Of Montreal live review

Of Montreal played a gig in Audio Brighton on Friday August 3rd 2007. Here’s a review of Of Monreal live from occasional guest reviewer Graham Pembrey.

You’d think that Audio, an intimate venue with a small stage that barely raises performers above crowd-level, would be too small to cope with the multi-instrumental, theatrical live show that Of Montreal have become known for. As they stroll onstage though, it’s clear that their sense of pomp remains undiminished by the low-key setting, with guitarist Bryan Poole sporting a splendid pair of wings, and leading man Kevin Barnes adorned in the sort of make-up that would make Adam Ant proud. Visuals are projected onto a screen behind the band as they play, depicting strange, colourful drawings, flashing symbols, and psychedelic (possibly LSD inspired) visions. An art critic might say the images sat somewhere between the pop art of Andy Warhol, and the Surrealism of Dali… someone less pretentious, however, would possibly (rightly) compare them to the animations on legendary game show Catchphrase. Either way, they’re hypnotic and fit perfectly with the droning rhythm of the band’s synth pop gems.

Drawing heavily from latest album ‘Hissing Fauna, are you the destroyer?’, their set doesn’t lag once. Songs like ‘Suffer for fashion’ and ‘Bunny ain’t no kind of rider’ are packed full of melodies so catchy that even those unfamiliar with the band would swear they’d heard them a million times before. A few new songs are also unveiled, sounding even more psychedelic, and perhaps less compact, than their last album, but still cleverly structured and with ‘pop genius!’ written all over them in giant neon letters. Before the encore, the show gets even quirkier, as a man dressed in black, with a gold mask, comes onstage wearing a giant lobster hand.

Spilling out of Audio post-gig, the streets are lined with revellers heading to gay bars and clubs to party in anticipation of tomorrow’s Pride march. You can’t help but feel that Of Montreal should have booked a bigger venue tonight, and invited all of Brighton’s gay and lesbian community down to what was possibly the campest show in town. Their loss. Of Montreal certainly didn’t tone down their theatrics, or their energy, tonight, even though they’ve come fresh from a tour that included bigger shows and some festivals – their reputation as a great live band will only keep growing if they keep playing shows like this.

Of Montreal Music Videos

Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse

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Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games

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Requiem for O.M.M.2

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Latest Of Montreal albums

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 at 6:36 pm and is filed under Brighton Gig Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.