Let your freak flag fly
After a three month hiatus from concerts, mostly due to being abroad in Saudi Arabia, a country completely devoid of live music, I finally got to attend a show in Chicago, my new city. The show was at Metro, a venue holding about 1,100 people in Wrigleyville, less than two miles from my apartment. The venue is a lot like 9:30 Club, with a similar size and set up but perhaps a bit wider and shallower meaning that even if you’re in the back, you’re still pretty close to the stage.
While I have always enjoyed indie pop ensemble of Montreal, I have never been a huge fan. I ending up recognizing about half of their songs, but there weren’t any that really got me jumping. Part of the reason I was excited to go was that I heard they put on fun, wild shows. The band has a lot of vaudeville and psychedelic influence which they mix in with electronica, funk, and glam rock. The stage was filled with lights and imagery. Throughout the show, there was always something crazy happening on stage, including a variety of costumed actors running around pantomiming as animals, police officers, and other characters, shooting confetti or dropping balloons into the audience. A performer in American flag spandex impressively surfed his way to nearly the back of the audience, and then made his way back to the front without touching the ground. The band partakes in the antics as well. At one point, the flamboyantly dressed lead guitarist passed his guitar into the audience then crowd surfed his way over to it to play a few chords. Of course, the most over-the-top of all was androgynous frontman, lead singer, chief songwriter, and principle creative talent Kevin Barnes. He was wearing what I assumed was women’s clothing and moved his hips and body in a very feminine way – very reminiscent of David Bowie. He also adorned an elaborate costume or two, at one point singing atop an actor’s shoulders, dressed like a butterfly and wearing a Pope hat.
The antics dominated the experience, but the music didn’t disappoint. Their sound incorporated a lot more hard and jam rock and less pop than I would have expected. It was plenty loud too; I regretted not having my earplugs. The set was fairly short, only about an hour plus an encore, but I didn’t feel cheated. They packed a lot in. My Chicago concert experience returns to fine form.
Setlist:
Suffer for Fashion
Sink the Seine
Cato as a Pun
Micro University
Oslo in the Summertime
Beware Our Nubile Miscreants
For Our Elegant Caste
She's a Rejecter
Enemy Gene
Plastis Wafers
St. Exquisite's Confessions
Hydra Fancies
Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse
The Past is a Grotesque Animal
Encore:
Id Engager
Gronlandic Edit
A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger
While I have always enjoyed indie pop ensemble of Montreal, I have never been a huge fan. I ending up recognizing about half of their songs, but there weren’t any that really got me jumping. Part of the reason I was excited to go was that I heard they put on fun, wild shows. The band has a lot of vaudeville and psychedelic influence which they mix in with electronica, funk, and glam rock. The stage was filled with lights and imagery. Throughout the show, there was always something crazy happening on stage, including a variety of costumed actors running around pantomiming as animals, police officers, and other characters, shooting confetti or dropping balloons into the audience. A performer in American flag spandex impressively surfed his way to nearly the back of the audience, and then made his way back to the front without touching the ground. The band partakes in the antics as well. At one point, the flamboyantly dressed lead guitarist passed his guitar into the audience then crowd surfed his way over to it to play a few chords. Of course, the most over-the-top of all was androgynous frontman, lead singer, chief songwriter, and principle creative talent Kevin Barnes. He was wearing what I assumed was women’s clothing and moved his hips and body in a very feminine way – very reminiscent of David Bowie. He also adorned an elaborate costume or two, at one point singing atop an actor’s shoulders, dressed like a butterfly and wearing a Pope hat.
The antics dominated the experience, but the music didn’t disappoint. Their sound incorporated a lot more hard and jam rock and less pop than I would have expected. It was plenty loud too; I regretted not having my earplugs. The set was fairly short, only about an hour plus an encore, but I didn’t feel cheated. They packed a lot in. My Chicago concert experience returns to fine form.
Setlist:
Suffer for Fashion
Sink the Seine
Cato as a Pun
Micro University
Oslo in the Summertime
Beware Our Nubile Miscreants
For Our Elegant Caste
She's a Rejecter
Enemy Gene
Plastis Wafers
St. Exquisite's Confessions
Hydra Fancies
Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse
The Past is a Grotesque Animal
Encore:
Id Engager
Gronlandic Edit
A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger
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