MGMT: Live at the Borgata, Atlantic City, NJ 8/21/10 Review

Going in to this show I had no idea what to expect, I wasn’t quite sure how MGMT's music would translate live. I also didn’t know how they would treat their debut album - one that they seemed to put in their rear-view mirror when creating their magnum-opus Congratulations. MGMT surprised me, their show was superb, treating their older and arguably better live material well and also translating their newly and superior recorded material well on the stage.

The band opened up with the fan-favorite “Electric Feel”, a song that immediately got the crowd in the mood with its danceable rhythms. The band continued to traverse through a healthy dosing of older and newer material, even digging deep, pulling out a song from their Time to Pretend EP “Destrokk” where they closed down the song with a stellar psychedelic jam session.

The bands stage presence was modest, nothing too showy other than a small illuminated MGMT sign which was sparsely lit and a psychedelic back drop. Lead vocalist and guitarist Andrew VanWyngarden regulated himself to his mic, never venturing far away giving a performance which was strictly focused on the music.

MGMT pulled out the big guns for their encore. In a gesture which may sign that the band is ready to put their hit single “Kids” to rest, they performed a karaoke version of the tune where everyone on stage dropped their instruments and sang along to a recording. The fans didn’t seem to mind all jumping in sync with the infectious beat. They followed that up with quite possibly the strongest track from Congratulations, “I Found a Whistle”, a quaint acoustic number with a stellar melody. The song played well live, but it appeared that the majority of fans present were not their for their newer material - kind of sad when considering how much better it is than their more immediately accessible debut. They closed the show with the up-tempo ode to “Brian Eno”. Despite the crowds somewhat negative response to material from Congratulations, even the Oracular Spectacular fans were unable to deny the greatness of the track.

MGMT proved their talent goes beyond their intricately recorded material. The duo put on a show which was all about the music, and even if a good portion of the fan base was there strictly for the hit singles, they weren’t able to kill the good-vibes flowing throughout the event center.