This wasn't the first time I've gone to a show where I was virtually unfamiliar with the artists' music. I hadn't heard a note of opener Laura Veirs music beforehand, and other than a couple of songs I'd heard from Sufjan, I was quite unfamiliar with Sufjan Stevens' work. The mere enormity of the attention given to Sufjan Stevens with his most recent album "Illinois" made me go out to buy a ticket to the show which had "not to be missed" written all over it; shere laziness has prevented me from even giving "Illinois" a thorough listen, even though I had it since the second day after it was released. There's something to be said about reading about an artist without ever hearing the music, almost knowing it's something you'll like, then going to see the artist live to confirm your expectations. I must say that Laura Veirs was a pleasant surprise and Sufjan totally lived up to my expectations. The bespectacled Laura Veirs and her band The Tortured Souls came onto stage pretty well on schedule. With Laura alternating between electric and acoustic guitars from song to song, she and her band peformed a solid set of moody pop songs with strong melodies and tasteful rock instrumentation. The electric guitar arrangements from one of the Tortured Souls was particularly impressive, understated but melodic. The same member also provided very distinct background vocals which meshed together with Laura's pretty voice. Her last two albums have been released through Nonesuch and I couldn't help but notice a similar aesthetic with label-mates Wilco: understated rock instrumentation with a reliance on good songwriting. At one point in her set, Laura instructed a stagehand to turn down the lights in the church so that she could perform her next song; Laura, as well as a her drummer and keyboardist, donned little flashlights strapped to their foreheads to perform the next song which was a song Laura said was about "exploration". It was quite beautiful, and the awesome quietness that unfolded took full advantage of the church's acoustic. And this was all the while that the audience sat there in the dark. That was amazing. The last thing I liked about Laura was how observant she was of the audience, taking the time to look at the crowd with a geniune interest and smile appreciatively. [After the show, she was even nice enough to autograph my copy of her album "Carbon Glacier".]
After the understated pop/rock of Laura Veirs came the fanciful indiepop of Sufjan Stevens and his merry group of "Illinoise"-makers. Sufjan started out the set solo accompanying himself on acoustic guitar to perform a pretty tune but then the performance quickly shifted gears for the next song as his band came from behind the audience and ran down the aisles, dressed in their brighly colour-coordinated pep-rally inspired uniforms(branding the letter 'I' on their shirts) and jumped onto the stage. The performance had a playful glee-club/school band aesthetic with members on trumpet, trombone, guitar, xylophone, drums, and Sufjan on banjo/guitar to build songs in a layered fashion. Similarly, there was a nice mesh of vocal arrangments between Sufjan and the different members of the band, the female members in particularly. At one point, Sufjan played a piano that was located offstage, performing a series of songs that took full advantage of the acoustics of the church. Maintaining the pep-rally atmosphere, Sufjan and his band performed a series of "cheers", complete with hand/arm movements, to introduce songs. From such merry introductions, the performance quickly settled into a more poignant tone. I loved the trumpet, the xylophone and the background vocals in particular, but when all those sounds and more meshed together it was a beautiful thing. Sufjan's song "The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts" is the song that I was most familiar with beforehand[I couldn't stop humming it to myself that whole day] and maybe it was no coincidence that Sufjan chose to close the main set with it; it's a real clincher. The song itself is a journey from humble beginnings of quiet vocals, intricate guitar, and solitary trumpet, to leaps and bounds as the 'choir' of vocals and the rest of the band's instruments kick in to drive the song home. Even though Sufjan and the band came back for an encore[this time in their regular clothes] to perform a couple more songs, it was "The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts" which really made the evening. [photos from the show]
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