MGMT’s comeback gig at Heaven ‘officially’ sold out in under 20 minutes, and after all that excitement for a band finishing a long hiatus the gig was just a little well… disappointing.
After a relatively lengthy break MGMT returned to play Heaven for a long awaited show in advance of their latest album release. Earlier this week, an article on the Guardian Musicblog stated MGMT’s upcoming album had no singles (leading them to say some very unfair things – article here ). Singles or no singles it all sounded rather good. The beats were tight and there was a good mix between guitar and synths. They flipped from new to old, the difference being a noticeably more authentic indie sound to the newer music, a lot less electro and whole lot more lead guitar. It sounded like the music you would expect the Zombies to be making if the band had formed now.
The problem was, as good as it sounded it seemed like they just didn’t care. Like they had assumed no matter what they did everyone would love it. The performance lacked energy and excitement; like opening a box of Cadbury’s Roses to find it full of Coffee Creams.
The biggest let down of the night was that they did not play Kids. Come on fellas, that’s your biggest tune! After the lights came on and the roadies were packing away the stage there were still about forty people up the front chanting, “Kids, Kids, Kids, Kids…” Artists move-on, singles get left behind, however it felt like the performance didn’t have enough in it to deny many of the fans what they wanted to hear.
This was by no means a bad show, it was more a disappointment. After being away so long I thought they would have at least turned up for it and played like they cared. The new material sounds really good (and it should make for a decent album); it’s just a shame MGMT seem to have given up on it before the album has even been released.
Soulside Funk
F
o
for an encore try…
SoulSide Funk 
I guess it’s all a matter of opinion and interpretation…
I was there and would say it was anything but disappointing.
If they didn’t care I wonder why Andrew said ‘We hope you like our new material…’, then asked almost cautiously…’do you like our new material…?’ To which the response was a resounding cheer and plenty of screams.
They were clearly delighted when the crowd went wild to Time to Pretend (aguably their biggest hit) and I guess they wanted to balance their hits from OS with the new material.
So, yes, they didn’t play Kids. But what they did play was pretty good and the crowd loved them. I’d say Andrew was the most talkative I’ve ever seen at a gig. He is not your average bolshy frontman, perhaps that modesty and shyness is being confused with indifference by this reviewer.
I hate coffee creams too, but would say there were a few purple hazlenut caramels in there as well 😉