Sufjan Stevens

Last Thursday night I went to Belfast with a few friends to see Sufjan Stevens, a nice American folk singer, I thought. However, I ended up at an Illinois High School pep rally. The local Belfast lass next to me said, "I don't even know what a pep rally IS."


Sufjan Stevens is not merely the mellow crooner he lets on to be. He is a quirky performer with a band that runs right along with him. The lot of them entered stage left wearing matching cheerleader outfits and had their routines down tight. Being a Torontonian, it was my first actual experience of the infamous Spirit Fingers, the close cousin to Jazz Hands.



Sufjan is a musical genius, composer and conductor. With a 3-piece band you can have a little more democracy; the sixsome he had on stage delivered a tight performance only achieved by the chronic expertise of their director. They sang like a choir and played like an orchestra. I've never felt so transported by the phrase "ba-da, ba-bop". And instrumentally, they took their sweet, quality time delivering sound. My friend Mike leaned over during a cacophonic and counted ending, saying, "They haven't decided how they were going to end this song." I think they knew exactly where they were going; only they were dancing instead of driving.

The band's use of dymnamic, interesting sounds and the relationship between folk, funk and alternative rock genres convinced a devoted crowd that we should've paid more than 12 pounds to see this show. Maybe it was a discounted price 'cause the venue was rubbish -the floor riddled with pillars and parts of the ceiling deflecting the sound (may I remind everyone that when you set up a space for a band, they typically will play music?). Or maybe the cheap ticket was foreshadowing to the people who decided to show up and deliver a discourse on their weeks with one another, in which case they overpaid to do it, and could've carried on outside for free.



Even now, days later, I'm jarred by the onslaught of extra-cheesed and cliche American culture of the show. But it just proves that good music is a spoonful of sugar; it'll help anything go down.