asbury hall,
Concert Review,
rosie thomas,
Sufjan Stevens,
tom
—
The Christmas-spirit atmosphere was so heavily saturated Tuesday night at Asbury Hall you could cut it with a knife--or Instagram the living hell out of it, which everyone did hurriedly to keep up with documenting all of its elaborate twist and turns of holiday madness. Either way you would’ve been cutting corners because there will be no words I can offer or photographs I can present that will encapsulate the sheer brilliance and utterly surreal experience that Sufjan Stevens and company lent to it’s sold out audience at the church.
Speaking of cutting corners, Sufjan doesn’t roll with those punches in the least bit. His live shows are just as immense as the capacity of his albums, showcasing his unprecedented creativity, musicianship, sincerity, resourcefulness, bravery, humbleness, eccentricity, and unmatched endurance. He and his 5-piece band performed over 30 songs from an already vast back-catalog of both Christmas and non-yuletide selections for a little over 2 and half hours. And all the while its hard to imagine he would be doing the same thing tomorrow night in Providence. And then in Boston the next night. Then two homecoming shows in NYC to close the tour on the 22nd.
As I walked to the enormous line that had formed outside the venue, it was hard not to notice the band’s tour bus along side a large Penske truck that was backed up to the doors. It wasn’t long (6 songs in) before Sufjan unveiled his colorful 20-foot “Wheel of Christmas” behind a stage decked with instruments, lights, inflatable Santas, inflatable unicorns, streamers, more lights, and a uncanny animatronic angel doll. And while the stage was drowning in Christmas kitsch, Sufjan came out strong, opening with complementary tracks “Christmas Woman” and “Come on! Let’s Boogey to the Elf Dance”.
The monster “Wheel of Christmas” was a definite crowed-pleaser as each spin served to facilitate the choosing of the next sing-a-long whether it be “Joy to the World”, “I’ll be Home For Christmas,” “Silent Night," or “Jingle Bells.” Everyone in attendance received a “Christmess Sing-a-long” songbook upon entering the concert hall that contained lyrics and directions suggesting that each “sing lustily and with good courage.” Which everyone did. Forget everything you thought you knew about caroling--the place was unabashedly brimming with unadulterated elation and camaraderie that is unmatched at any show I’ve ever been to.
While Sufjan played many of his more goofy songs and takes on holiday classics, with plenty of help from the Mr. Frosty Man-dazzled Rosie Thomas, he also peppered the night with some of his more downcast acoustic selections such as “Only At Christmas Time”, “That Was The worst Christmas Ever!”, “Sister Winter”, and “Justice Delivers its Death (Gift)” which upon hearing live in the thick, spiritous air of the old church brought on both an elegiac and other-worldly wave of beauty wherein every second hinged on its last and every effortless lyric hung in profundity.
Toward the end of the show Sufjan played a few acoustic oldies such as “For the Widows in Paradise, for the Fatherless in Ypsilanti” and “Vito's Ordination Song” which eventually led to the outrageous finale with the 12-minute epic “Christmas Unicorn” which featured Sufjan sporting an outlandish balloon and streamered headdress, thus rendering himself the “pill-popping” unicorn that he insists we all become this time of year. This grand-finale of sorts (as you can guess) included lots of dancing and built up to a dousing of confetti, streamers, toilet paper, inflatable unicorns being ejected into the crowd along with giant red balls and plenty of inflatable Santas. The crowd errupted as the band left the stage and I have never seen a more thundering applause for an encore, and as Sufjan made it back on stage he played an acoustic set of tracks from Illinois such as “John Wayne Gacy”, “Casimir Pulaski Day”, and finally closing with “Chicago” played with the full band.
As the crowd cheered for a second time Sufjan told of his wanting to come to Buffalo for a long time, and thanked the crowd for what was such intense gratitude. In futile words the show was inspiring, and even life-changing. It might sound hokey, but as a long-devoted Sufjan fan, the night was an emotionally draining and inspirational experience that will go down as one of my favorite concerts I’ve ever attended. Sufjan’s music is an impassioned patchwork of ideas based on history, tradition, and personal accounts and when it is brought before a live arena, even in Christmas sing-a-long form, the songs are magnified revealing further their ingenuity, authenticity, humanity, and incredible depth so much that the propensity of the experience was overwhelmingly extraordinary.
Stay tuned: Full photo gallery of concert to be added soon.
I couldn't describe the night any more perfect than you just did. Amazing, just a pure amazing experience. Something I will never forget.
Sufjan even sported a Buffalo Bills t-Shirt!
Amen. Amen.
@Anonymus #2 - That was a "Buffalo - We're Talking Proud" t-shirt - campaign to turn the image of Buffalo, NY around from being the brunt of many jokes in the early 80's. Amazing, unforgettable show.
During what song did they play that David Gilmour-esque guitar solo?
It was unreal.
So I'm way overdue on this, but I had planned to do it once upon a time so here you go. You deserve it. That is to say Mr. Tom Dennis deserves a beer on me because this is the best damn Sufjan review ever. It's obvious from as early as paragraph 2 that you're a Sufjan fan (as you say later), but who wouldn’t be after that night or after reading this? Who wouldn’t be envious of the ticket holders? You really captured the spirit of that evening last December with what you called futile words. I didn’t find them to be that. I was there for all the spectacle, emotion, boisterous holiday cheer, etc. etc. and your piece takes me back to it vividly every time I read it. Most definitely a life-changing event, especially because it seemed that Sufjan was all but bowled over by the raw power of the crowd, as were you and I. I believe you brought that power to the page, not hokum. Call it indescribable if you must, but your command of the language described it more than well enough for me. Thank you.