of Montreal pitched a tent and brought the circus to town Thursday night at High Dive, located in Downtown Gainesville.
Okay, maybe it wasn’t the actual circus, but it was an outlandish hybrid of an even creepier version of Cirque du Soleil and a corny ’80s movie where high school cliques exist, penny loafers are acceptable garb and the freaks have to fight to keep their beloved rec center open. Molly Ringwald would probably star in it.
Via: Bradley Norman
Welcomed to the stage by the tip of a hat from the eccentric ringmaster –- clad in a bright red, skin-tight (and I mean tight) body suit and an Abe Lincoln hat –- Barnes performed head-to-toe in drag, something he has been known to do in the past. Although I don’t think Barnes’ cross-dressing alter-ego Georgie Fruit made an appearance at High Dive, Barnes sashayed on to stage in an over-sized green woman’s coat, purple sunglasses, black stockings and red woman’s loafers with an ascot tied tightly around his neck. He then instantly started squealing.
Every movement Barnes made was calculated, almost choreographed, while still reading as if totally ad-libbed and spur-of-the-moment, which is what makes for such a captivating show. It’s more about the way Barnes slowly slides his blouse open, revealing his nipple as if it’s some scandalous statement than it is the freaky baby-faced masks and smoke-blowing trippy demon dragon stage props.
At one point, wrapped in the warm embrace of a giant one-eyed phallic stump, the band’s casual coolness still remained, despite the cooing and the strangeness.
Via: Bradley Norman
Whereas nearly any other artist would be branded a try-hard or would be accused of hiding behind the performance, of Montreal’s genius lies in the band’s masterful use of what some would consider distracting visuals and bizarre theatrics. Instead of being overshadowed by or hiding behind the way-too-revealing, skin-tight body suits, the creepy, otherworldly masks and the taunting choreography, the band embraces this weird spectacle and is elevated to a whole new level of cool. It helps that Barnes is more than just a performer; he’s also a phenomenal singer, songwriter and guitarist as well.
The band performed five songs from their upcoming 13th studio album, “Aureate Gloom.” They began with “Bassem Sabry,” continued with “Last Rites at the Jane Hotel,” “Chthonia Dirge for Uruk the Other,” “Like Ashoka’s Inferno of Memory,” and “Estocadas.” All of them were packed with promise and seemed to get a rise out of the crowd.
While they only performed one song from their most recent album, “Lousy with Sylvianbriar,” the rest of the set list was a healthy mix of tracks mailing from “Skeletal Lamping,” “Hissing Fauna,” “Are You the Destroyer?” and “False Priest.”
Via: Bradley Norman
of Montreal closed the show with a two-song encore consisting of “Suffer for Fashion” and “She’s a Rejector” – both fun, upbeat and sleazy dance bops and both off of “Hissing Fauna.”
Also worth mentioning was the band’s opening act, Nedelle Torrisi, a soft-spoken quirky songbird wielding a violin. Torrisi at one point nervously read a song off of a sheet of paper that she had seemingly written on the bus ride there, but her soft musing was undeniably sweet, despite the tainted, depressing nature of the tracks. The performance was a stark contrast to the spectacle of Montreal brought to the place, but a pleasant performance nonetheless.
Via: Bradley Norman
The interactive nature of the entire show – be it the mouthy ringleader with the deep, demanding voice who acts as the chorus throughout the show, the untamed dancers who made it seem as if the fairly tiny stage at the High Dive was stadium-sized or the storyline of the show itself – helps make it more than a concert. It’s a reality; it’s a storyline; it’s a piece of art and you, as an audience member, are a part of it.
Seeing of Montreal in person is an artful otherworldly experience that needs to be seen and demands to be heard.
Feature photo courtesy of: Bradley Norman
