MGMT live review - Digital Brighton May 2008
A review of the MGMT gig that took place at Digital Brighton on May 19th 2008. This is the second time MGMT have played Brighton this year, after a sell out date at the Pressure Point back in March they managed a second sell out at this larger venue - all tickets gone in 5 days!
who are MGMT?
If you have missed them somehow, MGMT (which could be pronounced management depending on who you speak to - that was certainly what the band was called before the abbreviation) are a 2 piece trendy indie/electro band from Brooklyn indie-haven Williamsburg, the most fashionable town on the planet.
The band consists of college friends Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden, and their recent album ‘Oracular Spectacular’ was produced by Dave Fridmann, also responsible for albums by The Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev, 2 bands MGMT closely resemble at times. They recently became hugely popular, and will either burn out fast or become a headline act.
MGMT played tonight with 3 additional touring members, so on stage we had a live drummer, bass, 2 lead guitars and the keyboards and drum machines.
the music
I know the album pretty well, it sounds like a number of different bands at different points including the aforementioned Mercury Rev and Flaming Lips, as well as Sleepy Jackson (almost exactly in fact right down to the vocals), T-Rex, ELO and a wide range of other bands. This makes for a fun and varied but very familiar album and performance.
For the first few songs I couldn’t really get into things. The band seemed to be playing the hits, in a very straightforward manner. Once those were out of the way they spent the rest of the gig relaxing and almost messing around, playing some songs I hadn’t heard on the album. There were a couple of really great moments, when everything came together, but I couldn’t quite lose myself.
The music was much more guitar driven than I would have expected - there were 2 guitars and a bass along with the drummer and keyboard player. There was also quite a lot of poor quality Black Mountain-style experimentation which didn’t seem especially needed. The end of the gig before the encore was also rather weak; they are still very much a half hour set band, yet they stretched that into over an hour.
3/5
banter and stage presence
The lead singer seemed to be wearing night clothes for some reason, with a psychedelic dressing gown and a night cap. Although the band didn’t interact with the crowd too much, there was a sense after the halfway point that they were relaxed and that rubbed off on the crowd. Me certainly. They appeared confident and comfortable and went about as far as needed, but they didn’t seem to be pushing themselves. There was some discussion at the end about going to the beach which was a bit odd - this seemed to be more a private chat amongst the band though than interaction with the crowd.
3/5
the audience
One of the worst I’ve seen at a gig in a long time. Many people seemed to be just there to see the most popular song, and retired to the bar straight after. There was also an regrettably large number of people pushing past, shouting out randomly and generally being aggressive and miserable. In many ways just like being at the V Festival, there seemed to be quite a few people who don’t really like music there tonight.
Of course, not everyone fell into that category, and when the people who weren’t really interested in being there in the first place headed for the bar after the Radio One single there was plenty more room and a much better atmosphere.
3/5
the venue
This is a dreadful place to see a band. The odd shape with all its corners means lots of people can’t see, combine that with the pillars and you have a recipe for a bad night.
There also seemed to be a need for bouncers and band members to have to climb over the barriers at the front to get onto the stage which is ridiculous.
The venue must count the side bar and the top bar in its capacity because it was way too full, there’s no room to move and if you need the toilet or to get out, you’re stuck. Saying that, at £4.50 a bottle of beer you’re not likely to need the toilet in a hurry.
Finally, and they should be ashamed of this, the venue keeps pumping dry ice out into the middle of the crowd. What is this? Top of the Pops 1974?
This is a club, not a venue - stop pretending to be all things to all people. Oh yes, and the roof was leaking.
1/5
the support
Support came from the dreadful Florence and the Machine. Like Kate Nash on a very very bad day, this three piece is fronted by Florence Welch surely the most annoying woman to ever take to a stage. They even did a Cold War Kids cover… Cold War Kids! - a mediocre Christian rock band with one good song; they are OK, but there is no reason to ever cover them. They also made several mistakes and generally sounded like they had never played live as a band. At one point they declared they hadn’t even rehearsed a song - ‘perhaps don’t play it then’ I shouted out, in my mind.
According to their myspace, they are managed by the Queens Of Noize which explains a lot. Apparently Lightspeed Champion has worked with them too - he’s let himself down, badly.
1/5 - they were at least enthusiastic
overall
A poor venue, crowd and support let MGMT down. Their performance was OK though and despite a few shortcomings they made the most out of what they had.
Please Digital - stop putting on gigs; Florence and the Machine - stop performing; and people who like a band for one song - go to V next time and save your money.
3/5
watch a complete MGMT gig
Here’s a full length gig courtesy of the amazing Fabchannel from earlier this year. It’s much the same as the Brighton performance.
more MGMT
The garish and hard to read MGMT myspace lets you preview the album, check dates on the immense current tour and do the usual.
The even more oddly designed official MGMT website is like being inside a nightmare and is incredibly slow plus doesn’t contain much of interest.
I was right below the leak.
Shit venue, shit support - need to see them at reading, they’re such a great band!
The crowd only went for it when time to pretend came on.. Typical.
Whoever wrote that review is clearly gunning for a position at the Daily Mail. Huge sweeping statements! Is the reader aloud to think? £4.50 for a bottle or beer!!.. Well that’s quite simply not true, it’s a lie… but darn does it get your point across. If writing reviews is what you know and love stop describing stuff as “OK” poor! It was a shame to miss this one but it can be said that I have seen some fab gigs here, Ian Brown, Maximo Park, and Simian Mobile Disco! In the words of the Govonator “ I’ll be back”