You Fetishize The Archetype!

of Montreal @ Terminal 5 9/18/2010

Black Lion Massacre / Coquet Coquette / Our Riotous Defects / Bunny Ain’t No Kind Of Rider / Godly Intersex / Sex Karma / Girl Named Hello / Suffer For Fashion / St. Exquisite’s Confessions (with Nate “Rocket” Wonder on guest vocals) / Like A Tourist / Enemy Gene (with Janelle Monáe) / Hydra Fancies / She’s A Rejecter / Tonight / Casualty Of You / Around The Way / Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse / For Our Elegant Caste / A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger // Thriller – Wanna Be Startin’ Something – PYT

of Montreal “Like A Tourist”

There was some very negative buzz for the first few shows of this current of Montreal tour, and though I don’t doubt that the band was rusty and hadn’t totally figured out their approach to the setlist and presentation, I can assure you that they got over that stuff in time for the NYC shows, and that the NYC audience looooved it. Seriously though, what is not to love? The False Priest material went over pretty well, and the hits from Hissing Fauna and Skeletal Lamping, not to mention the Michael Jackson medley at the conclusion, are total audience nukes. There’s been some complaint about the band’s show slipping into spectacle for spectacle’s sake, but I don’t think they’ve gone overboard at all, and if anything, they have streamlined this aspect of the stage show over time. There have been times in the past when I have seen the band and the skits during the songs come across like “hey, put on some costumes and get weird out there,” but in this show, the costumes were more evocative, and there was some vague narrative implied in which Kevin Barnes was always either confronting some freaky creatures or getting roped into some kind of ritual. I suppose I understand why some people may be getting bored with or alienated by of Montreal’s current direction, but I wasn’t with any of those people and I’m very glad about that.

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Janelle Monáe @ Terminal 5 9/18/2010

Dance Or Die / Faster / Locked Inside / Smile / Sincerely, Jane / Wondaland / Mushrooms & Roses / Cold War / Tightrope / Come Alive

Janelle Monáe “Dance Or Die”

Every so often during Janelle Monáe’s performance I would think: How is this woman for real? This is getting away from the songs, the singing, the dancing — there’s just something about her that seems just beyond real, as if she’s a drawing or cartoon character made flesh. She and her band glide effortlessly from strength to strength, with an easy mastery over showmanship. It’s kinda amazing just how much production value they get simply from sticking to a black and white formal wear dress code. There were some points in the show in which the of Montreal company joined with her back-up players for some performance art, but that was never as exciting as what Janelle Monáe and her sidemen did on their own, or dropping black and white balloons into the crowd during “Tightrope.” They’ve got a great show, and as much as they come off like total pros, you can tell they’re still figuring out all their tricks. This was an elaborate performance for an opening act — I can’t wait to see what they do once they’ve got a headliner’s budget.

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