BY ZACHARY HERRMANN

Some things for your consideration: a brontosaurus Superman, gas mask family Christmas with a lit up tree and presents, three full body Buddha costumes, Jesus with a jagged-toothed chest cavity, pig people, tigers who wear white suits and try to briefly hijack rock concerts, banana-throwing muscled she-men and a rock singer in a purple blouse and a lovely white sun hat.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of images and occurrences that have all been integrated into Of Montreal's latest stage show, but it should give you an idea of the vibe the band likes to give off at its concerts. If that seems like a lot to distill (it probably is), try the simpler, three-word explanation for the proceedings: bat shit crazy.

Had Peter Pan and the Lost Boys grown up just enough to discover sex, performance art and LSD, they might have come out something like Of Montreal. The neo-psychedelic troupe - led by the enigmatic Kevin Barnes - really does offer what can only be described as a fully immersive live experience at their concerts.

It's a smorgasbord of freak-flag multimedia all set to some of the most interesting 21st Century grooves around. Piped through Baltimore's dingy Sonar club - the place looks and feels like it was dug out from underneath a building as an after thought - Of Montreal's tripped out dance pop felt like a delicious antithesis to everything so blasé and politically correct going on at the surface.

Of course, all the pretty lights, video screens and stage dancers/ performers (band members included) wouldn't count for much if it weren't for the wonderfully delirious music. On album, Barnes is a deceptively jubilant writer - his lyrics are actually strongly dark and confessional, but in a live setting, the songs take on a more celebratory nature. 

Still riding high off of last fall's Skeletal Lamping, the band focused mostly on their current opus and 2007's sprawling gem, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?  Both albums extensively feature Barnes's black she-male alter ego, Georgie Fruit, and are very much narrative-based LPs, so the theatrics weren't exactly unwarranted.

Bells and whistles aside though, Tuesday night's concert was really an affirmation of craft and versatility. Skeletal Lamping's scatter-brained nature plays out surprisingly well in a live setting, but for those who miss Barnes's more contained numbers, the newly unveiled song "Like a Tourist" and a few oldies-but-goodies balanced out the more transformative recent numbers.

Though a few live staples were noticeably absent from the otherwise excellent set list, the crowd rallied around the fan favorites ("Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games", "Gronlandic Edit") that were offered up. As Barnes and his cohorts bounced around the stage, the place hit full-on dance party several times throughout the night.

The sometimes muddy but mostly acceptable sound mix occasionally dulled out the finer points in the densely layered songs. Dottie Alexander's synthesizer parts remained pretty up front, just under Barnes's vocals, while Bryan Poole's guitar work (he appeared in a ludicrously feathered KC and the Sunshine Band getup) tended to get a little lost throughout the night.

 "Nonpareil of Favor" suffered the fate so many set-opening songs tend to fall victim to in dingy rock clubs. Gone was the guitar-murdering kick the song has on record. But when things sounded crystal clear, Of Montreal gnarled its glam chops ("She's a Rejector", the night's musical high point) and got downright soulful ("St. Exquisite's Confessions) when necessary. 

And after awhile, the cross-dressing Tarzans and hooded Satanists really didn't seem to faze anyone too much. It's all just part of Barnes' shtick and as long as the music never gets stale (all signs point that it won't), there's nothing wrong with the theatrical indulgences.  

For the record, the strangest sight of the night actually occurred off stage. Peaking out just above the youngish crowd (a lot of the 18-24 demographic), a little boy who looked barely seven years-old sat atop his father's shoulders.

No doubt, the psychosexual over- and undertones in Barnes's songs probably didn't register for the kid. He seemed to be smiling though, and really, that's what seems most important in Of Montreal's music - not the sexual hang-ups and Norwegian nervous breakdowns, but the celebration of pop, pure and simple. Even an elementary school kid can get it.    

Set list:

1)      Nonpareil of Favor

2)      Beware of our Nubile Miscreants

3)      Like a Tourist [new song]

4)      And I've Seen a Bloody Shadow

5)      Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games

6)      Women's Studies Victims

7)      St. Exquisite's Confessions

8)      For Our Elegant Caste

9)      Gronlandic Edit

10)  Sink the Seine

11)  Cato as a Pun

12)  Labyrinthian Pomp

13)  She's a Rejector

14)  Our Spring is Sweet Not Fleeting

15)  Faberge Falls for Shuggie

16)  Mingusings

17)  Id Engager

18)  The Party's Crashing Us Now

19)  Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse

20)  A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger