Monday March 13, 2006 arts. michigandaily.com artspage@michigandaily.com TS tt 44 8A r~~~~~~~ . . . ....... ...___ __ ___ __ __ Thrice singer/guitarist Dustin Kensrue performs at the Taste of Chaos tour's Detroit stop. A slideshow can be found on www.michigandally.com. A taste of hard rock Of Montreal makes love to audience at the Blind Pig last Thursday night. MONTREA LMA CHERIE OF MONTREAL BRINGS MUSIC, SEX TO THE PIG By Lloyd Cargo Daily Music Editor CONCE RT R EV(EI When lead singer Kevin Barnes took the stage in a wedding dress Thursday night at the Blind Pig, the sold-out crowd knew it was in for more than just a concert. "Ann Arbor, we love you. Will you marry us?" he asked. The answer, of course, was a resounding yes, and Of Montreal Thursday At the Blind Pig big brothers. Thursday, they mostly drew from their latest two albums, Satanic Panic in the Attic, and The Sunlandic Twins, while debuting songs from their upcoming album, tentatively titled Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer. Unlike their earlier work, Of Montreal has recently taken the band in a dancier, more disco-oriented direction with a solid foundation and prominent synthesizers. The new songs, like the breakup epic "Vol- taic Crusher," sounded great alongside previous favorites like "Wraith Pinned to the Mist" and "I Was Never Young." But with every song simi- lar in volume and tempo, the show would have no doubt lost steam without the stage presence of Barnes and the musicality of the men he had to back him. Barnes, a onetime resident of Grosse Pointe Park, humored the crowd between songs, telling stories between all four of his wardrobe chang- es. The rest of the band ably supported him without overcomplicating what was essentially catchy dance music. Drummer James Huggins was especially effective, keeping excellent time throughout the hourlong performance. Most importantly, Of Montreal were able to get peo- ple moving; even the Blind Pig staff, usually stoic, were dancing behind the bar.. One particularly enthusiastic concert attend- ee was overheard telling a friend they'd waited in line outside since 7:15 p.m. in order to get in first, indicative of the kind of response Of Montreal typically garners. The Pig, poorly ,ventilated and absolutely packed with more than 400 patrons, quickly became very hot once the crowd got worked up. During the middle of the set, when everyone was nice and sweaty, Barnes asked, "Are we going to have sex tonight?" The answer again was of course, yes. Not only was the crowd privy to a solid performance from a decent band, but everyone was probably going to get laid too. By Trevor Campbell Daily Arts Writer CONCERTrE It might only be in its second year, but the Taste of Chaos tour __________ is gaining momentum Taste of at a near-unstoppable Chaos rate. The expertise of Warped Tour vision- Saturday ary Kevin Lyman at At Cobo Arena the helm provides the experience to make the event thrive. With more than a dozen bands, booths surrounding the back of the main floor, video games and an Ernie Ball guitar demo station, Taste of Chaos provides far more than just live music. Not much is different from its summer sister tour, but its novelty lies in timing. The tour starts in the dead of winter, several months before the slew of sum- mer package tours even begins. Music constantly reverberated through Cobo Arena on Saturday at the tour's stop in Detroit. With an early door time of 4:30 pm., the show kicked into gear quickly. One of the tour's special features is a localization of each show, with a band from every hometown kicking off at each venue. The opening slot was filled with Red I Flight, a local band selected through an online poll on the music-fueled web community MySpace.com, the sponsor of the tour's second stage. The dual-stage setup filled the front area of the main floor, with a larger stage for the more prominent acts and the smaller MySpace stage where the sup- porting groups played to fill the gaps. Acts bounced between the two stages, so the show found a consistent pace throughout the entire evening, eliminating the lull of soundchecks and stage changes. "The tour's been great so far," Thrice frontman Dustin Kensrue said. "It's got that 'festival-y' vibe, but at the same time, it's a lot mellower. You don't have hun- dreds of people fighting for a shower." Bringing together bands from several of rock's current subgenres, the tour blends the musical scenes fluidly and unites fans together for one night of solid live rock. Groups on the tour range from the experi- mental sounds of Dredg to the rustic per- cussion of Street Drum Corps and the brutal screams of As I Lay Dying. The concept of the tour is almost flaw- less: Pack in seven hours of music, set up meet-and-greets with most of the bands, hand out free promotional merchandise and set up video game booths for free play - all for less than $30. Taste of Chaos is growing at a formi- dable pace, with the number of stops up eight cities - most of which are in Cana- da - from last year's 36-city jaunt. Don't be surprised to see next year's tour take on even more venues, pack in even more bands and span even more time. Out of necessity, the show is confined to arenas, limiting its capacity for bands and fans, but that shouldn't stop it from becom- ing an important part of the expansion of today's rock scene. for the rest of the evening, the crowd danced in celebration of the group's peculiar combination of psych-rock and dance-pop. Of Montreal, long viewed as an underachiever out of a scene - Elephant 6 collective - that produced indie heavyweights like Apples in Stereo, Beulah, Olivia Tremor Control and, of course, Neutral Milk Hotel, have distanced themselves from the aesthetic of their musical -. K SPEND A SEMESTER OVERSEAS (and stay in the U.S.) 0 p. 0 '3 Learn in the vibrant, multi-cultural community of Honolilu. Enjoy a university experience like no other. Be far away, but at home with the language and customs. It all adds up to a semester you'll never forget. A Semester ALMOST Abroad at the hj - - - - ---- ---- ---- ---- --