Put Sufjan Stevens on

Put Sufjan Stevens on
and we'll play your favourite song:
"Chicago" bursts to life
and your sweet smile remembers you.

And indeed, Chicago did burst to life[*], gloriously, as the finale of tonight's Sufjan Stevens gig at Manchester Academy 2. Then the encore was the beautiful, simple, and moving Casimir Pulaski Day, which is probably my favourite song.
Other high points: The Transfiguration; the band costumes (bird masks and wings, including fairy wings on the brass section); the beautiful and talented Annie Clark (aka St Vincent), who played support - best track probably Human Racing - and then bass/guitar/keyboards for the main gig; Predatory Wasp of the Palisades; the inflatable Supermen and Father Christmases launched into the audience; the terrific dynamic range: a song which starts as a lyrical little number with Stevens solo on acoustic guitar and then suddenly blows up into a ten-piece rock brass extravaganza (maybe I'm just nostalgic for Wedding Present); and Man of Metropolis:

Only a real man can be a lover
If he had hands to lend us all over
We celebrate our sense of each other
We have a lot to give one another

[*]for that matter, her sweet smile did remember her, a little earlier this evening.