No Sufjan on Saturday
But plenty of Sufjan on Friday and Sunday!
Last Friday we went to see Sufjan Stevens at the Paramount. Thanks to the Austinist, we knew that tickets for an Austin City Limits taping of Sufjan were also being given out at 8pm. Fortunately we had reserved seats for the Paramount show so we were able to take our time and try to get the ACL tickets for the taping. We guessed the giveaway location for the ACL tickets so that we did not have to rely on the radio to tell us and possibly miss the tickets (as occurred last year with the Pixies ACL taping). We were right and we scored ACL show tickets! The tickets do not guarantee admittance. More on that momentarily.
I could write a review of the show at the Paramount, but see, someone took care of that already. I am no good at reviews anyway. So just read this review instead. And the comments! We went to the Paramount and sat through the opening act, who apparently had a lot of fans in the audience. I cannot say that we cared for her. I will say no more because the opening act was comprised of members from Sufjan’s band and I like them when playing for Sufjan but not so much for the opening act.
Enough babble. Pictures!
The Sufjan show goes pretty far up on my list of all-time favorite shows.
No Sufjan on Saturday, other than listening to The Avalanche in the car.
We had guests in town and they wanted breakfast, pancakes to be specific, so we went to Magnolia Cafe on Sunday morning. Who else was having breakfast at Magnolia on Sunday? None other than Sufjan and five others. I actually recognized the hat guy in his band first and then looked over to see Sufjan standing by the door waiting to be seated.
So remember those ACL show tickets? We got in line at about 4:50 on Sunday afternoon to begin the long wait to try to get into a taping. Clint’s Dad really wanted to go to an ACL taping even if it was not a band he cared so much about and fortunately that worked out. Guess who else was in line waiting? None other than The Sinus Show members John Erler and Owen Egerton.
Anyway… we were given numbers 124 through 127, but our line was only allowed entry after the line for reserved seats entered. The studio only holds 325 people. The powers that be finally started letting our line in at about 7:40. Yay, we got in! I do believe that only two people in line behind us were allowed into the studio before they shut the doors. I think there were probably 75 to 100 more people behind us in line. Very close!
The ACL show taping was super. My favorite part was probably when he dedicated “Detroit” to Jack White (because The Raconteurs were also taping that evening - bleh) and then dedicated it to himself since he is from Detroit also. Then he made a joke about dedicating a song to himself. I guess there are differing views about whether he is still humble, but in that moment and several others, he seemed humble to me. Hey, what do I know? The Sufjan ACL show will air on November 17th.
Next Up: A last minute Joanna Newsom and Smog show with a ridiculous line, dust, noise, a humongous crowd and a long delay.
