Sufjan Stevens Live Archive

Sufjan Stevens 01 May, 2002 Tonic, New York, NY United States Source: AUD, Unknown Taper: PattiVill Quality: A- The line-up for this night includes Regina Spektor, Sufjan Stevens, Brother Danielson and the Nine Fruit Tree. Thanks to ReginaSpektor.net for sharing. 01. [Intro] 02. Romulus 03. [Interlude] 04. All the Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands 05. [Interlude] 06. Seven Swans 07. [Interlude] 08. In the Devil's Territory 09. [Interlude] 10. Rake 11. [Interlude] 12. A Sun Came 13. [Interlude] 14. Happy Birthday 15. [Interlude] 16. Vito's Ordination Song 17. [Closing]

Sufjan Stevens 14 December, 2003 Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto, ON Canada

Source: Matrix, KM-184(20cm,70) > UA-5 > Wavelab 4.0g 24 bit (laptop) Soundboard > JB3 > ???? > MP3 Taper: Unknown Quality: A-

Even though this is one of my favourite early Sufjan shows, I've been holding off on posting it because I've been on a hunt for a better copy for a long time now. I even found a few leads over the years: someone whose CD is in storage at their parents' house far away; a guy who lost part of his music collection in a basement flood, but believes the salvaged bootleg is sitting intact in a box somewhere. But those were dead ends, and so far I've been unable to track down a complete, lossless copy. This show has been widely circulated in MP3 format since at least 2004 on Soulseek. The quality was fine, but "That Was the Worst Christmas Ever!" was cut off halfway through, and we could only hear the first few seconds of "Chicago". This seemed to be a problem with the MP3 files themselves (likely an incomplete download that was then shared with everyone else), not the initial recording or rip. Last night, I finally found someone who appeared to have a complete MP3 copy. Sadly, "That Was the Worst Christmas Ever!" was still incomplete, but “Chicago” was not! This is the first known recording of the song, in an arrangement that hasn't been reproduced since, so I thought it was a good time to share it more widely.

If you have access to the complete recording, please get touch with us!

Sufjan Stevens 13 October, 2004 KEXP, Museum of Television & Radio, New York, NY USA

Source: FM, combined files from two different captures (both 160 kbps, but the best one didn't have the intro or outro) Taper: Unknown Quality: A

Sufjan Stevens 28 July, 2004 KEXP, Seattle, WA USA

Source: FM, combined files from two different captures (192k kbps for the music, 160 kbps for the spoken parts) Taper: Unknown Quality: A+

Sufjan Stevens 17 September, 2016 Austin City Limits, Austin, TX USA Source: SBD > extracted audio from highest quality video available (found here), tracked it, and converted to 320 kbps MP3. Quality: A+ 01. [Intro] 02. The Lord God Bird 03. Casimir Pulaski Day 04. Jacksonville 05. [Predatory wasp story] 06. The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us! 07. Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head! (Rebuild! Restore! Reconsider!) 08. A Good Man Is Hard to Find 09. The Dress Looks Nice on You 10. Chicago 11. [Outro]

Sufjan Stevens 27 October, 2005 Paradiso, Amsterdam Netherlands

Source: SBD, Unknown Quality: A

Sufjan Stevens 14 July, 2005 Morning Becomes Eclectic, KCRW, Santa Monica, CA USA

Sources:

FM capture > FLAC

WEB, MP3 downloaded from http://www.kcrw.com/music/shows/morning-becomes-eclectic/sufjan-stevens and split with mp3splt-gtk

Quality: A This radio session was recorded the day before the Illinois tour started. Note that the lossless and lossy recordings shared here come from different sources. The lossless one is an FM capture (sounds brighter, but also has more hiss), while the lossy one was downloaded directly from the KCRW site (no hiss, but sounds a bit more muffled at a lower bitrate).

Sufjan Stevens 27 October, 2015 Paramount Theater, Denver, CO USA

Source: Nevaton MCE400 > Naiant Tinybox > Sony M10 (@24/48) Conversion: Wavelab 6 (Adjust levels between clapping and music > Waves Q10 Paragraphic EQ > Waves L3 Multimaximizer) > CD Wave (tracking) > r8brain (convert to 16/44.1) > Traders Little Helper (FLAC level 8) > foobar2000 (tagging) Taper: Unknown Quality: B+

Taper's notes:

Some clipping during Blue Bucket of Gold as the end was roughly 15db louder than the rest of the show. I was located under the balcony so when it gets louder it sounds slightly muddy.

I normally wouldn't thank a crowd in the info file, but THANK YOU! This was probably the most well behaved crowd I have ever encountered an the recording reflects that. Dead silence during the songs...but honestly though...if you could even utter a word during this performance something is wrong with you. It's sort of hard to talk when your jaw is on the ground. :D

Sufjan Stevens 16 September, 2015 Admiralspalast, Berlin Germany

Source: AUD, DPA 4061 > MPS 6020 > Edirol R09 Taper: hanno Quality: A-

Sufjan Stevens 02 May, 2015 Kings Theatre, Brooklyn, NY USA

Source: TASCAM DR-40 (internal mics) > Adobe Audition (levels, fades) > CDWav (tracking) > MP3Tag (tags) > XLD (FLAC 8 compression) > TLH (md5) > DIME (seed date 2015-05-05) Taper: Doc Quality: B+

Taper's notes: The venue combined with my seat location was not kind to the recording process—-it was strangely quiet where I sat, especially for acoustic numbers. Even so, I think I got a solid B out of this recording--samples are below, so judge for yourself. The show was great, especially the second half. I haven’t seen Sufjan in such a talkative, happy mood before.

Sufjan Stevens 17 April, 2015 Palace Theatre, Columbus, OH USA

Source: JF Master Audience audio recording. 16 bit 44100 hz version, downsampled from 24 bit 9600 hz master recording. Lineage: Audio mastered in MAGIX 12 Equiptment : Audio - Edirol R-09HR - MM-BSM-8 Binaural Stereo Microphones - And MM-MBM "Mint Box" Battery / Filter Module Taper: Unknown Quality: A-

Taper's notes: very low recording, had to do some boost to make it loud enough. i had to do some editing between songs, the guy next to me did a lot of yelling between the songs, but was respectful while they were being played, almost all edited out.

Sufjan Stevens 09 April, 2015 Academy of Music, Philadelphia, PA USA

Source: AUD, TASCAM DR-40 > Adobe Audition Mac (amplification, limiting, no EQ) > CDWav (track splitting) > Mp3Tag > XLD (FLAC 8) > DIME Taper: Doc Quality: B+

Notes: Debut date of the Carrie & Lowell Tour.

Sufjan Stevens 24 September, 2015 Koninklijk Theater Carré, Amsterdam Netherlands

Source: AUD, Unknown Taper: LysWantTwo Quality: B+

Notes: a rare C&L show where Sufjan played "Stone" instead of "John My Beloved". There was also a rare performance of "Holland". Sadly, the recorder failed for about a second a few times throughout the show, causing a few short but extremely harsh bursts of digital distortion. I've edited those out, leaving silence where they occurred.

Sufjan Stevens 12 May, 2015 Bass Concert Hall, Austin, TX USA

Source: Tascam DR-07mkII > Wav > Audacity > Flac 24/96 Location: 1st Balcony, left of stage. Taper: wbhendrix Quality: B+

Sufjan Stevens 16 April, 2015 Masonic Auditorium, Cleveland, OH USA

Source: AUD, Unknown Taper: Unknown Quality: B+

Sufjan Stevens 11 September, 2006 Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN USA

Source: AUD, Panasonic PV-GS9 > PC > Authoring > DVD > VOB files salvaged from a malfunctioning DVD > Concatenated and converted to mp4 (ffmpeg) Taper: Unknown Quality: C

I've known about this DVD for over a decade, but only recently did I manage to track down a copy. I'd seen it described as a "great audience shot video", but sadly, it is A LOT more underwhelming than that. If you want to feel like your friend sneaked you into a Butterfly Brigade show inside a bag, this is the video for you!

Audio is fine (I'd give it a B). Video ranges from okayish to the camera not pointing to the stage at all. But I've decided to share it for historical purposes: it is the only (almost) complete video recording of the 2006 tour, if you ignore the atypical, televised Austin City Limits performance. This is, of course, just a warning as to what to expect. Thank you to the taper for taking the time and effort to tape in difficult conditions, and to the person who was generous enough to find their DVD in storage and share it with us.

01. Sister 02. The Mistress Witch From McClure (or, The Mind That Knows Itself) 03. A Good Man Is Hard to Find 04. That Was the Worst Christmas Ever! 05. Jacksonville 06. They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Ahhhh 07. Casimir Pulaski Day 08. Dear Mr. Supercomputer 09. Predatory Wasp story 10. The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us! 11. Majesty Snowbird 12. Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head! (Rebuild! Restore! Reconsider!) 13. Chicago 14. To Be Alone With You 15. The Dress Looks Nice on You

Sufjan Stevens 22 August, 2005 The Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY USA

Source: AUD, Unknown Taper: Unknown Quality: A-

Note: these files were originally shared by the taper on the late sufjanfans forums. According to the taper, the missing songs were not recorded at all. Still, this is a very nice audience recording, and it includes what is likely the best live version of "Decatur" available.