Sufjan Stevens @ the Riviera, Chicago, IL

sufjan.jpg

Photo © cshimala

I saw a fantastic show last night at the Riviera Theatre — Sufjan Stevens & and his Magical Chinese Butterfly Brigade with opener My Brightest Diamond.

More thoughts to come as I digest but it was a great show and definitely worth catching on the current tour. Don’t miss your chance…

Update: just for fun, here’s an MP3 of one of his recent “Jacksonville” performances; it’s exactly as it would have sounded to me last night if it weren’t for the Hey, Asshole! worthy performance from the drunk dude sitting next to me…

Did you go to the show? Let me know…

September 27, 2006 |  by  |  Reviews
About the author

Justin Ward is the Editor at Live Music Blog and has been with the site from the very beginning. He currently lives in San Francisco and regularly tweets other stuff over @justinpward.

He also plays in NVO and sometimes calls himself dudha.us ("dude house"). Follow his projects over at JustinWard.org.

 
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  • http://www.muzzleofbees.com uwmryan

    I’m sure the show was just as fantastic as the one I just saw in Milwaukee. Great picture!

  • http://www.muzzleofbees.com uwmryan

    I’m sure the show was just as fantastic as the one I just saw in Milwaukee. Great picture!

  • http://www.jonesieboy.co.uk/blog Robert Jones

    Argh – I’m green with envy. I’m from the UK, and the two shows in Britain are sold out. Glad you had a good time though :)

  • http://www.jonesieboy.co.uk/blog Robert Jones

    Argh – I’m green with envy. I’m from the UK, and the two shows in Britain are sold out. Glad you had a good time though :)

  • http://www.headacre.com antiproanti

    i was there last night, and though words tend to fail one in a situation such as this, ill try anyway…
    the whole show was phenominal…the 15 accompanists (aka the Illinoisemakers) he had with him had all the power and sound of a symphony orchestra…i never thought i would witness another show as emotionally (and practically spiritually) moving as the time i saw sigur ros at the same venue, and while that still is at the front of the pack, this show is riding right on its tail.
    it was one of those shows where even the songs i dont normally care for as much suddenly become breathtakingly beautiful, lending an instant nostalgia to the songs themselves for all future listens.
    many cheers to sufjan, who is single handedly leading music itself into its next generation

  • http://www.headacre.com antiproanti

    i was there last night, and though words tend to fail one in a situation such as this, ill try anyway…
    the whole show was phenominal…the 15 accompanists (aka the Illinoisemakers) he had with him had all the power and sound of a symphony orchestra…i never thought i would witness another show as emotionally (and practically spiritually) moving as the time i saw sigur ros at the same venue, and while that still is at the front of the pack, this show is riding right on its tail.
    it was one of those shows where even the songs i dont normally care for as much suddenly become breathtakingly beautiful, lending an instant nostalgia to the songs themselves for all future listens.
    many cheers to sufjan, who is single handedly leading music itself into its next generation

  • Kristen

    Was there a huge screen in the background with images of kites and cheerleaders and trippy kalideoscopes? Cause there was in Atlanta and I thought it really took away from the effect of the music. Besides that the show was quite incredible.

  • Kristen

    Was there a huge screen in the background with images of kites and cheerleaders and trippy kalideoscopes? Cause there was in Atlanta and I thought it really took away from the effect of the music. Besides that the show was quite incredible.

  • http://www.headacre.com antiproanti

    there was, but personally i think it just added to the overall multisensory experience… without the visualizations, it would just be the group of them standing there…which dont get me wrong is certainly entertaining as they are, but this added a whole nother level to the experience that you could either choose to focus on (and lose yourself in the mixture of the music and the visuals) or not, and just focus on the band, in which case it still adds the whole color/movement/etc element to the background of the experience
    i dunno, i tend to be one who enjoys having all my senses played with, and music for me tends to naturally bring all sorts of visualisations to mind, so it was a welcome addition
    …but thats just me, i know everyone has their own thing

  • http://www.headacre.com antiproanti

    there was, but personally i think it just added to the overall multisensory experience… without the visualizations, it would just be the group of them standing there…which dont get me wrong is certainly entertaining as they are, but this added a whole nother level to the experience that you could either choose to focus on (and lose yourself in the mixture of the music and the visuals) or not, and just focus on the band, in which case it still adds the whole color/movement/etc element to the background of the experience
    i dunno, i tend to be one who enjoys having all my senses played with, and music for me tends to naturally bring all sorts of visualisations to mind, so it was a welcome addition
    …but thats just me, i know everyone has their own thing