Last year at the Majestic, I learned that going to an of Montreal show is like stepping into a psychedelic alternate universe that creates a panorama of mystifying colorful whirlwinds and glorious androgyny. This year, I was expecting nothing less, and luckily ended up being presented with even more. The show began with a set by Shaun Fleming, or Diane Coffee, the drummer from psych-rock band Foxygen. “Coffee” developed his pseudonym as homage to Nathan Pelkey’s “Mr. Coffee” and the legendary Diana Ross. He appreciated the combination of male and female inspirations to create his single name, as they played between feminine and masculine archetypes and nodded towards androgyny. While Fleming’s musical style differs slightly from Foxygen, the influence of the group’s live sets shines through his hauntingly dramatic facial configurations, sporadic and edgy movements and eerily superficial-seeming exchanges with the audience. He and his band, the Good Dogs, began their set with “Hymn,” which highlighted the magnificent talent and range of Fleming’s voice. Throughout other tunes, including “All The Young Girls” and “Eat Your Love,” Fleming solidified himself as a psych-rock fixture whose vocal and guitar-playing abilities mystified me and left me wanting to seek out his music beyond just that of Foxygen.
As excited as I was by the Diane Coffee set, when he and his band left the stage, I got a brand new pang of excitement for of Montreal. In true form, the band came out without leader Kevin Barnes and instead was accompanied by a person wearing a morph suit with a human muscular system print. The person spoke of how people don’t need to be confined to the bodies they were given and granted the audience permission to free themselves of their bodies. As the audience cheered and gratefully accepted both an invitation to leave their bodies and indulge in the music for the night, and also for this very clear and uplifting message of transgender acceptance, the mysterious host introduced Barnes. The frontman came out sporting a classy red tuxedo and his iconic blue glittery eye makeup. The set began with a rousing rendition of “Bassem Sabry” that set the stage for a colorful, dance-heavy party. This song was followed by “Triumph Of Disintegration,” during which dogs and wolves flashed on the screen behind the band, looking malicious and hungry. Dancers entered the stage and held three large white circles above their heads and projected these images out to the masses.
Perhaps the most exciting and statement-making part of the set was after the fourth song, when two dancers came out wearing huge papier-mâché dog heads and morph suits on which the American flag was printed. A graphic of red, white, and blue stripes under a great bald eagle was projected on the screen. The dogs maliciously fought until a mediator dressed as Abraham Lincoln came out to establish peace. Finally, the dogs stripped off their American flag suits to present plastic bodysuits equipped with large inflatable breasts while the bald eagle in the background flashed with psychedelic colors. The breasted people gathered around Abe Lincoln and swayed together, creating what was maybe the best “Free the Nipple” moment to grace an American flag-clad stage.
The set continued with songs including “Beware Our Nubile Miscreants” and “Like Ashoka’s Inferno Of Memory” until it went into a medley of “And I’ve Seen A Bloody Shadow” and “Plastis Wafer.” This combination of songs was as dance-inducing as it was sexually charged and caused Barnes to rip off his red tux jacket and signify the real start of the party. Papier-mâché pterodactyl heads, grinding and jumps accompanied this display and led into Barnes’ conversation with the audience about how he liked someone’s necklace and was glad to be back in Madison. Through the rest of the show and the final songs of “Gronlandic Edit” and “ A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger,” the stage lit up with dancers dressed like what seemed to be Ken dolls, glitter-adorned dancers tossing glow sticks into the crowd, of Montreal-esque visuals of birds, babies morphing into animals and houses morphing into consumer brand logos, and even a quick image of Donald Trump (which received some boos from the audience). Dancers dressed in all white waved their cherubic wings made of white sheets upon which mesmerizing visuals were reflected. As the band left the stage, the audience begged for more.
Barnes returned to the stage sporting a glittery pink-and-black tank top and a huge smile. Whereas the group is often known to do a 13-minute rendition of “The Past is a Grotesque Animal” for its encore, this time around, it chose to perform a more varied second appearance. The encore featured “Bunny Ain’t No Kind Of Rider,” “Id Engager,” She’s A Rejecter” and the ever-mystifying “Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse,” each of which blew the audience away more than the last.
To say that Diane Coffee and of Montreal performed an unforgettable, moving and outrageously fun show would be putting it lightly. The show glittered, rocked, engaged, provoked and mystified. It did just what I wanted it to do and more, and for that reason, of Montreal shows remain as some of the best shows ever.
