Of Montreal

I saw Of Montreal last night... It was great - it was a sellout at the Gargoyle, and despite the fact there was no drinking, the crowd was really good (maybe the drugs they had to consume before showing up?).... Anyway, the band is all high energy, sugar-rush-psychedelic-pop-goodness. Until I saw them live, I didn't realize they perform several of the songs live with a drum machine... Also, Kevin Barnes, the singer, had about 10 costume changes over the course of the night. When I showed up (I walked in in the middle of the first song) my first thought was, "I didn't realize Of Montreal consisted of the cast of Zoolander." I had no idea what their normal stage "costumes" were like, but it was all eye glitter and sequined trendy shirts, in a very pre-meditated way. Kind of like a disco cover band would dress. They threw out some sweet covers, too, including Prince's "Take Me With U", the Kinks "Tired of Waiting for You" and The Supremes' "You Keep Me Hanging On", not to mention a version of Europe's "Final Countdown", which they played up until the vocals were to kick in and segued into one of their own songs.

I missed opener The Maxtone Four's set, but singer Brian McClelland assurede me it was "their best set ever" and I'm inclined to believe him. All in all, a good time.