of Montreal brings colorful
theatrics to The Grey Eagle
LARISA KARR
Managing Editor
lakarr@unca.edu
Kevin Bames lifts the ends of
his scarlet chiffon caftan high
above his head as giant grim
reapers, girls with whips and
cauliflower aliens with beady,
neon eyes swoop across the
stage, twirling amongst each
other in a deliberately uncoordi
nated dance.
Confetti fills the air out of the
mouth of what appears to be a
velvet dragon and rains upon the
audience, enchanted with the
visual and aural feast that pours
forward from The Grey Eagle’s
intimate and dimly lit stage on
the evening of Sept. 16.
It was, in short, a typical of
Montreal show.
The night started on a predict
able but also unpredictable note,
in the sense that there were bad
opening acts precluding the dy
namic headliners. Australian co
median with a lethargic sense of
humor and the rather unmelod-
ic duo of Showtime Goma and
Nancy Feast graced the stage
with discordant harmonies be
forehand.
After the crowd unleashed
their disdain at the comedian
and imbibed more alcohol, it
was time to party.
“There’s something artistic,
aesthetically pleasing and theat
rical about their performances,”
said Catherine Noel Thrasher,
a 27-year-old musician from
Greenville, South Carolina.
Barnes, the notoriously enig
matic lead singer, assumed a
variety of personas through
out the band’s set, including
a middle-aged housewife in a
peach-colored blazer and per
iwinkle pants and, bedecked in
a cerulean silk robe, Marie An
toinette. He switched seamless
ly from guitar to tambourine to
simply being the ringleader of
his own show.
“I think Kevin Bames might
be a one-man show but he defi
nitely relies on the influence of
others to change the chemistry
that exists within the environ
ment and still keep that addic
tive personality or quality type
that appeals to his original audi
ence,” said Gilbert Bentley Jr., a
27-year-old barista from Toledo,
Ohio.
Originally from Athens, Geor
gia, Bames has fronted the band
since 1996 and has overseen its
creative evolution from a twee,
jangle-pop outfit in the early
2000s to the bombastic, glam
funk collective for which they
are now known.
Their latest full-length album
Innocence Reaches combines
dark electro pop with psychedel
ic elements and features some of
the band’s most catchy anthems
to date, including “let’s relate”
and “it’s different for girls.”
Both of these songs deal with
'the subject of gender, which is
something that Bames, who of
tentimes performs as his trans
gender alter-ego Georgie Emit,
is passionate about. He said he
“totally supports anybody that
feels trapped in the wrong body,
or feels like it’s more complex
than just being a man or wom
an.”
Written and recorded
primarily in Paris, Bames es
caped to the City of Light to cre-
I M'Stl