Led by the uninhibited androgyny of frontman Kevin Barnes, the glammy indie-rock ensemble energized Grand Rapids fans with a theatrical feast. Review, photos.
Theatrical Rock Catharsis: Of Montreal at The Pyramid Scheme on Thursday. (Photo/Anna Sink)
Weird and wonderful.
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The Athens, Georgia, band Of Montreal — born of the Elephant 6 collective — lived up to (and surpassed) expectations, delivering a psychedelic feast for the eyes and ears to a sold-out crowd Thursday night at the Pyramid Scheme.
Kevin Barnes: “So this is the first time we’ve been here and you guys are craa-azy. I love it. Loo-ove it. It, it, it, it.” (Photo/Anna Sink)
The stage show in the intimate venue came complete with three masked and jump-suited backup dancers, kaleidoscopic video backdrops and an unabashed upbeat tempo. Frontman and mastermind Kevin Barnes, as lithe and glamorous as a Parisian model, demonstrated why he reigns as one of the most magnetic glam rock gods of his era.
The 80-minute show spanned the band’s nearly two-decade career, though a majority of the second half of the performance lingered in the crowd-pleasing era of the band’s mid-aught releases (“The Sundalic Twins,” etc.).
Show closer, “The Past is a Grotesque Animal,” (from 2007’s “Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?”) proved a barn burner of a finale, the nearly twelve-minute track building into a wall of distortion and pure rock catharsis.
Dream Tiger, fronted by Liz Wolf, set the stage for a night of synth-heavy rock.
— Tricia Woolfenden
OF MONTREAL: PHOTO GALLERY BY ANNA SINK
Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
Copyright 2014, Spins on Music
