Watch Father John Misty’s Epic Performance of a Pure Comedy Cut on Last Night’s Seth Meyers

Father John Misty brought a Pure Comedy standout to stunning life on last night’s Late Night With Seth Meyers, performing “Things It Would Have Been Helpful to Know Before the Revolution” with accompaniment from a full orchestra.

Misty sticks the track to a T, only deviating from the album version to deliver an anguish-laden reading of its closing clause: “ … On this godless rock that refuses to die.” It’s fascinating to see a showman like Misty behaving more like a ringleader than a rock god, forgoing most of his usual theatrics in favor of letting his grand composition speak for itself.

Pure Comedy currently tops our list of the year’s best albums, while “Things It Would Have Been Helpful to Know Before the Revolution” made the top 10 in our ranking of every Father John Misty song. Misty also recently released a stellar stop-motion music video for the track.

Watch Misty’s Late Night performance above and his interviews with Meyers below, listen to his 2012 Daytrotter Session further down, and read our Paste Quarterly cover story on him here.