Sufjan's show

So, I actually got out and went to a show this Tuesday to see the great Sufjan Stevens and his band play at the 930. Last I saw him was around this time, last year at the Black Cat in which he played to rather loud audience. Oh, what a difference a year makes. The sold-out show/audience was so quiet that the only noise came from the barkeeps throwing what few beer bottles they sold into the trash. He opened with the same song he did last year - the one about all the States - and then did a full contingent of numbers from his latest album. The cheers in between were sometimes annoying, sometimes funny (the Superman cheer was the highlight) and he did a version of the "Star Spangled Banner" that made Francis Scott Key's lyrics sound like something Stevens would write. Highlights was, well everything. Two-song acoustic guitar only encore just like at the Black Cat last year.

minor quibble - the trumpet player was great, on target and on key but his back-up singing often wasn't.

The Post has a rather bad review by their new music/culture staff writer J. Freedom Du Lac. They have much better writers with more extensive knowledge of folk such as Pamela Murray-Winters and Patrick Foster. This Du Lac character really belongs on a paper like the the Prince George's County Gannett paper that comes out three times a week. (I don't have enough information to make this sweeping judgement, I guess)

picture used w/o permission from flickr and rombocket. See all his photos from this gig.