Latest Posts

Sufjan Stevens at UB’s Center for the Arts (10/30/15)

So we may not have been treated to a very random cover of Drake’s “Hotline Bling,” but we were still undoubtedly treated. Sufjan Stevens, in his long-awaited return to Buffalo this past Friday, delivered one of the most spectacular live performances the city has seen all year. I thought Carrie & Lowell—Stevens’ 2015 full-length written in dedication to his late mother—was already a masterpiece, but seeing, hearing, and feeling the album performed live at UB’s Center for the Arts Mainstage Theatre brought an entirely different light to the songs, a poignancy so thick it was nearly tangible. I wasn’t sure what to expect from opening artist Gallant; I hadn’t sampled his music before the show, but was confident that an opening slot on a Sufjan Stevens’ tour was already a testament to his ability. I wasn’t wrong—the young R&B singer (23) had an incredible falsetto and exuded a great deal[...]

Tonight: Sufjan Stevens

It’s rare enough for an artist to produce an album revered as a masterpiece once in their career. And to do it twice is nothing short of remarkable. But that’s exactly the kind of artist Buffalo will welcome to tonight as eclectic singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens will take the stage at the UB’s Center for the Arts. While Sufjan already had a host of great releases behind him (including 2004’s excellent Seven Swans), it wasn’t until 2005, with the release of Illinois, the second album in his now defunct “50 States Project,” that he truly broke through. The album was a sweeping baroque pop masterpiece, a stunning humanist collage built from history, folklore, and personal experience. It rightly received mass acclaim and produced a chart entry by way of lead single, “Chicago.” And while Stevens has continued to produce beautiful work over the years, including The BQE, his inspired Christmas double album, Silver &[...]