Last Wednesday, after six weeks of not going to a show at all and six months of not going to a show that wasn't at a stuffy, seated venue like The Fox or Symphony Hall, we finally got out to The Earl to see Thor & Friends and Wye Oak. Last night, a mere three nights later, we were out again, this time at Terminal West seeing the Athens, Georgia band of Montreal.
We saw of Montreal two years ago, appropriately enough on a Halloween night. In 2016, the fine Brooklyn band Teen opened for them; last night, it was a Portland band called Reptaliens.
We could see why Reptaliens were selected to open for of Montreal. Probably the most interesting thing about Reptaliens, the thing we're sure most people will remember, was a member referred to as "The Actor" who came on stage at various times during the set dressed in outrageous costumes, not unlike the backup dancers for Kevin Barnes and crew.
Otherwise, Repataliens performed a set of energetic indie pop, fronted by singer and bassist Bambi Browning. She was clearly the best musician in the band and it could be interesting to see what, if anything, she chooses to do post-Reptaliens. Between songs, there was some ambient science fiction apocalyptic dialogue played in the background, so that was cool. Overall, though, it wasn't really our thing but most of the audience seemed really into it, and Bambi's boundless energy and enthusiasm had her dancing in the audience throughout of Montreal's following set.
Repaliens started their set at 9:00. of Montreal took the stage at around 10:15, and played a 90 minute set.
of Montreal, for the uninitiated, are a psychedelic rock band fronted by the gender-fluid frontperson Kevin Barnes. Their shows feature the band's glam rock songs, reminiscent of early David Bowie, Barnes' ever-changing outfits, exotically costumed backup dancers, and an aggressively psychedelic light and video show. All in all, it's quite a circus, and an exhilarating, immersive experience.
The band is fairly prolific and Barnes is a talented and witty lyricist. However, they have so many songs at this point that we can only recognized a handful, Let's Relate (probably because the refrain "Let's relate" was plastered across the screen in big Peter Max fonts), and our favorite It's Different for Girls.
As you can probably tell, the whole night was about having as much non-judgemental, open-minded fun as possible, and each stage set, each outfit change, each backup dancer seemed determined to top whatever had just happened last on stage. It was a blast, and the audience was deliriously dancing and cheering along.
Not that it would be possible to capture the ebullient anarchy of the set with words and pictures, or even video for that matter, but here's the close of last night's encore, the grand finale with all the band, the dancers, and most of Reptaliens on the stage with of Montreal.
Basically, it was a party and everyone had fun and no one got hurt. What more could one want from a Saturday night?
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