Reviewed on Sunday May 24 (photo by Daniel Boud)
Sufjan Stevens is known for deeply personal music, but his latest album is particularly raw. Centred on Stevens’ late mother, it touches on themes of addiction, abandonment and loneliness, mirrored by instrumentation that’s stripped bare. Stevens’ Vivid LIVE show was almost entirely drawn from it and onto the Sydney Opera House stage, which begs the question: how do you transfigure something so dark and private into entertainment for 2,000 people?
There are a few possible answers. The first half of the night was a gentle introduction to the themes of Carrie & Lowell, with Stevens often appearing alone with guitar in hand. The Concert Hall was near silent for lyrics such as “How? How did this happen? / How? How did this happen?” The screen flickered with old home videos and it became clear that the night was going to be equally unfiltered.
Other songs were filled out by four other musicians, who switched between keys, banjos and trombones. ‘Fourth Of July’ grew huge onstage, at times dipping into post-rock territory. Even as Stevens repeated the words “We’re all gonna die” over and over, the audience was transfixed. In fact, when he finally addressed the crowd towards the end of the first half, it was jarring.
Which brings us to the next way he turned the darkness into a performance: humour. Whether aimed at his lyrics (where a swim teacher “called me ‘Subaru’”), or his seemingly improvised half-time interlude, laughter somehow permeated the night.
But it was the second half that took the show from entertainment to something else entirely. After an extended build-up, punctured with a few of Stevens’ older tracks, the final trance-inducing instrumental blowout was the perfect way to seal off the night. Strobe lights flung across the Concert Hall and grew more frenzied as the reverb hit full volume in a euphoric climax.
Each of these factors exposed the darkness of Stevens’ latest material under the lights of the stage. But the lasting impression was due to more than the impressive visuals or the astounding energy of ‘Chicago’ in the encore. The real way this show transcended entertainment was through its unflinching honesty. With it, Stevens took the audience out of the Opera House and into his own world – a sad, funny and beautiful place.
