MGMT @ Festival Hall,Melbourne (11/12/2008)

Sun 14th Dec, 2008 in Gig Reviews

It would be fair to nominate MGMT as music’s ultimate success story of 2008, at least if their popularity on Australian shores is anything to go by. Let’s rewind to precisely when the tour was announced: hype, and plenty of it, and tickets to their only show at The Palace were lapped up in just under two minutes. Pretty impressive for a band with only – and to this date, still only – the one album. So impressive, it was, that the show was soon moved from The Palace to Festival Hall, in a bid to take advantage of the ever-increasing demand from punters all-over for a chance to see the dynamic duo in action. Believe me when I say Festival Hall was bursting at the seams. But more importantly, for all my discomfort and general loathing of the crowd, by the end of the night, we all had one thing in common: we had all experienced a truly special show.

First to grace the stage were psychadelic-rock outfit Tame Impala, a bright young trio direct from Western Australia, ready to warm us up for the main event. Its not a stretch to suggest that if you enjoy MGMT, you’ll find something in Tame Impala’s music. Its got all the hallmarks of Oracular Spectacular. What it lacks, however, is that spark that keeps you interested. That’s not to say they aren’t talented: quite obviously gifted, the band playing their way through their supporting set to technical brilliance. Their downfall, however, is that in doing so, they ultimately ignore engaging any one individual punter in any way whatsoever. Put simply, it just wasn’t that exciting – a shame, when you consider the crowd might have taken to them, most likely with a willingless all-too-rarely granted to support acts. Next up was Luke Steele of Sleepy Jackson fame, accompanied with many a backing track of kooky loops and sound effects to aid and enhance his solo venture. Armed on stage with just his intriguing, indentifiable vocals and an acoustic guitar, Steele did much to continue the musical tradition of the night, providing a set of pure left-of-field, poppy psychadelica, much to the delight of the Festival Hall crowd. The power of Steele’s performance is often the element of surprise. For a man with only a guitar on-stage, he strikes one as a refreshingly unusual and resourceful musician. For all you can say of the support acts, however – be it good, or bad – this night clearly belonged to the headliners.

And suddenly, there they were, as the crowd did nothing short of erupt with praise and applause for the electropop outfit. The band rarely acknowledged its monumental support with much appreciation, but then, they never needed to: the ticket sales talked the talk, and with favourites such as The Youth and Future Reflections, MGMT were walking the walk, as the packed-to-the-rafters venue danced (and tripped) the night away. First single Time To Pretend was received with a defeaning stadium roar, as were follow-up releases Electric Feel and Kids (an ingenious choice of encore), prompting seas of hands and singalongs across the ‘Hall. The thing that struck me as particularly special about MGMT is their ability to execute their album to near-perfection on a live-stage, and yet, reinvent each track, tweaking their sounds ever-so-slightly to bring you in the moment, to give to you a truly new and wonderful experience of their music. The layers upon layers of intricate electronic sound as good live as they do on the record, and perhaps there’s little more a band can ask of themselves than that. I could sing their praises over and over, but when it comes down to it, I have some advice for all concerned: see them. And when you see them, make sure you have your singing voice, and your best pair of dancing shoes, because you’re going to be grooving until they call it a night. Just make sure you get in early, because God knows, after this show, they’re a certainty to sell out even bigger and better next time.