Of Montreal w/Tilly and the Wall (6/2/05)

Tonight was a really good show. The will call line was surprisingly long, so it took awhile to pick up our tickets. When we finally gotinside the first opening band Numbers was already playing. They were unusual because the female drummer was also the singer. They also had a moog player and a guitarist (I think). Their music was mostly poppy indie rock, though their best song was very moog-heavy and electronic-sounding. The singer/drummer’s voice was a little rough at times, which made it occasionally difficult to listen to.

The next band Tilly and the Wall started their set with a clapping, stomping cheer that was pretty amusing. They consisted of three main female singers (with one backup), bookended by very similar looking acoustic guitarist and keyboard player. Their vocals was a lovely combination of the singers voices alternating with the guitarist singing occasionally. Musically they were excellent, very catchy pop songs with the occasional ballad. The crowd loved them so much that they were cheering for an encore, though they couldn’t since they weren’t the headliners.

Of Montreal played much more electrified danceable rock music than I expected. Being part of the second generation of the Elephant 6 collective, I kind of thought they’d be more poppy. They were still very poppy, though they were actually much more dance-y at some points. It was interesting to see a few of the band members move from drums to guitar (with butterflies on them) to keyboard to trumpet. Thesinger/guitarist actually made two wardrobe changes. The first time hechanged from a blue coat to a sheer neon green shirt and a blue knit cap. At that point, he put down his guitar and became more of a rapperthan a singer. It was kind of strange.

The second time he changed (offstage), one of the bassists (they have2) sang out introductions of the other band members. When the singercame back on stage he was wearing a tight red and white square sleeveless shirt with strings on top. I’m pretty sure it was a woman’s shirt because it had a V shaped opening in the back. This was actuallybetter than the previous outfit because he started playing guitar and singing normally again. During their encore, they played their versionof Supergrass’s Alright. It was similar to the original since thesinger’s voice is kind of high-pitched and nasal, though they did add an extended guitar solo.