Of Montreal Is Coming Back to Seattle in May; Hopefully They'll Sound Good This Time

Laura Musselman

Of Montreal + freaky backup dancers at the Paramount last October.

Of Montreal had a decent 2010--they released a great album, False Priest, and are now preparing to release even more songs that didn't make the cut. The Controller Sphere EP will be released this spring, and Kevin Barnes recently told SPIN that these songs will sound familiar to fans of their latest album: "It's not completely different--the songs were written in the same period as False Priest . . . Some of them are a bit noisier and a little bit less groove-based, and some are just a bit artier."

Speaking of arty, Of Montreal will embark on another tour this spring, and if you attended their latest concert appearance at the Paramount in October, expect more of the same. The Paramount show was more theater than music--giant gas-mask-wearing chickens and oral-sex-giving pig-men made appearances--and Barnes says the 2011 tour will feature more bizarre theatrics, including "winged dancers, spooky kids, dragons, and bondage fetishists."

Over-the-top theatrics aside, the main issue with the Paramount show was the sound. Kevin Barnes and the rest of Of Montreal are all brilliant performers, vocally and instrumentally, but the sound defects that night were so terrible that some audience members left early. This time around, the band will headline at the Showbox at the Market on May 11, and hopefully their tech team will have it together. Bad sound and giant chickens running around make for a nightmarish experience, not a memorable concert.

Of Montreal 2011 Tour Dates
1/11, Mobile, AL (Soul Kitchen)
1/12, Tallahassee, FL (The Moon)
1/13, Orlando, FL, (Firestone)
1/14, Ft. Lauderdale, FL (Revolution)
1/15, Tampa, FL (The Ritz)
4/2, Halifax, NS (Halifax Multi Purpose Centre)
4/28, Washington, DC (9:30 Club)
4/29, Philadelphia, PA (Theatre of Living Arts)
4/30, New York, NY (Webster Hall)
5/1, Boston, MA (Paradise)
5/2, Montreal, QE (Metropolis)
5/3, Toronto, ON (The Phoenix)
5/4, Cleveland, OH (House of Blues)
5/5, Chicago, IL (The Vic)
5/6, Omaha, NE (The Slowdown)
5/7, Lawrence, KS (Liberty Hall)
5/8, Denver, CO (The Ogden Theatre)
5/9, Salt Lake City, UT (In The Venue)
5/11, Seattle, WA (Showbox Market)
5/12, Portland, OR (Roseland)
5/13, San Francisco, CA (The Fillmore)
5/14, Los Angeles, CA (Avalon)
5/15, Phoenix, AZ (Marquee Theatre)
5/17, Austin, TX (Mohawk)
5/18, Dallas, TX (South Side Music Hall)
5/19, Memphis, TN (Minglewood Hall)
5/20, Atlanta, GA (The Buckhead Theatre)

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