Sufjan on Illinois live show | Pitchfork Interview

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Pitchfork: After you did build up an audience, with Michigan and Seven Swans, your tours became more ambitious. Did you have live performance in mind when you were writing these songs?

Sufjan: No, not at all. The cheerleading thing came after I'd written the songs. I was pretty nearsighted in the construction of Illinois. I spent a lot of time alone, a few months in isolation working on my own and in the studio. I let things germinate and cultivate independently, without thinking about an audience or a live show at all. The live show, for me, was trying to present the pageantry of the album live. I don't know if I ever did that successfully.

THE REST OF THE INTERVIEW @ PITCHFORK

posted at 11:18 AM on May 16, 2006 in music | Comments (3)

Comments (3)

In other Soofyaan news: he was standing next to us at the Laura Veirs show last night at Merc.

Posted by Amrit | May 16, 2006 11:23 AM

and he stood next to me at the danielson show on saturday. i was hoping he'd perform since he helped with the album, but unluckily for me he did not. (danielson was great though - really good show.)

Posted by amy | May 16, 2006 12:08 PM

Sufjan's cheerleading concept didn't succeed in presenting the pageantry of the album.

But the show at Lincoln Center, w/o cheerleaders and w/ a string section, definitely captured the album's sonic richness. That show was amazing.

Posted by DrJimmy | May 16, 2006 12:20 PM