Of Montreal ditch the costume changes and reinvent themselves as an honest-to-goodness band

While his recorded output over the last decade has become increasingly divisive among his listeners, you can still always count on his shows to transform even his weakest material into psychedelic brilliance; perfectly balancing a fair shake of the new with an healthily indulgent proportion of the hits. Even if you believe Barnes is becoming increasingly (even wilfully) misanthropic towards his listeners on record, you could never say the same about his generous live shows.

Having said that, tonight’s gig continues to scale back the sense of carnival which defined their performances during their blistering …Hissing Fauna period. There used to be elaborate costume changes, full scale theatre, and even the odd horse or two. This has been – for whatever reason – ebbing away over the last few tours, and tonight we have nothing more theatrical than a projector.

It feels superficial to bemoan the loss, but there’s no denying that not only was there was there genuine fun to the spectacle, but the performances seemed to be a natural extension of the wild excess of Barnes’ approach to recording at the time. Songs like “Hydra Fancies” tonight, without the elaborate, choreographed flapper show which used to accompany it, feel a little divorced from a former context and, frankly, don’t weather the closer aural scrutiny as well as they might.

But what we’ve gained makes up for these losses. Of Montreal have never sounded so brutal and fierce. Kevin’s playing guitar again, and – just as he’s rediscovered full band, live recordings over his last couple of LPs – Of Montreal re-emerge as an honest-to-goodness band as a live unit tonight, brimming with thrash guitars and glam rock solos. Songs like “Empyrean Abattoir” absolutely erupt into life with snarl and crunch, and encore showstopper “The Past Is A Grotesque Animal” has never sounded so visceral. This is the first time I’ve left an Of Montreal show with a touch of deafness.

Whatever you think of whichever impulse Barnes is indulging in any given year, you can count on his live shows to give his whims a good showcase, as well as giving new songs a surprisingly comfortable home in the wider context of his sprawling discography. Ten years on from Fauna, Barns’ albums are increasingly polarising, but tonight, reactions to songs like last year’s “Triumph Of Disintegration” prove that he’s still hitting the sweet spot on a song by song basis, even as he descends further into his idiosyncrasies. This is vital and vibrant stuff.