Sufjan Stevens was playing Edinburgh at the weekend. I could't go, thankfully my friend Kat could.
Here is Kat's amazing review - I think she may well become my Edinburgh correspondent! You can check Kat's photo website HERE
Sufjan Stevens
Edinburgh Playhouse, Edinburgh International Festival - 30th Aug 2015
When Murray asked me to write a guest review about Sufjan
Stevens gig I obviously jumped at the chance without first thinking about how I
was going to put my experience into coherent full length sentences, rather than
just a collection of one word hyperbolic gushes. Whilst I will stand by every
single one of them it runs the risk of sounding trite and overblown so I will
try and be as literate as possible.
Whilst Sufjan Stevens fans are a generally loyal bunch and
appreciate, at the very least, the lion's share of his work, Carrie and
Lowell has seen a welcome return to the sound many of us first fell in love
way back when. To have the opportunity to see him live, following what many
have deemed his best album yet, is something I don't think many of us thought
we'd get the a chance to witness. I very nearly didn't, relying on social media
to source a ticket barely 2 weeks before the gig, but lets not think about that
now. With that in mind, the atmosphere at the Edinburgh Playhouse is
understandably palpable with the highly anticipated arrival of Sufjan Stevens.
But when the house lights go down and the stage lights bathe the audience in a
bright orange glow there is a definite heightening of palpability and the man
himself walks onstage to an unsurprisingly, raucous welcome of Glasgow crowd
proportions.
Starting with 'Redford (For You Yia-Yia & Pappou)' from
his third album Michigan (fitting in that he is wearing his Michigan
T-Shirt) he moves onto Death with Dignity which begins our odyssey
through the entirety of Carrie and Lowell. Devoid of onstage chatter
Stevens takes us on a seamless journey through the songs that explores his
coming to terms with the recent loss of his mother. The audience are spell
bound; barely a noise made; hardly a phone lifted. The continuous swapping of
instruments by his multi skilled band, which included sporadic appearances from
The National's Bryce Dressner, couldn't even break the spell that Stevens was
casting on the audience.
He ploughs through the album staying mostly loyal to the
track list, each song accompanied by visuals of sprawling landscapes coelescing
into super 8 home movies of which we can only assume are his own family, given
the nature of the album's content.
The sparse sound of Carrie and Lowell is embellished
by the band's additional instrumentation which allow the songs to swell and
fade, filling the venue and enhancing the intensely emotional nature of his
most personal and honest album to date. With his band never dropping a beat and
his voice never faltering the audience are with him ever step of the way. So
much so that there is an audible intake
of breath when he launches into Vesuvius from his last album, the critically
acclaimed Age of Adz, before finishing with a sonorous electronic
version of the final track from Carrie and Lowell, Blue Bucket of Gold and exiting the stage to a standing ovation
which didn't cease until he re-appeared for his encore. This time we are
greeted by a more relaxed Sufjan Stevens who laughs and jokes his way through a
7 song encore which includes John Wayne Gacy Jnr, the first song of his
I ever heard on a compilation album I
got free with Mojo nearly 10 years ago.
And soon it really is time for him to go. He finishes with,
of course, Chicago, tells us he loves us and eventually walks off stage
following another standing ovation of nearly 10 mins, leaving the audience
awestruck.
As the audience leaves the building and exhales for the what
feels like the first time in nearly 2 hours, it was clear this was one of those
gigs that will remain a stalwart in the list of best gigs of all time for
almost every single person in that audience. With many of having waited 10
years or more to see Sufjan Stevens live this gig was proof that the best
things really do come to those who wait.
Post gig social media is awash with those one word
hyperbolic gushes that I mentioned at the start but, to say that they are
merely hyperbole is to do Sufjan Stevens a huge disservice because this gig
truly was 'phenomenal' 'breathtaking' 'inspirational' 'mesmerizing' etc etc but
don't take my word for it, just type in #sufjanstevens and you'll see for
yourself.
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