Sufjan Stevens played Royale – 12/20

Christmas may be over, but Sufjan Stevens spent last Thursday night imbuing a sold-0ut Royale crowd with enough spirit to last well into the new year. After releasing a second box set of Christmas EPs in November, Stevens embarked on a tour he dubbed the “Surfjohn Stevens Christmas Sing-A-Long: Seasonal Affective Disorder Yuletide Disaster Pageant on Ice.” The long-winded absurdity of the title was matched by the gleefully over-the-top two hour spectacle, which included a giant wheel spun by audience members to select which Christmas standards would be performed as giant singalongs. The grand finale saw Stevens donning an enormous, unwieldy costume of balloons to perform “Christmas Unicorn.” Words can’t quite do justice to the joyful insanity of the whole evening, so I’ll let the photos do the talking.