Friday, Bry and I saw Sufjan Stevens and company play at the Bluebird Theatre in Denver, Colorado. Simply put, the show was phenomenal. Though that’s slightly too simple, let me elaborate.

We entered the sold out show as the opening band played their first song. Two girls, one on a mandolin and the other with only her voice. As they progressed, more musicians joined, till the stage held five or so players. I reckoned this must be Sufjan’s band and that intuition later proved to be true. They played folk tunes, with the two girls singly strongly, beautifully.

Presently Sufjan Stevens took the stage along with his band clad in bright orange cheerleading outfits bearing a large “I” on the chest. “The fifty states / it’s part of the act” sang all eight persons on stage in glorious harmonies that resonated throughout the hall. This first number enumerated all fifty American states, rhyming “Nebraska, there’s nothing to do” and so forth.

Next Sufjan said the next few songs would be about Illinois, and he didn’t lie. The group broke into Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders, which is an amazing song complete with shifting rhythms. I was immediately struck by how tight the band was; they sounded absolutely beautiful together illuminating Sufjan’s meticulous, intricate arrangements.

The Bluebird, like most venues, serves alcohol, so ordinarily only persons twenty-one and older are allowed downstairs. Alcohol minors must go upstairs to the balcony and suffer an age-imposed viewing restriction. At this show, however, alcohol was served upstairs meaning that young folks were allowed downstairs. By itself, this means nothing to me, since both Bry and I are old enough to drink without fear of arrest. The beautiful thing about the balcony bar was the effect this change had on the audience. The audience was absolutely silent while the band played. No one around me so much as whispered. The chillness of standing around with a couple hundred other people and listening to music, not socializing, allowed me to completely enjoy the songs.

I mentioned that Sufjan and company dressed in cheerleading outfits and they didn’t slack on their cheerleading personas. Every few songs, they would bust out a cheer. “Give me a ‘J’!” spelt Jackson which, “what’s that spell? Jacksonville!” Their cheers were funny, and showed Sufjan’s ability to be serious, while still playful.

The band played for nearly two hours including encore, and every song was either new or on Illinois, a long but not that long album. Sufjan added a fair amount of material to his songs, not a whole lot, but enough to change things up a bit. There were a few new songs, and a cover of The Star Spangled Banner to mix it up slightly.

In all, the concert was awesome. Sufjan and his band can play and entertain with their could-have-been cheerleading personas. To finish, I have to say that Sufjan has deep, beautiful eyes. His eyes appeared soft and kind, almost weepy yet still bright and alive. Seeing him and his band perform the amazing tunes from Illinois was a brilliant experience.