of Montreal at Revolution, January 14

of Montreal

Revolution, Fort Lauderdale

View a slideshow of backstage and concert photos here.

Less than one year ago of Montreal last adorned a South Florida stage, and it’s the second time for frontman Kevin Barnes — apparently they’re a band that does not forget about lowly South Florida. Revolution was not as packed as it was when of Montreal performed at the same venue in 2008, but the diverse crowd (which included several members of South Florida-bred indie rock icons Surfer Blood) was all there for one reason: to watch a perplexing and vibrant spectacle unfold on the stage in front of them.

Along with of Montreal comes a mélange of sideshow characters, this time around including machine gun-wielding goldfish and pigs complete with spandex unitards. The band is familiar with providing cringe-worthy theatrics on stage while they perform — whether it is an actor or image projected on the big sreen behind them. One of the more tame of Montreal shows in South Florida, Barnes managed to keep most of his clothes on throughout the entire performance. While the entire band put on a quality performance, it is he who is usually the center of attention — his “questionable” sexual energy rampant throughout every song.

The band opened with “Black Lion Massacre,” followed by “Coquet Coquette” from its most recent album False Priest. They played a good mix of new songs and older hits, such as “Suffer for Fashion” and “She’s a Rejector” — two melodic tunes from Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? Midway through the show two of the troupe members wearing pig masks were placed in a blow-up raft and set atop the audience to crowd surf — a spectacle which drew many smiles (and camera flashes) from the crowd. The band performed one cover, “Sex Shooter,” a song written by Prince for the girl group Apollonia 6 and towards the end of the show we were lucky enough to hear “Wraith Pinned to the Mist (and Other Games).” If that didn’t make the crowd crave a bloomin’ onion, it sure got every one moving like they were in some sort of “bizarre celebration.” Finally the band culminated with a superb three song encore, ending with one of my personal favorites “Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse.”

Critic’s Notebook:

The Crowd: Mostly 20-to-30-something hipster types. People willing to suffer claustrophobia to smoke in the small partitioned area outside.

Personal Bias: Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? is one of my absolute favorite albums and the band played five of its songs.

Random Detail: When Kevin Barnes finally took off his pants I’m not really sure what the orange thing was he was wearing. Was that a mini-skirt?

Set List:

Black Lion Massacre

Coquet Coquette

The Party’s Crashing Us

Our Riotous Defects

Famine Affair

Suffer for Fashion

Sex Karma

Girl Named Hello

Godly Intersex

Around the Way

Slave Translator

Hydra Fancies

Labyrinthian Pomp

She’s a Rejector

Sex Shooter

Wraith Pinned to the Mist (and Other Games)

A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger

Like a Tourist

For Our Elegant Caste

Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse

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