On Friday, a group of us went to hear Daniel Johnston at First Avenue. We’d seen The Devil and Daniel Johnston, a recent documentary of the folk singer’s life and work, and we’d come away entranced by his raw, childlike songs.

Daniel Johnston’s musical career has been disrupted by repeated bouts of severe mental illness, and the impact of this illness is written into his songs, onto his body. His hands trembled as he sang on Friday night, and he clutched at the hem of his sweatshirt to keep them steady.

What did he sing? Beautiful heartbroken love songs, like “Mean Girls Take Pleasure,” or “Speeding Motorcycle,” or his own version of “Hey Jude,” which reminds each listener that “there’s a heaven and there’s a star for you.” And at the end, he sang my favorite Daniel Johnston song: “True Love Will Find You in the End.”

There was so much true love in the room that night: five hundred hipsters stood shoulder to shoulder, waiting for hours to see a heavy, awkward man in gray sweatpants shuffle onto the stage to sing. Why did they come? For the songs, the beautiful love songs.