Backseat Sandbar

(photo by Matt Picasso)

Let me start by saying that I’m a big fan of of Montreal.  I think they are amazing musicians and they have put out great record after great record.  I went down to Nashville to see them at the Cannery Ball room on February 6, 2010 and left happy, but unsatisfied.  Perhaps I missed the bus on this rant and it should have been made years ago, but I’ll write it anyway.

Full disclosure: my favorite album is Cherry Peel, but I listen to Satanic Panic in the Attic just as much.  This is a tribute to the band’s range.  Kevin Barnes and Co. have the ability to reinvent The Beatles and make a modern dance song at the same time.  It shows in their collective work of art.    That said, the level of their talent is lost on the majority of the audience because their show has become too gimmicky/weird.  Back in 2006, I saw them in Lexington complete with scantly clad characters being walked around on all fours with one of those Pulp Fiction balls in their mouth being whipped.  Their Bonnaroo 2009 show was more watered down, but still included pig-headed men and random animal/human amalgamations.

The Cannery Ballroom show took it to the next level.  Pigmen, check.  Nude guys, check.  Tigerman, check.  Gasmasks, check.  It felt like less of a musical performance and more like an exhibition in pushing the envelope.  Please don’t get me wrong,  I love high energy shows and I love a band going the extra mile for their fans.  That said, when the lead singer is pulled off a cross by men in tights with pig masks after the song prior to the encore, I am forced to question the band’s credibility.

I want to think that they don’t need a bazaar spectacle to gain a fan base.  Unfortunately, I may be wrong.  The crowd in Nashville included a large number of bedazzled Ke$ha’s (including guys) that where there for “the show.”  of Montreal might as well be playing “The Entrance of the Gladiators” at the Barnum & Bailey’s Circus.  In any other situation, I wouldn’t care, but having followed of Montreal for so long, I know they don’t need a “show” to be big.

Eat a bat’s head.  Remove a rib.  Break a guitar.  Smash a bottle on your face.  Bands have cooked up plenty of ideas to get people to shows, but at the end of the day, it’s talent that keeps them coming.  I only ask that of Montreal embrace their abilities and follow the path of the great bands before them.  Acts like Bowie and The Beatles had times of strange that were well received, but they always came back to their core; solidifying and expanding their base, while maintaining credibility.

of Montreal has a new album, False Priest, coming out this year.  It is probably too late for this one, but I only hope that they reach back soon and embrace some of their older stuff and create a tour that reflects the same.  Otherwise, the morning after, the make-up will be smeared and love will be lost on an experience that cannot last longer than a single show.

of Montreal- For Our Elegant Caste (the most “normal” song of the show)