Sufjan in Chicago

Yesterday I attended Sufjan Stevens's concert at the Chicago Theatre. It was enjoyable, if not profound. My opinion of his latest album, The Age of Adz (from which most of the songs last night were taken), remains much the same as what I thought of his last EP: he can't go on like this forever. Mr Stevens has a gift for catchy musical motives; in past albums (esp. Illinois and Michigan) he used this to create satisfying contrapuntal layers. Now that he's working so overwhelmingly with electronics, there's a certain finesse that's lost. His lyrics, with some exceptions, are (intentionally?) enigmatic; while this was tolerable when the music was prettier, it's more difficult to maintain an emotional connection to a song when neither the music nor the words are particularly comprehensible. Perhaps Mr Stevens would prefer not to be understood.

The most impressive part of last night's concert was "Impossible Soul", a veritable suite with epic ambitions (or, if you prefer, delusions of grandeur).

Listen: Sufjan Stevens, "Impossible Soul"

Sufjan Stevens at the Chicago Theatre
Set List:
"Seven Swans" (from Seven Swans)
"Too Much" (The Age of Adz)
"Age of Adz" (ibid.)
"Heirloom" (All Delighted People)
"I Walked" (The Age of Adz)
"Now That I'm Older" (ibid.)
"Vesuvius" (ibid.)
"Futile Devices" (ibid.)
"Get Real Get Right" (ibid.)
"The Owl and the Tanager" (All Delighted People)
"Impossible Soul" (The Age of Adz)
"Chicago" (Illinois)
Encores:
"Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois" (Illinois)
"Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!" (ibid.)
"Casimir Pulaski Day" (ibid.)
"John Wayne Gacy, Jr." (ibid.)