All (blow your mind!) photos: Jeff Martin
all words: Andy Hess
Night two was better. But not by much. When Of Montreal took the stage for night two of their residency at the 9:30 Club, I was hoping for a band that wasn’t going to play it safe. Unfortunately they did. And it was more of the same: cheap gimmicks and mostly forgettable cuts from the band’s new record False Priest.
The new record is definitely not the band’s best work, but it’s also not their worst. And I’m totally fine with Kevin Barnes doing his best Prince impersonation (even though his David Bowie is much better), False Priest feels like a paint-by-numbers recording. That said, the stronger tracks from the record — “I Feel Ya Strutter”, “Sex Karma”, “Enemy Gene” — definitely fit into the band’s set nicely, but the rest came off as a soundtrack full of filler to Barnes’ three ring circus of props and people in Lycra suits.
It wasn’t all bad. The giant television that was brought out while Barnes played Sibylle Baier’s “Tonight” on a piano backstage was a particularly poignant moment; “The Past Is A Grotesque Animal” with its pulsing drums and slow build was inspiring and a definite highlight to the set; the encore that closed with a medley of Michael Jackson standards — “Thriller”, “Wanna Be Starting Something” and “P.Y.T” — worked really well and definitely ended the show on a high note.
The problem was that it took too long to get to that point.
Calling it now: this will be the last time Janelle Monae will be opening for anyone on tour. Armed with the best pop record this year in The ArchAndroid and an infectious live show, no one would be crazy enough to enlist her for an opening act. For two nights, she stole the show before it even began and I wouldn’t be surprised if it kept happening the rest of this tour.
Greeted by Cindi Mayweather (Monae’s alterego on her EP Metropolis: The Chase Suite and The ArchAndroid) via livestream from the future, Mayweather explained why Monae was back from the future to present the problems of the android race and how we can solve them by dancing. The crowd at the 9:30 Club happily obliged.
Kicking off her set with “Dance Or Die”, it was high energy from there on with only brief stops for instrument changes and the occasional drink. Using her hour-long set to convert the non-believers, Monae delivered and danced her way into the hearts of the audience. While her dancing shoes channel James Brown, Monae star power shines through and I’m not sure anyone left the 9:30 Club Tuesday night without acknowledging that Monae is definitely deserving of all the hype.
Previously in Live DC:
- 5/22: LiveDC: Spirit Animal @ Red Palace
- 5/22: LiveDC: Astra Via @ Black Cat
- 5/22: LiveDC: Father John Misty @ Rock & Roll Hotel
- 5/22: LiveDC: Drive-By Truckers and Lucinda Williams @ Merriweather
- 5/22: Photos: Summer Camp takes the "Ladies of Town" Drag Show
- 5/22: LiveDC: Penguin Prison & Class Actress @ RNR Hotel
- 5/21: LiveDC: James Morrison @ 930 Club
- 5/21: Photos: Que Sera L'Anniversaire @ Napoleon
- 5/21: LiveDC: La Sera/ Beach Week @ Red Palace
- 5/21: LiveDC: The Black Keys & Arctic Monkeys @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
God loves a cheerful giver.
this is why i keep being afraid to go to of montreal shows. BTW-AMAZING PHOTOS JEFF. JUST AMAZING
ahhh...love the pics of of montreal!!!
could not agree more... Janelle stole the show!!!
i've seen of montreal 3 times and it was amazing all three times. never on this tour though. can't imagine it got that much worse (negative review here, wapo, etc). best show of bonnaroo a couple years ago.
@SJ -- I saw Of Montreal in 2007, loved 'em. Saw them on Tuesday, total yawn.
Top notch photos.
They didn't even play "Oslo in the Summertime"!!!! Still upset
While I found Janelle highly talented, I thought her show was kind of boring. It opened promisingly with the ArchAndroid opening and video and all, but then it failed to carry that momentum throughout. It felt disjointed - like there was supposed to be a story being told during the performance, but there really was none at all outside of one or two songs. I still thought she was entertaining and could see why she's so highly acclaimed, but I definitely felt like there could have been a lot of improvement carrying the theme throughout.
Whereas of Montreal never has a "theme," as it were, just a lot of crazy shit going on. I think their show last year at 9:30 was better as far as visuals (Kevin being hung up on a cross was a pretty intense way to end the show), but I thought their overall performance was better this year. They included more of a personal old favorites (mostly off "Hissing Fauna"), as well as playing a bunch of new stuff. By the end of the show, everyone was dancing. And the encore left everyone jumping around and sweaty, so that's always a good way to leave a show.
Excellent photos Jeff! It was nice meeting/shooting with you at the show!!!
Damn Jeff. Making me want to quit my photo gig. AMAZING shots.
great photography!
Me and a bunch of friends were really lookin forward to this concert. Have to say that the concensus of the entire group was that Of Montreal was a total bore music wise. Costumes shenanigans were OK but agreed with you a gimmick to fill in for the lack luster of a show. And was it just me, that the music engineer continued to crank up the volume all night until that all that was produced by the speakers was chaos. 9:30 needs to get a handle on volume.
The only saving grace that night was Janelle and her show. No way is she the warmup act for anybody from here on out.