Success Knows No Shame

Of Montreal @ Roseland Ballroom 10/13/2007
So Begins Our Alabee / Rapture Rapes The Muses / The Party’s Crashing Us / Gronlandic Edit / Suffer For Fashion / Forecast Fascist Future / Exquisite Confessions / Lysergic Bliss / We Can Do It Softcore If You Want / She’s A Rejecter / October Is Eternal / Oslo In The Summertime / Mingusings / My British Tour Diary / Bunny Ain’t No Kind Of Rider / I Was Never Young / Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse // Requiem For OMM2 / Faberge Falls For Shuggie / The Repudiated Immortals

If you’ve never been to the Roseland Ballroom, you need to know that it’s a very large venue, and it’s kind of a big deal that Of Montreal sold it out, and that the overwhelming majority of the people on the floor were dancing, singing along, pumping their fists and flipping out for the duration of their set. It’s also worth noting that a large number of the people in the audience were very young — teenagers, college undergrads — and their excitement for the show and emotional commitment to the songs was obvious, intense, and beautiful. The band have a new, more elaborate stage set for this tour, and though it didn’t stray too far from the thrift store surrealist spectacle of the previous round of touring, it was a clear sign that they’d come up in the world since Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? was released back in the early winter. There was a potent feeling of triumph to this show, but it wasn’t just about the band — the success of the record is so tied up in how people identify with it that it was also about the audience, and the commiseration and validation of this communal experience. “Let’s all melt down together,” indeed.

The three new songs were absolutely fantastic, by the way. They aren’t too far off from Hissing Fauna in style and substance, but it’s all a bit more glittery and extreme. Kevin Barnes has got his Georgie Fruit on, and there’s no question that it will get the crispest possible endorsement from the C.C.A.A. Booty Patrol.

Of Montreal “She’s A Rejecter” – “The girl of my dreams is probably God, still I want you.” That’s the climactic epiphany of Hissing Fauna, the moment of clarity that makes sense of the emotional chaos. The phrasing is very key — he’s not saying “I want you, but the girl of my dreams is probably God,” he’s not implying that she’s second best. Even if she’s a flawed human being, she is superior to whatever he can define as perfection. He’s basically admitting that his imagination is too flawed and limited to come up with something better than her, and if he’s managed to alienate her, then he’s fucked for life. (Click here to buy it from Polyvinyl.)

Also: You can get a recording of this concert via NYCtaper, but be warned: You have to deal with some .flac bullshit.