

    Personally, I'm hoping Sufjan returns to his roots for his next release/tour as I'm not a huge fan of the new stuff. However, I will say this: The Age of Adz is fantastic live. Much better than the studio version. He didn't do I Want To Be Well though.

  2. tommy
    18/11/2010

    Ugh. I want to see it live too much.