Of Montreal, Diane Coffee, de'Collage - Bluebird Theater, Denver, CO 10/28/15

Halloween brings out the child in us and the same thing can be said about the Of Montreal Show.  They bring a carnival atmosphere full of psychedelics visuals, boxing poodles, and lots of people dancing in their underwear.  The audience was a mix of young college students, drunk hipsters, male and female cross dressers, women in pink wigs, people in hot dog costumes, people in taco costumes, and a few old people like me.

The first band DeCollage was a local band that describers their music as Surrealism/Avant-Pop/Future Psych/Visual.  The highlight of their set was costume members dressed as the Moon and a Silver Man doing a very interesting Interpretive Dance to a cover of Van Morrison's 'Moon Dance.'  There was a glowing pearl involved in the costume.  My picture doesn't really capture all of it's greatness.   



Next was Diane Coffee lead by former Foxygen drummer Shaun Fleming.   Psychedelic Motown can describe their sound the best.   It was a cross between James Brown, David Bowie, and Little Richard.  You couldn't take your eyes off Diane Coffee.  He had a great vocal range, funny between song banter, and danced throughout the set with a recently broken foot.  You could see the pain in his face as he ran across the stage all in the name of rock and roll.

You think that would be more than your money's worth, but that's when the real show began.

Of Montreal is the creation of lead singer Kevin Barnes.  He got the name from a failed romance with a woman 'of Montreal. '  There is a renewed energy coming from the band possibly brought on from recent band line up change. 

The show began with a masked man in a tight body suite parading around to introduce Barnes to the stage.  When the first song started, the visual effects shot color and a joyful atmosphere into the crowd.  A projector was used for most of the visuals during the performance.  Kevin Barnes on guitar along with a drummer, keyboard player and utility player on bass and additional percussion.   They mostly played high energy numbers with a dance beat.  Of Montreal had a large number of costume players during the songs provide even more visuals.  These members use screens that project images of foxes, eyeballs, and even Donald Trump.  Small weird plays were also being performed that involved boxing poodles, Abe Lincoln, and a masked crowd surfing gypsy.   They also dressed as screaming babies with feather cannons to shot at the audience.

Just when you think the show was ending.  Skeletons appeared to bring back the band.   A rave appeared on the stage with all of the visual members dancing in masks, furry boots, and a few in their underwear.  Barnes appeared in a new red outfit with tummy control red pantyhose and a large smile.  At the end of their set, Kevin Barnes blew a kiss into the audience and the show ended with everybody in in a psychedelic dream state and feathers in their hair.