Of Montreal Attracts Teens to Church

We were worried that, since we didn’t have time to write a preview for Friday’s Of Montreal show at First Unitarian Church, nobody would come see one of our absolute favorite indie bands.

We should now revise that statement. Because we didn’t write a preview for Friday’s Of Montreal show at First Unitarian Church, not many people over the age of twenty came out to see one of our absolute favorite indie bands. But we didn’t need to worry much about numbers; Friday’s show was one of the most crowded we’ve ever seen at the Church. Crowded with heavily-pierced teenagers who made us wonder: “Does your mother know you’ve got that?”

But enough about the crowd (which literally ranged in age from ten to fifty, with the mean somewhere around eighteen); we’re here to write about the show. We walked into the Church to see a giant PVC structure erected on stage. Hanging from the structure were two guitars (strapped to bungee cords) and sheets with the letters “MGMT” scrawled on them. Suddenly, we were quite excited to see this central-Connecticut band that we’d never heard of. Unfortunately, however, our excitement was short-lived (though not as short as it should have been – the show started an hour and a half late). The best thing that we can say about the MGMT is that they show promise. The two piece band uses mostly pre-recorded music (which they often fall behind or get ahead of) to create a sound not unlike Brian Eno-meets-The White Stripes. Was it interesting? Surely. Was it bad? Not at all. But it wasn’t good, either. Funny thing about shows at the church: there is no fancy stage lighting. If you turn the lights off, you’re performing in the dark. Which is what the boys of MGMT did. In very dark aviator sunglasses. They also seemed to enjoy lying on the floor. In a standing-room only crowd, that’s not the best way to be seen on stage. But what do we know? We’re just the writers.

We plan on checking up on the MGMT periodically to see how they’re doing, and we’re optimistic. But for now, we’ll just call them the more forgettable band of the evening, and move on.

The first time we ever heard Of Montreal, we heard their song “Jacques Lamure,” which may or may not have given us the wrong impression of them. But as we continued to download their music (this was during the glory days of Napster), we grew to love this fun, quirky, downright catchy Indie-Pop band. (How couldn’t you love a band that writes a danceable song called “Chrissy Kiss the Corpse”?) We were really excited to see them live, and we weren’t disappointed in the least.

Lead singer Kevin Barnes is incredibly charismatic in a sort of ambiguously gendered way. (We added the ambiguously gendered statement to our notes after he took off his over shirt and revealed a women’s blouse underneath.) We’re always amazed when somebody is able to jump around the stage for that long and still show no sign of exhaustion. Like the MGMT, Of Montreal uses a lot of prerecorded music in their performances. But their transitions are smooth, their timing is impeccable, and the result is outstanding. We only wish that they had more time between songs for audience banter. Not that the audience really cared. They were too busy dancing and singing along with Kevin Barnes.

Of Montreal certainly knows how to entertain its audience. From synchronized guitar movement to choreographed onstage “mirror checks” to wigs and face paint and flowers, the band definitely has enough going on onstage to entertain even the most ADD-afflicted of its audience members. Which is probably why we had so much trouble writing anything worthwhile on our notepad after the band took the stage. So we’re just going to tell you that you should give the band a listen and, next time they come to town, fight your way through the adolescent crowd and park yourself right in front. And then we’re going to return to our fascination with the shiny objects hanging across the room from us here at Phillyist HQ.