On Friday night, the marble terrace around the Kennedy Center, normally known for its panorama of the Potomac, transformed into a squatter's camp of freezing music fans with one goal in common: to try to get their hands on a pair of free tickets to see indie super-hero Sufjan Stevens perform backed by a symphony orchestra in the Opera House on February 5.
As evidenced by the massive turnout Friday, which included fans camping out in line overnight, Stevens is a fine fit for February's ten-year anniversary celebration of the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage, which has been a beacon of musical diversity and eclecticism in Washington.
Steven's 2005 album, Illinois, is a sprawling kaleidoscope of sound aimed at capturing the spirit and story of the "Land of Lincoln." The critics salivated over its soaring anthems and home-grown ballads and praised Stevens for making an authentically middle-American soundtrack filled with songs of progress, celebration, mystery, and maturity.
With his blend of intricate and insightful lyrics and high-pitched vocals layered over banjos, oboes, and full-fledged symphonic crescendos, Stevens has gathered fans across genres and generations, many of which were represented Friday night.
By 1:00 am, eight hours before officials began distributing free tickets on the red carpet of the Grand Foyer, there were already some 500 high schoolers, college students, twenty-somethings and even a few baby-toting families coiled along the outer walls, staircases and flower beds in clusters of tents, blankets and sleeping bags.
The chilled marble slabs on which they rested were as cold in the early morning hours as ice cubes. Had it been July, the patio would have been a deafening party. Strangers would have moved from circle to circle making friends, making out, and adding their voices to Sufjan sing-a-longs. But on Friday, the scene was eerily quiet but for the sporadic strumming of a few scattered guitars, the occasional string of expletives with every icy gust of wind, and the rustling of restless slumberers fumbling for cigarettes in their coat pockets.
By 9 a.m., the time when tickets were to be officially distributed, the sun perched on the rim of the Jefferson Memorial across the river, and the terrace was a tightly wound snake of 2,500 shivering stragglers – 1,500 more than the number of available tickets. As tickets began to be handed out, those who'd weathered the night emerged from their caves of covers to stretch and thaw, some doing laps around the Kennedy Center to regain the feeling in their legs.
The morning's conversations echoed Stevens' diverse pull as part hippy-poet, part storyteller, part Old Testament prophet. Two nearby teenagers recited Bible verses to each other, while a group of students from Virginia Commonwealth University swapped ribald drinking stories. My friend Jessica and I, who had read each other lines from T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets before the cold clamped our mouths shut, feasted with our friends Daniel and Nathan on stale Doritos and frozen grapes. An eight-hour wait in below-freezing temperatures – had it been worth it?
We'll know for sure next Monday when we see Stevens perform live, but on Friday we at least got to live out our own version of a Sufjan song. In "To Be Alone With You," he sings, You gave your body to the lonely/They took your clothes/You gave up a wife and family/You gave your goals/To be alone with me.
To get tickets, all we had to give up was a little warmth and a good night's sleep.
Camping Out for Sufjan Stevens
Eight hours and freezing temperatures -- was an overnight camp out worth it to get free Sufjan Stevens tickets?
On Friday night, the marble terrace around the Kennedy Center, normally known for its panorama of the Potomac, transformed into a squatter's camp of freezing music fans with one goal in common: to try to get their hands on a pair of free tickets to see indie super-hero Sufjan Stevens perform backed by a symphony orchestra in the Opera House on February 5.
As evidenced by the massive turnout Friday, which included fans camping out in line overnight, Stevens is a fine fit for February's ten-year anniversary celebration of the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage, which has been a beacon of musical diversity and eclecticism in Washington.
Steven's 2005 album, Illinois, is a sprawling kaleidoscope of sound aimed at capturing the spirit and story of the "Land of Lincoln." The critics salivated over its soaring anthems and home-grown ballads and praised Stevens for making an authentically middle-American soundtrack filled with songs of progress, celebration, mystery, and maturity.
With his blend of intricate and insightful lyrics and high-pitched vocals layered over banjos, oboes, and full-fledged symphonic crescendos, Stevens has gathered fans across genres and generations, many of which were represented Friday night.
By 1:00 am, eight hours before officials began distributing free tickets on the red carpet of the Grand Foyer, there were already some 500 high schoolers, college students, twenty-somethings and even a few baby-toting families coiled along the outer walls, staircases and flower beds in clusters of tents, blankets and sleeping bags.
The chilled marble slabs on which they rested were as cold in the early morning hours as ice cubes. Had it been July, the patio would have been a deafening party. Strangers would have moved from circle to circle making friends, making out, and adding their voices to Sufjan sing-a-longs. But on Friday, the scene was eerily quiet but for the sporadic strumming of a few scattered guitars, the occasional string of expletives with every icy gust of wind, and the rustling of restless slumberers fumbling for cigarettes in their coat pockets.
By 9 a.m., the time when tickets were to be officially distributed, the sun perched on the rim of the Jefferson Memorial across the river, and the terrace was a tightly wound snake of 2,500 shivering stragglers – 1,500 more than the number of available tickets. As tickets began to be handed out, those who'd weathered the night emerged from their caves of covers to stretch and thaw, some doing laps around the Kennedy Center to regain the feeling in their legs.
The morning's conversations echoed Stevens' diverse pull as part hippy-poet, part storyteller, part Old Testament prophet. Two nearby teenagers recited Bible verses to each other, while a group of students from Virginia Commonwealth University swapped ribald drinking stories. My friend Jessica and I, who had read each other lines from T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets before the cold clamped our mouths shut, feasted with our friends Daniel and Nathan on stale Doritos and frozen grapes. An eight-hour wait in below-freezing temperatures – had it been worth it?
We'll know for sure next Monday when we see Stevens perform live, but on Friday we at least got to live out our own version of a Sufjan song. In "To Be Alone With You," he sings, You gave your body to the lonely/They took your clothes/You gave up a wife and family/You gave your goals/To be alone with me.
To get tickets, all we had to give up was a little warmth and a good night's sleep.
Most Popular in News & Politics
The Missing Men of Mount Pleasant
Another Mysterious Anti-Trump Statue Has Appeared on the National Mall
Muriel Bowser Defends Her BLM Plaza Decision and Looks Back on a Decade as Mayor
Yet Another Anti-Trump Statue Has Shown Up on the National Mall
Want to Search Donald Trump’s Truth Social Posts? A New Site Is Here to Help.
Washingtonian Magazine
July Issue: The "Best Of" Issue
View IssueSubscribe
Follow Us on Social
Follow Us on Social
Related
How Would a New DC Stadium Compare to the Last One?
The Culture of Lacrosse Is More Complex Than People Think
Did Television Begin in Dupont Circle?
Kings Dominion’s Wild New Coaster Takes Flight in Virginia
More from News & Politics
I Tried to Train for American Ninja Warrior
Trump Wants to Rename Soccer, the Nationals Chose a Shortstop, and Virginians Are the US French-Fry-Eating Champions
Guest List: 5 People We’d Love to Hang Out With This July
The Washington Nationals Just Fired the Manager and GM Who Led Them to a Championship. Why Has the Team Been so Bad Since?
FBI Building Now on Track to Leave DC After All, Whistleblower Leaks Texts Suggesting Justice Department Planned to Blow Off Federal Court Orders, and NPS Cuts Leave Assateague Island Without Lifeguards
Families of DC Air Disaster Victims Criticize Army’s Response, Trump Settles His Scores Via Tariff, and Police Dog Kicked at Dulles Returns to Work
This DC-Area Lawyer Wants More Americans Betting on Elections
Trump Threatens DC Takeover, Says He’d Run the City “So Good”; Supreme Court OKs Mass Federal Worker Layoffs; and You Should Go Pick Some Sunflowers