REVIEW: of Montreal, Mega Bog @ Paradise Rock Club 03/26
Georgia-based indie band of Montreal performed a concert at the Paradise Rock Club on Monday, March 26 as part of a tour for their new album, White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood, released on March 9.
Psych rockers Mega Bog, hailing from Seattle and Brooklyn, opened the show. While their musical style differed significantly from that of the headliners, frontwoman Erin Birgy peppered the set with quirks and oddities not out of place in the of Montreal universe. Her offbeat vocal stylings evoked shades of Joanna Newsom, while the rest of the band hypnotized the audience with extended trance-like jams.
of Montreal’s lineup has changed countless times over its two decades of existence, but its centerpiece has always been frontman and main songwriter Kevin Barnes. Barnes and his rotating medley of backing musicians have made a name for themselves largely due to their outrageous live theatrics, and this show was certainly no exception. The performance began with a spacey musical interlude before Barnes sauntered onstage in full drag, donning sparkly makeup, a blond wig, and a long, pink jacket. This is not uncommon for Barnes, who has enjoyed experimenting with gender roles and presentation in both his music and his live performances.
The band then launched into “Gronlandic Edit,” a hit single from their most critically-acclaimed album, 2007’s Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? Its upbeat, poppy style and catchy lyrics got the crowd dancing from the get-go. During the next song, the latest album’s “Paranoiac Intervals/Body Dysmorphia,” the band’s non-musical performers danced onstage wearing the first of many costumes, colored bodysuits topped with glittering skulls.
They performed many old and new dance tunes, including 2005 album The Sunlandic Twins’s “Wraith Pinned to the Mist (and Other Games)” (which is famous for its use in an Outback steakhouse commercial), as well as the single “It’s Different for Girls” off of 2016’s Innocence Reaches. Barnes changed clothes many times on and offstage, showing off the versatility of his style. His theatrical performers also displayed a wide range of costumes, including a giant, glittery dragon. The music was accompanied by colorful, abstract background visuals, and the band shot confetti into the crowd multiple times.
A highlight of the performance was when Barnes briefly exited the stage and reappeared wearing a white coat and a platinum blond wig that was an obvious nod to Judith Light. He then proceeded to sing an emotional cover of the Bonnie Beecher ballad “Come Wander With Me” from The Twilight Zone. His performance transfixed the audience, who was now standing completely still. He then threw the jacket off and the band resumed their dance music performance, starting with “Soft Music/Juno Portraits of the Jovian Sky” from their newest album. Their last song before the encore was Hissing Fauna…’s “A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger,” an epic pop tune that saw more confetti bursting into the singing and dancing crowd.
As the audience cheered for an encore, the band’s mascots came onstage dressed as blue crustaceans and began to control the noise of the crowd, crouching down when they wanted quiet and rising back up to indicate that the fans should resume cheering. The band then performed an explosive encore, beginning with Hissing Fauna…’s “Bunny Ain’t No Kind of Rider,” a glamorous track with a catchy chorus that rendered it a crowd favorite. Next was “Gallery Piece” off of 2008 album Skeletal Lamping, arguably their most danceable track to date, and it showed in their performance. Finally they ended with Innocence Reaches’ “Let’s Relate.” Overall, of Montreal put on a spectacular show that transcended the realm of music and was squarely in the territory of true performance art. Barnes has honed his craft well over the years and is clearly unafraid to color outside the lines, and it showed.
-Leonora Telford