Of Montreal at Scala (02/08/07)

First of all, the organisation/security at Scala has completely gone to shit and has put me off going there again (although there will always be exceptions). Having to queue outside for half an hour when turning up an hour after doors open, so that they can search every single person and then have them queue again for the understaffed box office to collect their tickets is stupid, and I was clearly far from the only one to completely miss Pull Tiger Tail's set as a result.

But that aside, it was a really enjoyable gig. I didn't know that much about what to expect but was taken right away, both by the fact that they kicked the set off with the awesome one-two of "Suffer For Fashion" and "Bunny Ain't No Kind Of Rider" and that they put on such a bizarrely extravagant show. There was a big glam rock thing going on with their (hilarious) outfits and Kevin Barnes' somewhat Bolanesque performance which was not something that I'd really thought of from the album before but makes sense now. And then on top of that were pretty cool projections and, oh yeah, the two guys in black lycra bodysuits with mirrorball faces running around, bursting balloons and crowdsurfing.
Music mainly came from Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? which was fine by me as I don't know much of the older stuff very well and its dense pile-up of melody and meaning has sneaked its way to a position as one of my very favourite albums of 2007. "She's A Rejector" was pleasingly manic and the sleazy funk of "Faberge Falls For Shuggie" was cool and funny in equal measure. The bravest move was playing the whole ten minute trip that is "The Past Is A Grotesque Animal" but they pulled it off, going way beyond repetition to totally brainwashing groove and pairing it with the total contrast of "Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse".
There were a couple of enthuiastically met trips into their back catalogue too, including an inevitable encore of "Wraith Pinned To The Mist (And Other Games)" which was introduced as a song that they can no longer play in their own country, presumably referring to the whole Outback Steakhouse thing. It definitely served to increase my interest in finding out more about a band capable of great things.