Of Montreal at Soul Tree

I really, really, really, really, really, really miss seeing live music. Two months ago, when I saw that Of Montreal was performing on 30 May in Cambridge, I immediately bought tickets for us and some friends. Finally the 30th arrived, and, even though I wasn't feeling well, M* and I biked over to the Soul Tree in the downtown Cambridge—this phrase makes Cambridge sound much larger than it is—and met up with Manuela, James and Jessica.

We arrived after the opening band, The Strange Death of Liberal England, but in time for The Video Nasties, self-described as,
"Video Nasties are a young London based five-piece. We write lo-fi pop songs in our shed and then we play them at gigs. We like early 90's indie, punk and 80's pop music and are inspired by 70's and 80's film and video. One day we might invite you to our shed, until then come and see us at a gig." They performed well as a band and sounded very English. They also introduced us to Soul Tree's ridiculous stage design—it is lower than the floor. The venue is quite small, which is good, but with the recessed stage, you cannot see the band even when there are only six rows of people in front of you. Of Montreal is not a particularly tall band: Even after securing a bar stool to kneel on, I still had no idea that the lead singer, Kevin Barnes, had fishnets and blue ankle boots on for his first outfit. I never did find out what shoes he was wearing when he switched into a silver lame jumpsuit.

Of Montreal at the Soul Tree, 30 May 2007 (from Flickr)

I had seen Of Montreal perform once before, at the Echoplex in Los Angeles in Jan. 2006. Both shows were infectious pop performances, although the one last night incorporated a few more subdued, less head-bopping inducing songs from the "Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?" release of this year. I don't remember any covers at the LA show, though I often forget such details, but I do recall that one of Mr Barnes' costume changes included a wedding dress. There were three covers during the Soul Tree show: "Sweet Child O'Mine" by Guns N' Roses, sung by the keyboardist and only female in the group, Dottie Alexander; "Ever Fallen in Love" by the Buzzcocks; and, during the five song (think it was five, but, once again, I forget), "Moonage Dreams" by David Bowie.

Kevin Barnes dons his technicolor muumuu and elevates himself for one song (from Flickr)

Of Montreal treated us to about 100 minutes of live music, and the audience had a chance to give back by serenading Kevin Barnes with "Happy Birthday." However, we did not oblige them with their request for us to reveal our more intimate places during the traditional birthday song.