Pampelmoose by Dave Allen of Gang of Four — music . media . web. culture

All Pictures ©Nilina Mason-Campbell

Sometimes the only words are those to say that there simply are none.  Still, I’ll try to give a basic overview of last night’s Of Montreal show at the Roseland. I’d gotten a glimpse of what might be in store by way of photo heavy reviews, but nothing could’ve prepared me for the caliber of Of Montreal’s current ridiculously ambitious production. I didn’t know whether it’d be gimmick-y, over-the-top or alienating, but I’m happy to report it was none of those. A highly inclusive dance party on par with an avant-garde Broadway musical? Yes.

By the time Of Montreal and its troupe of highly versatile interpretive dancers walked off the Roseland’s stage after a two hour performance, it lay littered with mounds of feathers, skins of fruit, balloon latex, confetti, whip cream, shards of plastic and two pairs of men’s boxer briefs that had been thrown from member of the audience. There were costume changes galore, too many fanciful scenarios enacted to count ranging from a public hanging to frontman Kevin Barnes embodying a centaur and later emerging from a coffin covered in whip cream over a nude body-suit. And there was too much more in between, all choreographed to an astounding level. After a set of catalog spanning material Of Montreal closed out with two charged covers, the first being of Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out” and then onto Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” In the time of those two numbers, the group played with the energy and confidence to make the pair of tunes its own all while managing to exasperate the venue’s security by launching a wave of crowd surfing and then jumping into the crowd to ride the wave.

Of Montreal’s performance was beyond that of Flaming Lips, CSS. Les Savy Fav and Montonix, four acts with absurdly engaging antics. It was not only a dream realized, but one created – that more musical acts will inject the same elaborate effort into their live shows as they put into recording their albums. No one could’ve walked away last night griping that the could’ve just listened to a CD instead.