As Kevin Barnes (the mastermind behind indie electro-pop purveyors of Montreal) croons on “St. Exquisite’s Confessions”: “The freaks want to take me home to see / If the rumors are true.”

And, after all the buzz that erupted following the Athens, GA-based band’s performance in New York City earlier this month, who could blame them?

As accounts of live horses and a raucous cover of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” rippled through the blogosphere, I awaited the chance to see in person whether the show was as extravagant as reported.

Finally, this opportunity arose when of Montreal brought its traveling spectacle to Chicago for a Monday night show at the Riviera Theatre.

Despite having a pretty concrete idea of what to expect during the concert, the sheer amount of visual imagery and schizophrenic musical outpouring made it impossible to become bored while watching and listening as the slightly less than two hour show unfolded.

From the moment Barnes and Co. took to the stage accompanied by a team of golden creatures dancing along to “Id Engager” (before transforming into ninjas by the song’s end), it was clear that of Montreal intended to gratify the eyes as much as the ears on this evening.

In testament to this objective, a miniature rotating stage flanked by a bi-fold screen was used to showcase several skits – including a Wild West saloon shootout, a nun supplicating at the feet of a religious figure and Barnes’s own (eerily realistic) hanging.

Giving the sense that Halloween had arrived five days early, a crew of actors frequently roamed the stage in animal masks, military fatigues and other various get-ups. Even drummer Ahmed Gallub joined the act, wearing a blonde wig, pink boa and oversized sunglasses as he pounded away behind his elevated drum kit.

However, despite all that was going on, the primary focal point of the show was always Barnes.

Whether he was slathered in shaving cream or painted red, strutting around with a mic or strumming a guitar, being hanged from a noose or shot in the mouth, Barnes was continually at the forefront of the action.

Donning several costumes throughout the night – including an oversized fanny pack and a horse’s latter half – the frontman eventually settled on a gold thong with a purple waistband as his main attire.

Yet, rather than being gratuitous or shocking, Barnes’s nearly naked appearance was merely apropos of the overtly sexual and (psychologically) revealing lyrics he sang in “Plastis Wafers” and “Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse,” respectively.

Serving to make the event even more of a personal affair for Barnes was the appearance of his brother David (who designed most of the sets), his wife Nina (the aforementioned nun) and daughter Alabee (who hopped around a small portion of the stage for much of the encore).

Although they needed little prompting, the crowd packed into the pit area took its cues from Barnes – dancing, jumping and clapping whenever he commanded (and often when he didn’t). From my vantage point up in the balcony, the crowd seemed to be perpetually pulsing to the same rhythm the band was pumping through the speakers.

The impassioned audience response was all the more impressive in light of the fact that a large portion of the set list was culled from the just released Skeletal Lamping, which hit stores a week ago Tuesday and was basically played in its entirety. But, even fans unfamiliar with this latest full-length had occasion to dance and sing along to older offerings from Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?, The Sunlandic Twins and Satanic Panic in the Attic.

After exiting amidst a flurry of feathers shot into the audience, of Montreal returned to the stage a short while later to appease the screaming crowd with a short encore that concluded with the dynamic one-two punch of “Oslo In The Summertime” (featuring Barnes playing an extended drum intro) and “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

Even though it remains to be seen whether the show will enable Barnes to exorcize his inner demons, at least the rest of us got to experience a little Nirvana.

Set List (in no particular order and not guaranteed to be complete)

Id Engager
Nonpareil of Favor
Wicked Wisdom
For Our Elegant Caste
Touched Something’s Hollow
An Eluadarian Instance
Gallery Piece
Women’s Studies Victims
St. Exquisite’s Confessions
Triphallus, To Punctuate!
And I’ve Seen A Bloody Shadow
Plastis Wafers
Beware Our Nubile Miscreants
Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse
A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger
She’s A Rejecter
Wraith Pinned To The Mist And Other Games
So Begins Our Alabee
—
Disconnect The Dots
Oslo In The Summertime
Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana cover)