sufjan stevens @ music hall of williamsburg - 10.6.09

i have a huge crush on sufjan stevens. HUGE. not only is he one of the most interesting and talented musicians around, he's also adorable. i would like for us to be friends. if any of you know him, please drop him a hint. or my phone number. 

anyway, i've only seen him play once before...at the world premiere of his beautiful multimedia extravaganza that featured live hula-hoopers, the bqe, at bam 2 years ago. it's coming out on cd/dvd soon. and it's AWESOME. i highly recommend it.

when he announced that he was going to play a four-night stand in nyc last month, i immediately jumped on it. there were all sorts of restrictions regarding tickets and all 4 shows sold out pretty much instantly. but i was lucky enough to snag tickets to the two shows he was playing at the music hall of williamsburg (the others were at the bowery ballroom). tuesday night was the first of these shows.

asthmatic kitty labelmates cryptacize opened and while i wasn't all that impressed with their music (sorry!) i was impressed with lead singer nedelle torrisi's vocals when she backed up and dueted with sufjan. the hilarious and talented rosie thomas not only lent her backing vocals to the show, but also her comedic talents. she was HILARIOUS. another awesome surprise guest was bryce dessner (from the national) who contributed his guitar-playing talents to a few songs. (i also randomly ran into him on the stairs in the club and held the door open for him. a nice surprise.)

sufjan played old and new songs - including my favorite, the hauntingly beautiful john wayne gacy, jr. the old songs were gorgeous and the new songs were...interesting.  there was a lot of electronica, which normally isn't my favorite, but i actually enjoyed these songs. and the horns...THE HORNS!!!  i can't even begin to tell you how they blew me away. AMAZING. his trumpet player, whoever he is, needs a contract.

here are the photos from night 1. i ended up in the balcony without my zoom lens, so most of these are far away. hopefully i'll get right up front for night 2!

click here to see the rest of my photos.

k