Sufjan Stevens

22 April, 2004

Calvin College’s Festival of Faith & Writing

Covenant Fine Arts Center, Grand Rapids, MI

USA

Source: SBD + Mics [Matrix]

Quality: A+

I was lucky enough to receive a high quality, full-concert 2004 Sufjan bootleg from my alma mater. It’s a unique show in an early stage of his career - Sufjan plays solo with the guitar and banjo, and talks about his “new record Seven Swans.” When he performs it here, Chicago is an unreleased song from an upcoming album about Illinois.

While some version of this exists on the web, it’s at a much lower quality and has three missing tracks. As far as I know this is the very first time the concert’s ever been shared in full. The quality is quite respectable at 256kbps. It’s recorded with a combination of soundboard and room mics and the mix is fantastic. Sufjan’s performance is practically flawless. It’s basically live album quality.

u/asthmatickitty, hope that sharing this is cool with you folks. I’ve got permission from Ken’s side, and I’m only sharing this because it’s a gem.

Just some more context - Sufjan’s playing at Calvin College for its biannual Festival of Faith and Writing. He’s performing here in the CFAC, a 1200 capacity seated venue (coincidentally where I’d meet him 11 years later) just before Rosie Thomas and Denison Witmer. Sufjan went to our rival Hope College, a short 45-minute’s drive away in Holland MI. However he’d come to Calvin regularly to watch shows and play with his band Marzuki.

After one of these Marzuki shows in 1996 a big well-connected guy (can’t remember his name) met them backstage and convinced to try out music in New York. All of them returned within the year, but Sufjan fell in love with the city and eventually returned post-graduation. The rest is history.

While studying at Calvin College I met lots of people who knew Sufjan from his pre-New York days. People like artist Rick Beerhorst who hosted house shows with Marzuki, my recreation prof who lead his Holland Bible study (but still pronounces his name wrong), or older faculty/alumni who remembered him playing at Cave Cafe, a scrappy campus coffeeshop venue I ran for three years.

Of all of these Calvin College people Ken Heffner, who gives the introduction, was probably the closest to Sufjan. He’s one of music’s many unsung heroes and I consider him a mentor, and I’m sure Sufjan would say something similar as well. Without Ken lots of indie artists we know today - including Sufjan and Son Lux - may not be where they are now. He’s a great guy and I wish everyone here had the chance to know him.

Hope you enjoy listening!

- Liance



01. Introduction

02. A Sun Came

03. The Upper Peninsula

04. Size too Small

05. Borderline

06. Chicago

07. For the Widows In Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti

08. The Lakes of Canada

09. He Woke Me Up Again

10. Seven Swans

Download: 256 kbps m4a