Third and final night and alas, no Heirloom, nor Sister. I guess there's always next tour
or maybe he'll magically have dates in Europe when I go visit bae.
It was ~probably~ my least favourite show of the three, but still great. Carrie & Lowell came early in the set, that song deserves a lot more credit. Really great song, and it just goes to another level after the "my lucky charm..." part, live 10x more so, it's really glorious to watch. Drawn to the Blood was completely different tonight, a more electro take on it, Sufjan not playing guitar, just singing. Very cool. John My Beloved finally appeared and was very, very nice. "In a manner of speaking I'm dead." And those soft, floating backing vocals and lovely little piano touches.
Sadly the main set was a song shorter tonight. Futile Devices led into Vesuvius, which was slightly changed up again and not as great as the two nights previous, but still ruled. Hell of a song, and I would have to imagine that even non-Adz fans would love Vesuvius at the very least. Elsewhere, Fourth of July continues to be fucking incredible, making me cry again, just such a desperately sad yet powerful song. Blue Bucket of Gold live, fuck, I'll keep mentioning it til the very end of my days. I also want to shout out the final lines of both No Shade - "there's blood on that blade / fuck me, I'm falling apart" and Eugene - "now I'm drunk and afraid / wishing the world would go away / what's the point of singing songs, if they'll never even hear you..." for praise. Eugene is a really great song and it's very lovely live; short, sweet, but it's the graphics that help it - a sun setting over clouds, and it just dips below the clouds during those final lines.
Seven songs in the encore, which is where Sufjie forgets most of his lyrics. UFO Sighting, iYup's girlfriend's favourite song if I'm not mistaken, tonight. Widows is great, has definitely gone up in my estimation after hearing it these three nights. Romulus was a nice little surprise, one of the better tunes on Michigan. I'd have preferred a number of other Sufjan songs but it was still really nice, and very funny when he stopped the song... "what's the next line?" Dawn whispers to him, "about your grandpa". "Ohh that's right, my grandpa dying. Fucking hell." John Wayne Gacy again, very great live, he even did the subtle intake of breath that's on the studio track. If you can listen to this song without getting chills... you might not be human. Then Chicago again to close. It's weird, but honestly I reckon Chicago is just not that great. I mean, it's one of those great indie rock songs of the mid-2000s but I doubt it would make my top 20 or 30 Sufjan songs. Bit overrated in my view, although the full band version would be better.
Redford (for Yia-Yia & Pappou)
Death With Dignity
Shoulda Known Better
Carrie & Lowell
Drawn to the Blood
John My Beloved
Eugene
The Only Thing
Fourth of July
No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross
Futile Devices
Vesuvius
Blue Bucket of Gold
Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland Illinoise
For the Widows in Paradise, the Fatherless in Ypsilanti
That Dress Looks Nice on You
All of Me Wants All of You
Romulus
John Wayne Gacy Jnr
Chicago