I was starting to get over Sufjan.

Erica--and no offense to her--was telling me that an album full of leftovers, including three versions of the same song, is a little pretentious, a 5-disc christmas box set is a little excessive, and the fact that so many people are falling for it means he's overrated. I was starting to believe her.

But then we went to see him live.

Sufjan and his full band playing in front of a sold out audience at Tower Theater in Upper Darby exceeded my expectations and left me stunned. It was a band of 8 strings, 3 horns, a percussionist, two other helpers on guitars and various other instruments, and Sufjan changing from banjo to guitar to grand piano, and they played all the best songs with new full arrangements for about an hour and 45 minutes.

I was afraid it would be sloppy, haphazard. It wasn't. I was afraid it would be too short. It wasn't. I was afraid they wouldn't play He Woke Me Up Again, but they did. And it was wonderful.

Throw in some butterfly costumes (strange, yet somehow workable) and several homemade videos playing on the large screen behind the band, and it became even more perfect.

They started playing and all of a sudden, it didn't matter that the sound system was subpar, that our seats were in the nosebleeds, and that Ticketmaster charged us $7.50 in "convenience" fees.

And to think that the last time I saw him was with no more than 50 other people in our tiny little student union at Taylor. And the time before that was with no more than 100 people at a hole-in-the-wall bar in Philly. You'd think I'd be mad that he's so popular...and sure, some of those feelings creep up on me when I see little teeny-boppers giggling and putting on their new Sufjan t-shirts they just purchased like he's some sort of teen idol...but really, I can't get upset because I don't think there is anyone more deserving of the attention.

No but seriously, the music was downright beautiful... gorgeous... amazing... perfect... and I will even go ahead and say glorious.

With the help of a friend, I've been thinking about glory lately, and when Sufjan played a full-blown version of his song about Christ revealing his glory to his disciples on the mountainside, I couldn't help but think he was doing the story justice. In some small way, in the beauty of the violins and trumpets and grand piano, I think we were getting a small taste of God's glory.

The evening was a needed distraction from the stress of my job, a heart bursting with joy, a constant grin.

Even Erica agreed.

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