adrian is rad

What could you call a cross-dressing Sarah Michelle Geller impersonator?

Sarah Michelle Feller!!!@@@

Tonight I saw Sufjan Stevens in Berkeley at the Zellerbach Auditorium. He had a full choir (the Pacific Mozart Ensemble) along with a string octet, a brass trio and a backing band.

Holy crap. That was really good. Amazing, really.

I actually wrote down the setlist this time:

• unknown instrumental
• Sister
• The Transfiguration
• The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders Part I: The Great Frontier Part II: Come to Me Only with Playthings Now
• He Woke Me Up Again
• Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head! (Rebuild! Restore! Reconsider!) [1][2]
• The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get us[3]
• Abraham
• Casmir Pulaski Day
• Seven Swans
• That was the Worst Christmas Ever[4]
• Jacksonville[5]
• Majesty Snowbird[6]
• The Man of Metropolis Steals our Hearts[7]
• Encore: Chicago

The concert was so theatrical and, to use an entirely over-used word, epic. All the songs were added to in weight, joy or emotion by the massive number of musicians on the stage. There was certainly some surprise in the number of songs that ended in a cacophonous ‘freak-out.’ Notably, freak out at the end of “Predatory Wasp,” a particularly subdued song for much of it’s length, was a parculiar juxtaposition.

I’d also recommend being a nut and being online when the tickets go on sale for future concerts at the Zellerbach. I was in the third row in the wings (tiers) that come down and touch the stage and the vantage point was excellent.

One last note: the show was so good that even the usher, would was advanced in her years, gave the band a standing ovation at the end of the show.

[1] Acknowledging that it wouldn’t be a popular sentiment in this area before he said it, he dedicated this to the Detroit Tigers.

[2] He inserted the lyrics “Tigers Stadium” “’84” into that repeated section with the various locations in the middle.

[3] This was so incredibly gorgeous. My eyes literally welled up during this song.

[4] 100 inflatable Santas were throw off the balcony during this song. I did not get one.

[5] Funky. Move your booty.

[6] New song about the dark eyed junco. It’s pretty great. You heard it here first: my prediction is that Sufjan’s next album will be about birds. (Think about it: Majesty Snowbird and Great God Bird? Not a coincidence.)

[7] similar to [4], lots of inflatable supermen were thrown off the balcony during this song. I did not get one.