Now that is how you open a festival. Janelle Monae‘s The Archandroid has become one of my favorite albums of the year and now she’s also secured a spot in my favorite live shows of the year list. Before Janelle took the stage one of the Wondaland Arts Society members, dressed stylishly in a tuxedo, gave a rousing introduction which included asking everyone to turn their camera around and take a picture of themselves so they can show their kids one day that they were at this concert. Then we were shown a video of Janelle in her alien/robot from the future character where she commanded the crowd to “dance or die”. The audience fully complied and were treated to a non-stop breathtaking hour long set. She opened with the first three songs on her album Dance or Die / Faster / Locked Inside and immediately won any doubters over. Seriously, believe all the hype, this girl is amazing.
Probably the most remarkable part of Janelle Monae’s show, besides from her magnetic stage presence, infectious energy, electrifying dance moves and stunning good looks, is her vocals. She belted out every song and never sounded anything less then ravishing. Whether it was on slow songs like the Charlie Chaplin cover “Smile” where her soulful vocals were the main attraction or on big grandiose numbers like “Cold War”, I was continuously impressed with her pipes. She’s also one for theatrics (which I’m sure you know if you’ve listened to any of her music) and had an array of skits intertwined in the music, the most memorable involving some kind of zombie army which she heroically shot down one by one with her pointer finger. She even invited Kevin Barnes on stage for a performance of “Make The Bus” which I very much enjoyed hearing live. The set closed with an incredible rendition of one of my favorite songs of the year, “Tightrope” and a bombastic “Come Alive” which featured the singer venturing into the crowd during the climax. I think everyone left the set feeling like they witnessed something incredible, I know I did.
MP3 Janelle Monae – Tightrope (feat. Big Boi)
Of Montreal had the extremely difficult job of following up Janelle Monae’s incredible show and unfortunately they came up a bit short. This was my fourth time seeing the band live so maybe I was underwhelmed from comparing the show to those fantastic past performances. It also probably has to do with the fact that both things I was anticipating most from the concert, the Michael Jackson cover medley and an appearance from Janelle Monae, didn’t happen. The show wasn’t anywhere near a complete bust though. Many of the new songs sounded great live. I really enjoyed hearing “Coquette Coquette”, “Like A Tourist”, and “Sex Karma”. They also played a good deal of songs from my favorite album of the band, Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?. “Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse” and “The Past Is a Grotesque Animal” still sounded amazing and really energized the crowd. Only two pre-2007 songs were played (“Party’s Crashing Us” and “Olso In the Summertime”) but I guess that is to be expected.
One thing you have to expect with an of Monteral show these days is the bizarre, occasionally absurd performance art. The theme of the night seemed to be Kevin Barnes being attacked / sexed / worshipped (sometimes all at once) by swarms of colorfully costumed creatures from skeleton children in pajams to dudes with fish heads, gas masks, and shotguns for arms. It was all pretty fascinating to watch and I admit I cracked up laughing a few times by the ridiculousness of what was going on stage (I’ll let my photos speak for themselves in that regard). I also have nothing but good things to say about the band, especially the Late B.P. Helium and the violinist, both of who ventured to into the crowd multiple times during the set and just generally killed it all night long.
One part of the show that I really enjoyed was when a large video screen was rolled on stage which showed a live feed of Kevin performing a song from outside the venue. He played a few bars of Sibylle Baier’s “Tonight” before going into a completely new song nicknamed “Ghetto World” by fans. It was a very cool moment and reminded me of how innovative and unique a of Montreal concert can be. I just wish they could have maintained that spark for the entirety of the show. In the end though, it was a perfectly adequate performance from of Montreal which is far better then just about any other live band and Janelle Monae was spectacular, so there’s no way I can complain.
MP3 Coquet Coquette
MP3 Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse
Follow the jump below for many more Janelle Monae / of Montreal pictures from the night. Click here for the full set.
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