Imaginary Mustache: all delighted people raise their hands.

after much anticipation, and i mean MUCH anticipation, i finally had the chance to see sufjan stevens. it was the last night of his four night run in new york, and i couldn't have been more stoked. we arrived around 7pm to find that the will call line was split into two parts, one for A-K and the second for L-Z. strangely enough, most people were on the line for the first part of the alphabet, and there were three people waiting on the other line. thankfully, my last name starts with an M and we got onto the smaller line.

they started letting us in shortly after and told us doors would be opening at 8:30, but that didn't stop everyone from hoarding the door like a flock of pigeons around some breadcrumbs. they ended up opening the door around 7:45, and despite the fact that they told us to enter slowly, every person, young and ancient, sprinted towards the stage to snag a front row spot.
the spot in which i thought was decent proved to be not so great later on, due to the piano that they parked in front of my face, but i'll get into that later.

as i was awaiting cryptacize, some obnoxious girl showed up. she had a tripod ... REALLY?! doesn't she know that assholes who bring tripods to shows are generally frowned upon? whatever, she was dumb and i didn't like her.
anyways, i hadn't seen cryptacize in quite some time, and i honestly didn't remember loving them when i saw them. all i remembered was really red lipstick, pilgrim-esque clothing and some folky tunes.
i'm not sure, maybe i was just having a bad day when i saw them before, because i really enjoyed them this time around. they had a sort of retro feel, and aside from being totally adorable, nedelle had the cutest dance moves ever. i quite enjoyed them.

they started to set up for sufjan stevens, and i hoped to god that they wouldn't move the piano. much to my luck, they moved it right in front of my face. i could literally see NOTHING. everyone in the front from the piano and to the right started to shift left, thank goodness. at that point, i had a pretty decent view and i was far beyond eager for sufjan to start.

he opened with mistress witch and the crowd just stared in awe. it was as if a spell had taken over the entire audience as we were entranced by the greatness that is sufjan stevens. each song has a simple complexity that just takes over your mind and captures you. i felt like i was in a different world.

sufjan is one of the few artists that could make singing about even the silliest things seem totally profound. i mean, he could sing about garbage, and i'd take him seriously. he's incredibly talented and amazing and wonderful.
he didn't talk much between songs, but when he did, it was adorable. one song, a new one, he claimed was about smurfs taking over connecticut. all of the new songs were fantastic. they were all super long and exciting. the one that stood out though was "all delighted people" which had this fantastic line "oh, i love you a lot ... oh, i love you from the top of my heart," which was so sweet and lovely. during the part where he sang "all delighted people raise their hands," everyone in the audience put their hands up. it was beautiful.