Dancing Like It Was January 31st

It was the second time in four days that I attended an event originally scheduled for January and then cancelled due to snow.

It was the third r & b/funk band I've seen in five weeks.

It was the second time I've seen Of Montreal.

It was the first time I saw Noot d Noot.

But who's counting?

Tonight's Of Montreal show should have happened the night after the Richmond Symphony's "Simply Sinatra" evening should have happened.

And now here we are five months later getting our paybacks for the cancellations, resulting in a very busy week for those of us who were disappointed in January.

Openers Noot d Noot were an eight-piece psychedelic funk band carrying on in the grand tradition of Parliament Funkadelic (not that most of the audience would know the reference).

Guitars and bass wailed, multiple drummers played, two sassy singers danced, shimmied and harmonized and a keyboard player in shades and a chiffon scarf pulled it all together.

Depending on who you talked to, it was either funk redux or neo rhythm & blues; either way, it was highly danceable.

I may have heard it all before, but I'm just fine with a resurgence of the sound.

I serendipitously ended up next to a guy who had attended 90% of the shows I've seen at the National, including the last Of Montreal show in November 2008 (back before my life imploded).

We'd even been to a lot of the same Toad's Place shows so we could go even further back and compare notes on some of the early shows there.

I so enjoy that kind of happenstance.

We were both questioning how different the stage looked for this Of Montreal show than the last, which featured risers upon which the tableaux of costumed characters unfolded.

Tonight's arrangement was far simpler and we fretted about the potential of less spectacle (the lead singer has been known to come on stage wearing just a diaper and riding a horse. Now that's entertainment).

Not to worry, however.

The flamboyant Kevin Barnes still had his video screens, marionettes and costumed performers to act out during songs; they just weren't on drum risers for enhanced viewing.

Besides, my new friend and I agreed that many in the crowd were first-timers who wouldn't have known the difference anyway; the audience had a high proportion of underage attendees (the black X on each young hand a dead giveaway).

Oh sure, they danced along when Barnes sang, "I want a lover with soul power," even if they hadn't a clue what he was referring to.

Really, the entire evening turned out to be one big dance party, not that there's anything wrong with that.

Obtuse and morose lyrics couched in bouncy melodies and pop hooks have been the staples of great dance music since at least the '80s.

Now I'm viewing my memory reel in reverse
Scrolling back to feel your whether-than
Now I'm noting the limits of our parabola
To predict the points of thou-shalt-not-return

Do you remember our last summer as independents?
Do you remember?

Whatever it means, it was five months overdue, so we danced liked there was snow on the ground outside.