My Favorite Christmas Present: Sufjan Stevens

It has been almost 8 years to the day since I first saw Sufjan Stevens at the Black Cat.  That was the Seven Swans tour and I swooned at his music.  I have loved most of his songs released since then and was able to see him in 2007 at the Kennedy Center and at the Beacon Theater in 2010. Tonight I went to Sufjan Steven's Christmas Sing-A-Long: Seasonal Affective Disorder Yuletide Pageant on Ice at the 930 Club and now I feel like the holiday season has arrived.

The program was a good mix of songs sung by the band and those meant for the sing-a-long.  We were given programs with lyrics for our efforts.  Sufjan, band members and audience members spun the Wheel of Christmas to choose our next song.  My favorite was singing Joy to the World with the band ending the song with Impossible Soul.

My favorites were the songs that he sang for us including Sister Winter and That was the Worst Christmas Ever!  I've heard stories of what motivated Sufjan to put out his Christmas song albums but I'm just really grateful that he did it.  His are some of my favorite versions of classics including O Holy Night and Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (sad that neither of these were sung tonight).

The encore was two of his earlier songs including Chicago. 

And in case you haven't heard it yet, please listen to Sister Winter.