Sufjan Stevens - Come On! Feel the Illinoise!

[personallycorrect]

my gawd: he is adorable.

[oddmanout1792]

why do the horns never sound good at live shows?

[Mystery13Cat]

@oddmanout1792 because those instruments depend on air flow and that is very hard to keep constant.

[leatherhero20]

He is a genius.

[Ibanez3789]

I feel bad for the trumpet player. Sounds like he was having a bad night :(

[CacogenKitty]

He kind of looks upset.

[goshdranitalex]

Just so damn awesome !

[zonalGman92]

Soooooooo gooooooood

[omegamagi]

Yeah it looks like a questionable arm movement but it's just him keeping the beat on either his leg or a tambourine. Sick performance, a true musician!

[BlargGargle]

Wow, he's about the most unassuming guy ever! lol

[bbeaup]

that hat is so funny, but badass.

[youngmachete]

4:49 Shara Worden FTW

[ladyday]

Wow Youtube comments never fail at bringing lulz even if slightly disturbing

"choking his chicken"

really ?!

[Glrrrbagaloo]

Woo!

[peskasker]

Look slike he starts choking his chicken at 4:03

How many of you fanatics would catch his jizm?

[WeSingNdWeSamba]

i have a giant crush on him.

[patrickritsma]

i'm beginning to think there isnt a girl that doesnt have a crush on stufan

[harrytheblurfan]

who really wants to go to a live performance that sounds exactly like the album? that would be pointless don't you think

[blundaer]

i agree harry

[druminaway]

tRUMPET IS REALLY SHARP AND OUT OF TUNE. dON'T PINCH ON THE HIGH NOTRES BUDDY. oPEN THE THROAT, RELAX AND BLOW MORE AIR WITH MORE SUPPORT.

[johnnyeatsmonkeys1]

OK I'LL MAKE SURE TO DO THAT.

[blundaer]

this is a recording of a live performance..people can "dissect" it as much as they want and claim he is flat or not dissonant, but in reality..its a recording of a live performance...id like to hear some of your favorite bands play live..nothing live is like the album lol..i dont know how you could even compare...

[BlueArmageddon]

hey fuck you

[blundaer]

lol blue armageddon...whats with the hostility my man? i haven't thrown any ill words your way. ..if i may ask, what motivated you to say "hey fuck you" to me? i have neither done nor said anything to you?

[BlueArmageddon]

Hahahahaha that was my friend. He's just a hardcore sufjan stevens fan. I personally don't care too much for sufjan. I listen to bright eyes. Much better stuff. I apologize on his behalf.

[blundaer]

well i am a hardcore sufjan fan as well..apology accepted friend. Bright eyes is good as well keep up the good listening.

[StannersTheManners]

elbow are pretty spot on

[pouidg]

He plays the piano standing .

[Liiammm3]

Good observation.

Most musicians do.

[peskasker]

Really? I hadnt noticed, you fucking retard.

[WARPALORPA]

LOL

[bucketheadmyhero]

gawd do i love the shirts!

[meanquestion]

It's a pun. Like: Come on Feel the Noise... But with Illnois.

[umfufo]

Yeah........ and without ".. The Lemonheads... "

[W3R3W00F]

@meanquestion Whoa. Just blew my mind, there. o_O

[greenoutlet]

epic fail

[Lysistrata8u]

lol, I think he even might be hip enough to mean Come on feel the ill Noise, what you think!? Ill like cool, get it :s I dunno tho

[smthach]

yyeeeeeeeaaaaa boooooooy...

how low can you go...

[isnotonu]

probably my opinion but i seriously think this is best song ever.... sufjan and the band diff. performed flawlessly

[WhaleRider86]

looks like he wanking at 3.55 - 4.37

[SkateSupra1993]

lol

[campfirestring]

dude, he's tambourining... way to fail.

[FromAnonymous]

haha hey dude I would gladly jerk off Sufjan.

[KenshiRyden]

Although Sophie's right to an extent, he definately slips a couple of times here. Also it sounds like the backing vocals are a bit off too.

[SophieDragon]

he is not as flat as all you think. And flat means his tone is lower than what it should be. He sounds fine, what your hearing is probably the dissonant chords he chose to write for the song. And Im not bullshitting Im a musician, I know what Im talking about. If anything the trumpet is just playing too loud.

Sufjan is amazing anyways, no one can deny that

[Im0an0asshole]

Thank you! People seem to use the word 'flat' and have absolutely no idea what it means. If anything he has a tendancy to not settle on a few notes and sharpen them a little when sustaining them. As a pro brass player I think the trumpet player is playing at an appropriate volume and does really well. There's a few splitters, but he's probably only played the chart a few times. You can tell he's holding back anyway.

[topologyrob]

No, he's flat - his pitch is too low. The chords are not dissonant at all in this song. This is a rough performance for sure - lots of intonation problems.

[3rdToppledHat]

This is the only time ive really heard him a little flat live. Every other performance has been flawless. Its possibly because he's playing quite a complex accompliment. (EXCUSE SPELLING)

[ChrisyMcCullagh83]

what a beautifully brilliant album, im learning to play a few of the songs to put on my site.

[ycontrol500]

Yeah, he is a little flat live but other than that it sounds great. It's really hard for anyone to sing this song!! Even the songwriter! I love the meter modulation in this song from 5/4 to 4/4.

[nickdrumongell]

this sounds amazing live. im just in awe. <3 sufjan

[dizzypeanut]

That trumpet sounds so bad.

So flat...

Such bad tone...

[Im0an0asshole]

wow. You're a fucking idiot. He wasn't flat at all...do you even know what that means? He was pretty tight and did well, and I've played this song before. His tone was fine for the style he was playing. I bet he kicks your ass anyway.

[dizzypeanut]

Definitely still sounds flat to me, but maybe its the recording/my speakers.

I'm a percussionist anyways, so yeah he would kick my ass.

[buttdread]

that was halariously gooooooood!

[jmbretter]

that's hilarious

[Cramin]

everything sufjan does is amazing.

However, that questionable arm movement at 4:03 is not. If I had been sitting in the front row that would've been the most awkward minute of my life hahaha.

Stop it Sufjan...stop it...

[HolyCanoley]

ya...he's definitely whackin it

[jcmcruff]

@Cramin haha i'm glad to know i'm not the only one who noticed that going on

[liesl4444]

@Cramin i think that was just him shaking a tambourine...but still

[williake]

One of my fav songs!!! Always wanted to know what it would sound like live!!! Thanks for the post!!!

I HEART SUFJAN STEVENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[grizzlehizzle]

5/4

[aznximportsx]

what time signature is this song in?

[mcelliott59]

The first part of the song is actually in 5/4 I believe.

[Im0an0asshole]

Yep a good portion is in 5/4...until it breaks into 4/4.

[hyperKnc]

I agree with the live dvd comments. The quality on all the videos I've seen are shit.

[naturalkinds]

The trumpet player is brutally out of tune. But I still love this.

[shorty61292]

HE NEEDS TO COME OUT WITH A LIVE IN CONCERT DVD! I would get it so fast!

[Loothy]

personally I think they all did a brilliant job doing this song live.

[jaggysnake57]

Great song but im not really feeling the illinoise in this live version...!

[06feebz]

i love that the response to ridebikehill is just no. ahahahaahaha

[luisvanriet]

this is his best song according to me, but the live version doesn't live up to my expectations.

[phrozen17]

SUFJAN RULES

[ridebikekill]

SOO, is he really cat stevens' son??

[veganwaytogoxo]

no.

[linx502]

i love this song. so addicting.

[bohodance]

Esto no es precisamente brillante (talvez la cancion si). Sufjan tiene una voz pequeña y él es culpable por forzarla tanto.

Esto no fue una experiencia agradable.

Pero es sólo una anecdota dentro del unvierso de sus presentaciones.

De todos modos a él se lo perdonamos todo.

[camaronetero]

yo amo sufjan steveeeeeenss

es taaan hermosoo

I LOVE HIMMMMMMMMM ♥♥

saludoss argentinos (y)

[Mesouki]

sufjan is SO great..

[sknkid41]

superbly done, far from the lamest live music. for lame live music look up any other modern band that don't even play instruments or sing unique or original stuff.

[oklabrian]

and at 4:02 it looks like he's wacking off

[TheGreatSvenster]

I noticed that too....I was like...tehfux is he doing?

[MoreChewy]

he's shaking a tambourine.

[oklabrian]

im sorry but the jam part of this song, from like 2:30 was like the lamest live music i've ever seen

[jrs89]

I agree. Now I can understand why he rarely performs this song. This is one of best songs...its a shame. They just need to practice and arrange it better. That rhodes solo is really tough too. He probably did that it 40 takes on the album. He just probably went studio crazy on this song and it's tough to perform live.

[bringyourgrannys]

no :P

[UnDecided57]

sufjan is brilliant and he is hoooooooooooooot i mean SMOKIN seriously and he makes songs that fill u with something magical

[Bonfireguitar]

He's quite brilliant. He has a massive gap in his teeth though, that I didn't see until I saw the For the Widows... video.

[chyeahwhat]

wow.

love.

[xMOE]

AMAZING

[ady24]

the reason he looks down is because its a bloody complicated song to play! how many arrangements!!

still,great stuff from a superb album,must be time for a new album soon.................

[angryolive]

maybe it's very wrong for me to say this, but it looks like he's masturbating at certain points..

and well, i'm not complainng at ALL about that. it's just pretty hot.

but sufjan s a virgin and would never do anything like that. he's a gift from heaven.

[DoTheElectrostep]

waaait... how does his virginity have anything to do with his masturbatory habits.

hes so cute and handsome and amazing, i'm going to marry him.

[angryolive]

maybe it's a catholic thing, i'm not sure though, but i was brought up in a strict catholic home and even playing with yourself was considered sex and you were going to be in a lotta trouble for it.

either way, i think there's a HUGE line of women folks for that man's hand in marriage. i'd be born again for him. sweet lordy! we should practice our talents and cool moves for sufjan's wifey audition. i wish you the best of luck!

[demeta123]

I think you'll find that's a tambourine he's shaking!

[bringyourgrannys]

yep, tambourine idiot

[angryolive]

idiot? yeah, because i seriously thought he was actually masturbating on stage. you should probably get whatever it is out of your butt immediately before you injure yourself.

oh, and the plurl form of "granny" would be "grannies". don't you remember grade school? drop the y and add ie. just thought i'd return your insult with a friendly gesture.

[angryolive]

and i wear my typos with pride!

[bringyourgrannys]

bahahahaha, i love how quickly these comments divert from the footage. but yes, you are an idiot and score 1 idiot point because put your stupid comment out there for people like me to give you crap about and then you get an extra idiot point for have a winge about it.

also congratulations for being the spelling/grammer police but i dont give a toss :)

[TreeTopTango]

you must like to poop a lot.

[aznstoner]

who doesn't?

[thommyknox]

maybe you don't but it looks like sufjan does :P (4:03).

[FreshTy25]

he's friggen handsome

[sufjanisgodly]

i think he's looking at the keys because the song is quite hard to play, with the lyrics and time.

i don't mean to say that they couldn't have done better, but with how much goes on in that song and how many instruments and voices there are, you're just not going get the visual impression of the dave matthews band are something

[betch29]

this song rocks!!!!

[getinthebag]

sufjan is amazing.

[lpluss]

Sufjan has said that singing is hard for him...so what...we love him for his lyricism and his inventive music (among many other things!). It's kinda ridiculous to expect someone to be a great composer, performer, poet, person, and not a sell-out. He's number one on my list to people to have lunch with.

[maybaby09]

I probably wouldnt want to see sufjan at a large venue. But he's amazing and has an awsomely uniqe sound.

[pingpongpokerchamp]

fuck y'all. this kicks!

[jerscomp]

you guys can piss and moan all you want, but it still has a four star rating, and let me know when you can produce a song better.

[khybor]

I love love LOVE sufjan but this particular performance is lacking. I'm sure he CAN do this song really well on stage; this just happens to be a miss. Artists are allowed to make mistakes/have bad show.

[Akathist]

Man, the trumpet work is wholly uninspired. The people look so bored and Sufjan's voice cracked. fsguitartist is right, rberti, sorry if our standards are a little too high for Ms. Hoselton's 5th grade band.

[greatgiginthesky9898]

this song is rally hard, its hard to play 5/4 timing like that, and that fast. So yeah, who cares about how the band looks, Sufjan Stevens is incredible, thats all that matters, hahahaha

[quebieng]

know i quite sure that sufjan is my total inspiartion for an artist , cause he really do his job , he dont pretend to play the music perfect, he play music to express himself.

[fsguitarist]

poor stage presence (eyes at the keys), poor singing...no one seems into it. illinoise is an awesome album but the dude and the group need to figure out how to recreate the intricate stuff better live.

[rberti]

hahaha jackoff.

he's cool.

no one cares what kinda stage presence you like.

[Royal9186]

you'd go see sufjan stevens because of his stage presence?

[grapefruit74]

who cares about "perfect" stage presence, if you want to see meticulous arranged shows go see any boy band, if you want to be touched by a genuine, very talented artist go to a Sufjan concert. By the way, in my opinion his stage presence is haunting and quite impressive. Authenticity will last!

[DannyP255]

He is correct though, this is an extremely hard song to play, and recording and stage performances require much different levels of knowledge. You can't mess up on stage. He and his musicians need to learn the song better.

[seasonpoem]

seriously hes a genius and sounds like one whether hes looking at his keys, or at the fucking wall

[alina75it]

brilliant!!!

[mendelous]

sufjan is a genius.. no doubt about that!

[FTFDrummer7]

chea. rock on sufjan

[tbonecurlzzz]

im in love with himm

[mikecherney777]

I think Morlonic has to give them a bit of a break

it is an extremely large group

And it still sounds beautiful

[paigeturner]

*gasp*

HE SMILES!!!!

*swoooooooooooon*

[khybor]

There are a lot of moments in this song but yeah, like the last guy said, there were a lot of misses (too bad cause this song is intense on the album). The more videos I see, the more I want to buy all his CDs and skip the shows (though his voice alone could be worth the price).

[Morlonic]

The song is one of his greatest, and I just think:

"Good luck playing it live."

This recording shows how difficult it'd be to replicate it a live show. It is played too fast; Sufjan struggles singing it in time and with the same tone; his fellow players and himself included play quite clumsily...

It was great to see and hear but his music troupe have a LONG way to go before they play this song well.

[sleaze18355]

This is my favorite Sufjan Steven's song, and I'm forever grateful to have seen a live performance of it!

[pinkpuppy2000]

oh i love this song!! My fave, " Oh god of progress have you degraded or forgot us? "

[mikewattdisciple]

Beauteous. Thanks.

[timebeyondme]

He's so freaking amazingggg.

[debhora]

He's a genius

[kustuko]

excelente !!

[AriannaAzra]

Oh! I love this song!

[JoGrohl]

i effing heart this song so much. thank you.

[Colorthelite]

Awesome video. One of my favorite songs.

[NoagKennedy]

Fantastic! Thank you.

[naivecia]

buenísimo!