Of Montreal, the other band I always thought would do well at Bonnaroo, had one of the youngest and most energetic crowds I saw at Bonnaroo. When it comes to waiting hours upon hours to see your favorite band, no one is willing to put in the effort quite like young fans — and Of Montreal’s got plenty of those. So as I waited for the band to get all their ducks in a row and start the show, I got to chat with a few of the 16-20 year-olds waiting for the band. And I’m glad to say that when I came back to watch the Decemberists, every one of them raved on and on about how great the show was. And what’s more, the vast majority of them had a souvenir from the stage. There were broken guitars throw into the crowd, some flowers and other accessories that made their way to a couple dozen grateful fans. But I know that the ones who didn’t catch anything from the stage still caught one of the best shows I saw at Bonnaroo.

Even though they were crunched for time from the get-go, Of Montreal didn’t skimp on any of their stage theatrics. I was there for about 20 minutes and saw them bring out the pig mask dancers and do the gas-mask Christmas. And like I said about their NYC show, the best part is that the band don’t stop playing for a minute while all this is going on. If I had to wait through the weird stage performances to hear the next song, I’d probably put a bullet in my brain by the time they got to “Disconnect the Dots.” But no, if you want to watch the weirdness, it’s all there; otherwise just watch Kevin’s dance moves or Bryan’s guitar playing.

But to keep it brief, it was an Of Montreal show. If you’ve seen them in the past year, you’ve seen what they’ve got to offer. It was definitely an “on” night (unlike their last KY show where Kevin was sick) and the band seemed to really be enjoying the opportunity to play for such a big crowd. I remember after they played the free show at my college a couple years back, the band members were impressed that we got over a thousand people to attend (during a tornado warning!). Now they’re playing to crowds three or four times that big and not even batting an eye. But really, you’ve got to give them credit for stepping their game up accordingly. Every year they come up with a new way to make me say “now that’s something I’ve never seen at a concert before…”

More photos after the break.