Janelle Monae opens for Of Montreal, then they sing Bowie

Last Friday, I saw Of Montreal play the third and final show of their stint at Music Hall of Williamsburg and I'm still recovering. (As you may recall, they're on of my favorite bands ever.) I may be prone to hyperbole, sure, but this was one of the best concerts I've ever seen, thanks in no small part to opener Janelle Monae.

Janelle has worked with Outkast, which isn't surprising- she kind of sounds like a female Andre 3000 and has equally impeccable style. On stage, she dances like she's possessed by James Brown, too. She rocked. She also painted onstage (generously giving the still-wet piece to an audience member), which was an unexpected oddity that worked surprisingly well (I mean, she was opening for Of Montreal, so that was pretty tame compared to the shenanigans they pull during shows).

Anyway, the pictures I took of Janelle don't really do her justice, so this is from Brooklyn Vegan:

And then it was time for Of Montreal. I think I snapped this shot during their first song while performers presented a bizarre Christmas morning scene. The whole set was a top notch, A+ concert experience, but it was a dream come true to hear them play "Requiem for OMM" during the encore.


Better still, though, was when they brought Janelle back out to sing David Bowie's "Moonage Daydream". I don't have any pictures of that, sadly. I was too busy singing myself hoarse.