Of Montreal
Metro Chicago 3/10/6
Seeing Of Montreal Sat night was a bit like seeing a live production of Hedwig and the Angry Itch. It was, to say the least, very very glam. I’ve never seen anyone on stage quite like Kevin Barnes…we’re talking the stuff of legends. Kevin came out in a white wedding dress first thing and proclaimed to the audience, “We’d like to make love to you Chicago but we’re old fashioned so you have to marry us first.” (see above picture where you can actually glimpse him putting a ring on an audience member) When the crowd cheered, he took it off only to don outfit after outfit of glammy attire. I didn’t know what to expect next. It was just that sort of a show….
Now, if you are familiar with Of Montreal, you’ll understand that they’ve always had a bit of weirdness to them playing a huge part of their quirky pop sensibility. However, their 2005 release The Sunlandic Twins (on Polyvinyl) found them a new larger audience as they intoduced more synthy beats to make their oddities just a bit more accessible. I’m a fan of this album and I find myself singing, “Let’s pretend we don’t exist. Let’s pretend we’re in Antartica” every time I put the album on. Those who enjoy this album will not only be mesmerized by their live set visually but will thoroughly enjoy the music as I can’t recall one song they didn’t play off of this album. In between songs, Kevin also would ramble about everything from Arbys to the ridiculousness of Queen going on tour again now. At times during monolgues, they’d even work in familiar rifts in the background like “Sweet Child of Mine” by Guns-N-Roses. It was truly one of those had to be seen to be believed shows that I’d never seen anything quite like before. As an encore to their 90 minute performance, they played “I Was Never Young” and covered the Kinks song, “Tired of Waiting For You.”
You can hear their songs on their myspace page or go right on to their MP3 Audio Lounge
Click for more pictures because you know you want to see all of Kevin’s different poses and outfits. It’s okay…we all do….
