You know those guitars, that are like, double guitars, you know?

Over spring break, I went to a pair of concerts, headlined respectively by of Montreal and the Shins. Both bands played great sets, and the of Montreal show was actually one of the best I have ever seen. But, in spite of two great performances by two great bands, the most salient thing from either show was a minor equipment change by one of the opening bands.

Viva Voce is a two-piece indie band originally from Muscle Shoals, Alabama but currently based in Portland, Oregon. They played a pretty blah set, until Anita Robinson—the wife part of the husband-and-wife duo—made another equipment change, pulling a double-necked guitar off the rack and strapping it on.

Sometimes double guitars have a 12-string and a six-string. Sometimes, one neck is fretless while the other is regular. The one Robinson pulled out was a bass and guitar combo.

Sweet, I thought. Most of the songs were primarily her playing guitar and her husband, Kevin, playing drums and maybe a few toys, with a recorded bass line dubbed underneath. Maybe now she’ll play both.

For the first song with the double guitar, she only played the bass part. Then they stopped, told everyone they’d be playing one more song, and proceeded to play, as promised, one more song. On this number, she played only the guitar part.

There was absolutely no reason for her to have had a double necked guitar.

Putting two necks on the same guitar can be extremely convenient if a musician has to switch instruments midway through a song, or if he has to change instruments quickly between songs. Robinson played one neck through one song, stopped, screwed around, and played the other through the other song. Both band members had made a few equipment changes throughout the show, so this premeditated time-saving technique seemed superfluous and served only to say, “Hey, look at this cool thing I have.”

I realize this just sounds like I’m making a huge deal out of a tiny little thing, and that this tiny little thing has absolutely no bearing on the band overall. First of all, if the band had played a great set, this is the type of thing I could probably excuse—but they didn’t. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good enough.

Second, and more importantly, this seemingly tiny little thing is what we like to call a “microcosm,” emblematic of the illusory concept of theatrics in music. The two headlining bands I saw were perhaps the two most diametrically opposed acts I can think of when it comes to on-stage histrionics.

The Shins took the stage, played their set, and left, with little banter or anything in between. For them, it worked. Of Montreal, on the other hand, had a set littered with costumes and props and bizarre performance art for which I can think of no comparison, but for them, it totally worked, because it wasn’t forced. Of Montreal is a whimsical band by nature, and it’s nothing out of the ordinary to see frontman Kevin Barnes ascend a 12-foot ladder, put on a dress, and sing a song as his transvestite alter-ego Georgie Fruit.

But it’s not something every band can pull off. The double neck guitar serves a purpose, but it’s mostly for show, and for an otherwise unassuming band like Viva Voce, it was totally unnecessary, wildly pretentious, and actually, it was kind of insulting.