Month of gigs: Thursday tease edition

So, by the time you're reading this I should be safely ensconced in London's Royal Festival Hall bouncing up and down in my FOURTH ROW SEAT with giddy expectation at the prospect of finally seeing - *le gasp!* - Sufjan Stevens!

As long time readers will know, I'm nutty for Sufjan and he's without a doubt the most prominent name on my by now very short list of artists I want to see perform live before either they or I shuffle off this mortal coil (hopefully neither of which will occur in the immediate future. Or at all, quite frankly).

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An aside:

I actually had the chance to buy tickets to see Sufjan about five years ago, but passed on the opportunity because I had tickets for the same night to see The Feeling, a band I'd already seen twice that year. In retrospect, I should've sold The Feeling tickets, or quite honestly just given them away, and gone seen young Mr. Stevens instead.

For the simple fact that I didn't, I now vehemently HATE The Feeling.

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Anyway, Sufjan announced two gigs at the Royal Festival Hall a couple of months back and I immediately corralled some Sufjan-loyal troops together. I actually meant to buy tickets for the Friday night show as I thought it would be a lovely lead-in to the weekend, but in my haste at the moment tickets went on sale I accidentally bought them for the Thursday night one instead.

Still, fourth row tickets, eh?

One of the faithful joining me is my Big Bro, who has been gently appreciative of Sufjan for a few years now, before exploding into crazed nuttiness after hearing his latest album, 'Age of Adz'; seriously, Big Bro described it as being something like 'Sufjan Stevens colliding with Nine Inch Nails,' which in his book is A GOOD THING. And mine, too.

Anyway, because it was Big Bro's birthday recently I told him I'd pick up the tab for his ticket as one of his presents from me (note I said 'one of'; I'm a very generous present giver, I'll have you know). My intention was to slip it inside his birthday card. Sadly, the tickets didn't arrive in time (they actually arrived the day after - tut!), which put the kibosh on that plan.

That being the case, I improvised - the result being this:

Honestly, I really don't think Sufjan speaks like that, but it made Big Bro laugh. For all I know he's laminated it and stuck it on his living room wall. Actually, I hope he has; it took a fair bit of time to do, you know.

And if by any chance Sufjan or any of his peeps come across this: NO OFFENCE INTENDED - HONEST!

So anyway, yeah, excitement levels will be going slightly off the scale tonight. And there's always the question of what he'll be wearing - will it be the stars and stripes catsuit, the angel wings, hot neon post-it notes, or an immense crystalline … thing?!

Reporting back SOON.