What time does Daft Punk wake up Sufjan's audience?

Oh hahahahahah. You are just so clever! Hahahaha. Now back to the check out counter before you get fired!

^MEANY FACE

Thank you for the pics, but next time please try to shoot when the music is loud. We could hear you shooting from the orchestra section in the left-side balcony. Just a little distracting is all. But otherwise, I totally appreciate it.

Thank you Peter for mentioning this extremely obnoxious photographer in the balcony seats. Snap, snap, snap during the whole performance. This forum might help that struggling photographer:

http://www.prophotohome.com/forum/canon-eos-digital-slr-1-6x-sensors/74568-quiet-shutter.html

What a great piece, I will first say this. The score and film were preformed with such grace using dissonant sounding syncopation. Pop and classical infusion have never sounded so good.

However when the awkwardly dressed 50's cheerleaders with hula hoops came on screen and preformed wearing hipster 70's glasses, I was disappointed in such a move on his part.

The only thing that worries me about this man is his Christian right hipster following. We need a change in this country, and nothing short of the left side of the politically mined table is plausible.

http://stillsearching.wordpress.com/2007/09/02/the-christian-hipster-revisited/

oh god, write me a fucking undergrad sociology thesis

Friday's show was excellent. I really liked The BQE, a very entertaining and moving fusion of film, music and hula-hoops. It was the most Burning Man thing I've ever seen on a New York stage. I'm supposed to kvetch, too, right? The sound guy had the flute (and some other instruments) way way too miked. And I wish Sufjan had worn a different shirt. Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson had great center orchestra seats, two seats off the aisle. They applauded politely but without enthusiasm.

Re: 9:52pm - Doesn't John the Baptist get his head chopped off or something? in other words, keep your politics to yourself.

the BQE was a good change of pace and sonically interesting. it could have been a few minutes shorter and offered less intensity at times but all in all, very original. well done. I was disappointed that Sufjan did not choose to perform works from any forthcoming releases.

He played Barn Owl and Majesty Snowbird which presumably will be on a forthcoming release at some point (but maybe not, I guess).

For anyone who wants to go to the last performance tonight but doesn't have tickets... don't bother with Craigslist. If you wait in line at BAM for cancellations, you may get lucky.

Last night we got two side-by-side 6th row orchestra center tickets right on the isle. Couldn't have asked for more!

this guys music is shit. you can stop sucking his dick now..it's not 2004 anymore

I thought that the BQE was solid, if a bit uneven. Musically it may need a bit of tightening up - but there were moments of beauty that it seems only Sufjan can summon. The accompanying movie, while well made and edited, didn't do much for me and I tried not to let it distract. If I was just hearing the music, and had no knowledge of the piece's title or accompanying visuals, I would not make any connection to the BQE. But I thought the hoola-hoopers were a genius touch, a way to break up the flat 2-dimensionality of the movie and the musicians behind the scrim. It was typical Sufjan, teetering between high school production and high end performance art - with just enough incredulity and charm to keep us captivated and amused. And when the BQE finally broke into a bit of rock'n'roll boogie late in the piece, it was great to see the hoola hoopers grinding it out onstage.

The highlight of the evening for me, and for some others here, was "Majesty Snowbird", played in the second half. The song seems to have a new name ("bird" is still part of the title) and has new lyrics and some changes to the arrangement, but is even more powerful than when first heard last year. The song encapsulates all of Sufjan's strengths - from the plaintive, yearning melody at its core to the soaring, bombastic triumphant orchestration that pushes the closing section towards arena-rock territory. The song soars to the heavens with the beauty of a thousand birds in flight, reaching new heights in Sufjan's artistic growth.

"this guys music is shit. you can stop sucking his dick now..it's not 2004 anymore"

wah wah wah wah wah. somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

Um, sorry, but as excited as I was about this show, 'The BQE' was perhaps the biggest piece of musical/filmic crap I have experienced in a long time. The cause was not helped by the Sufjan-penned two-page essay in the BAMBill explaining how hula hoops related to the BQE, which could have easily been summed up in one sentence: "The movie is shit, so I had to add a distraction."

However, the "Hits" portion was sublime, and the new arrangements were mostly breathtaking, as were the infinitely more engrossing projections. If you're going tonight, get there at 9 p.m. You're welcome.

Of course it was disappointing if you went into it thinking you actually had to watch the film portion of it. I'm pretty sure I missed at least half of what was being projected and I thought it was a beautiful performance. Watching the projection made you miss a lot. That wasn't the point of it.

i thought the projection was interesting but nothing special. what was interesting was seeing NYC 2007 in 8mm. kind of put it in the context of something historical and slipping away. maybe i can stomach it better this way. the hula hooping was joyful and hilarious. classic sufjan.

his scores, as always, remind me of an unholy marriage between phillip glass and the cheesy band composers i played all too often in high school. he seems to adore self-conscious melodrama, and although the big endings and ups and downs grated on me, i got the impression that sufjan includes them with a wink in the eye.

the second half was generous and beautiful. there are no words to describe last night's performance of "John Wayne Gacy Jr". i held my breath the entire time, and when sufjan finished, i could see that even he was stunned by what he had just done.

this guy sufjan is one of our great american artists. his writing is witty and honest, his music penetrating and innovative. he calls upon america's stories and folk roots and combines it with minimalist classical styles to create something so wonderfully normal and "us" that it is easy to forget how unique it is.

yes, love fest for sufjan.

Great show Saturday night.

Perhaps the last time he'll ever play "John Wayne Gacy Jr." (his sentiments; not mine).

For all those who think "BQE" is crap/shit/crud (whatever), I can only sympathize. It was supposed to be entertainment; if you weren't entertained, then so be it.

Sat. night's show was incredible... Sufjan not only put on an incredible performance but was unexpectedly hilarious. the story that he wrote that segwayed into the predatory wasps of the palisades had my friend and I literally cracking up. The film was great too. I didn't really hear what he said about John Wayne...but that was the best song of the night, incredibly powerful. It appears as if it might have been retired though. a shame.

great show last night, and as mentioned above, the Gacy song was moving. I believe someone behind me was crying even. BQE was excellent as well. reminded me of Koyantasqui (I certainly spelled that wrong). Sufjan's music was fantastic and the orchestra really fleshed out his songs. BUT, I have to say that the short story he read was terrible. perhaps it would be cute if a child had written it, but there was really nothing to the story. It was creepy hearing so much of the audience adoring him and laughing at this story, made me think that they would celebrate anything he did.

As a side note, David Bryne was in the audience.

About "John Wayne Gacy Jr", he basically said "There are some lines to that song that give me the creeps so I decided not to sing them. I think it may be time to retire those lines or maybe even the song altogether."

The "predatory wasp" story was a little funny (although more silly), but I enjoyed the story about his sister's college room-mate (named Kathy), on whom he had had a crush, and who had given him a book of pictures of Illinois (Jacksonville, I think) when he was about 10. He said that he had never given back the book in the hopes that Kathy would one day call him and he could nonchalantly say "Hey, why don't we go out on a date?".

He was just genuinely humble throughout the whole performance -- repeatedly thanking BAM for inviting/commissioning him, and acknowledging the audience for "coming, clapping, dancing, singing."

drewo is completely right about Majesty Snowbird (which Sufjan referred to as 'Birdwatching' on Friday night, I think). It was unbelievable - even better than when I heard it at Town Hall last year. I've listened to a bootleg of that show about a hundred times since then, so I was very familiar with the song this time around. All the changes to the song really made it come together as his best work to date - including the BQE. Really, Majesty Snowbird was the main event this weekend.

"I believe someone behind me was crying even"

Just when I thought hipsters couldn't surprise me even more, I read the above statement. I bet the person crying lives in Williamsburg.

"...I enjoyed the story about his sister's college room-mate (named Kathy), on whom he had had a crush..."

I thought he's gay.

i wish he was gay.

He's not gay?!? I always thought he was.

"i wish he was gay."

You wish he *WERE* gay.

well actually anon 1:45 i wish you *WERE* gay.

Jesus won't let sujfan be gay. So sad.

he is gay. i blew his bagpipe.

David Byrne was there Saturday night.

Natalie Portman was there with some dude too

sufjan = brilliant

"well actually anon 1:45 i wish you *WERE* gay."

OH SNAP! You sure put me in my place.

The best part of this site is the haters. They're so funny.

** About the story about his sister's college roommate: Sufjan sometimes completely fabricates stories. He has a degree in Fiction Writing and feels compelled to use it.

PSS - I and every other female I know wishes he wasn't gay.

You and every other female you know wishes he *WEREN'T* gay.

i wish everyone was gay, then everyone could shut the ____ up

but every IS, um i mean *WERE* gay. yeah.

but everyone IS, um i mean *WERE* gay. yeah.

Anon 1:45 I wish you *WEREN'T* such a douche.

What time would Daft Punk go on if they *WERE* to perform?

Does anyone know where to download bootlegged audio/video clips of the BQE?

that show was a 100% treat of sensory overload. The film, the hula hoops the everything were incredible.

a beautiful night of music....

I hope the performances (so beautiful and so precise) were recorded. An album with BQE and "Majesty Snowbird" would be quite wonderful...and no need to wait until SS has time to recreate them in a studio.

Did anyone see his orchestral Kennedy Center performance earlier in the year to compare it to?

I haven't seen him perform BQE, but the set he played with the National Symphony Orchestra was absolutely brilliant.

i thought soof was married?

Sorry anon@7:16pm, don't know what country you're from, but same sex marraige is not legal in the u.s.

hey Anon 7:31pm - FYI - Massachusetts and Iowa allow gay marriages while 9 others - including New Jersey, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Vermont - offer civil unions which grant gay couples the same legal rights as in heterosexual marriages.

while same sex marriages are "allowed" in 2 of the 50 states they are not legally recognized under u.s. federal law.

With the passage of the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, a marriage was explicitly defined as a union of one man and one woman for the purposes of federal law. (See 1 U.S.C. § 7.) Thus, no act or agency of the U.S. federal government currently recognizes same-sex marriage. (Wikipedia)

hey anon@7:52pm, Iowa does NOT currently allow gay marraige, only MA does. Is "Massachussets" going to be Sufjan's next album?