I think I’ve seen Of Montreal enough times to condense their live show into a basic formula for easy explanation purposes: (video backdrop x pop art projections) + (sideshow characters + quirky fashion) = Of Montreal-sponsored LSD trip at the carnival.

That’s not to say Of Montreal’s show is totally predictable, though Thursday’s show at Buster’s Billiards and Backroom in Lexington definitely seemed to follow the model.

The show, presented by the Lexington-based music blog You Ain’t No Picasso, also featured fellow Georgians Noot d’ Noot. Now when you open for a band like Of Montreal, it’s implied that you have to be pretty weird. The 10-piece funk band, personally invited on tour by Of Montreal, definitely fit that condition. Its sunglasses-clad members hail from the imaginary Jiggle City (or Atlanta) and have names like Dream Sanitation, Bimbi Garraux, Jah Scorpion and MC Eboli.

The band started out its set as a 5-piece, gradually adding more players à la Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense. By the end of the show, two drummers, an MC/hype man and two guitarists were sharing the stage with two vocalists, keys player, saxophonist, bassist, guitarist and Of Montreal’s BP Helium as a stand-in stunt double known as “Mecha-Dookie Platters.” The band utilizes its wide range of instrumentation to straddle genres; funk and jazz mingle with afro-beat, reggae and dub step into a sound that’s as close to Parliament as we may ever get. The Curtis Mayfield-meets James Brown funk ensemble will release their EP Cash For Gold on June 16.

Of Montreal soon followed, launching into “Suffer for Fashion”, off 2007’s Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? Most of the signature OM elements were in place; 60s pop art exploded across a backdrop behind front man Kevin Barnes as he writhed and thrust at the audience, dressed in dramatic glam makeup, jean shorts and teal tights (actually, a pretty modest outfit for Barnes).

Of Montreal’s shows are known for its stylized theatrics, and as the band played through the night, many of Barnes’ creepy sideshow characters came and went. Surrealist illustrations and silent film-style narration projected behind the staged fights between a woman known as Litia, the goddess of Lust Pollution, gas-masked men in robes and pigs in wigs. Two men in black body suits and white masks crept across the stage holding puppets, similar to Bunraku in Japanese theater.

Of course, Of Montreal is also an amazing live band, theatrics aside. OM continues to put out great music, whether it’s Sgt. Pepper-influenced psych pop, funky R&B-inspired electropop, or howling, reverb-soaked psychedelic jams. The band also played a few new songs off False Priest, their new album due this fall, before ending the with “A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger.”

You know, for a song about Kevin Barnes’ mental breakdown in Norway, it’s nearly impossible to be sad when there’s confetti, flashing lights, guns and the words “I LOVE YOU” in rainbow letters flashing spastically across the screen. Though Of Montreal’s show was admittedly somewhat predictable, there’s no denying it was a fun show. One thing is certain about Of Montreal – they are one of the only bands I’ve ever seen who can get 95% of the crowd to dance (which included the 60 year old woman next to me in the balcony).

-review by Caitlin Behle @cutelin