Last November, we saw the Athens, Georgia band of Montreal at Terminal West. Now, a mere five months later, they return to the TW, and we saw them again.
The band Yip Deceiver opened. YD consist of members of of Montreal (that sentence looks funny but it's grammatically correct); YD is basically 3/5 of of Montreal (gotta figure out how to stop doing that . . . ). Anyway, they played a fun set of 80s-sounding, new-wave synth pop and for one song, brought a guest keyboardist on stage so that they briefly were 4/5 of of Montreal (damn!), basically, the band without frontman Kevin Barnes.
We went to the show with B., our adult daughter. She's not a big fan of being packed in close with other members of an audience, so instead of our usual front-row spot, we watched this show from up above the dancing crowd in the TW balcony.
This year's of Montreal stage show was different than the shows of previous years. Gone were the video projections and light shows of years past, and frontman Kevin Barnes looked great, even though we wore neatly pressed jeans and a loose shirt instead of the usual drag of years past. We kept expecting him to trot off stage for a quick costume change, but he stayed in the same outfit the entire set. Frankly, it's the butchest we've ever seen him. Fortunately, though, the show still had the outrageously costumed dancers of before and as always, of Montreal's great, bouncy songs.
The band played songs off of their new LP, White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood, as well as older favorites like Different for Girls and Let's Relate. Kevin Barnes' voice was in great shape and the rest of the band sounded tight.
As usual, the set ended with a calamitous assemblage of many costumed persons on the stage, crowd surfing, and general mayhem. Here's the closing moment:
So, in ways the show was a little less audacious than some prior of Montreal shows - no video and light show and no Kevin Barnes costume changes; no Susan Sarandon on stage to spank dudes dressed like pigs - but compared to most other shows, an audio/visual sensory overload and most certainly a fun way to spend a Saturday night.
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