MUSIC MONDAYS: OF INSANITY

Have you ever been to a show that featured 15+ costume changes? Probably. I know there are a lot of Madonna fans in the audience. Fair enough. Well have you ever been to a show that featured 15+ costume changes plus "actors" and dancers? Ok ok, I'm sure you have. But seriously now. Straight to the point. Have you ever been to a show that featured a saloon scene, paper mache beasts, people dressed as pigs and tigers, a man being hung from a noose, the same man coming out of a coffin from the ground, dressed as a centaur one minute, wearing nothing but skimpy underwear the next, and then being painted completely red? Well don't feel bad, I hadn't either. But then came "Of Montreal." We didn't have the horse like they did in New York, but nonetheless, this ranks up there as one of the most bizarre shows I've ever seen.

Unlike some other oddball performances I've been to, the music was nearly as strong as the visuals. They played nearly non-stop for over 2 hours, ending the show with blistering covers of "Take me Out" and "Smells like Teen Spirit." Kevin Barnes is definitely one of the strangest men to grace a stage. I never got to see Bowie or Prince at their oddest. But I can only imagine now that I've seen their heir apparent.

The show took place at the newly reopened Palladium. I had heard horror stories about this place but was hoping for the best since Live Nation now owned it. Not that I have any great love affair with Live Nation. But I know they like to make their venues nice. The outside looks great now and the inside wasn't too bad either. The problem wasn't the decor...

...The main GA area is like a large roller skating rink. But apparently a GA ticket wasn't enough to get you into this section (which probably holds about 1000 people). You needed some wrist band too. No mention of this shit on the tickets or anything. Of course they were out of wrist bands even though the floor was about 60% full tops. Eventually we just snuck on as part of a wave of people that hit the floor. But even towards the end of the show we saw that they were enforcing this rule. That's so so stupid. I understand the rationale in theory but outside the floor, the only place to stand (other than in the balcony) was in the doorways, which is obviously just as much if not more of a fire hazard as too many people on the floor. I was hoping that maybe they wanted to keep the space open for Kevin Barnes to trot his horse around but then the horse never showed up. They better not do this shit every show (the venue, not Of Montreal)... Not like I have any shows planned there.

Enough about the venue though. Bottom line to take away from this: if you still have a chance to see Of Montreal on this tour, GO NOW. Even if you hated the last album (I happened to like it though)... But try to see it in a 21 and over venue because there were way too many 12 year olds here.