Middle MGMT: Hometown Brooklyn Concert Is Bad For The ‘Kids’

I've always had this theory about MGMT: they suck. Or more specifically, they suck because they don't aspire to be anything better than the status quo. Don't get me wrong, I want to like them. They represent Brooklyn - where they're based - to the world. They're suing the President of France, which is awesome. And they are seen wearing sunglasses often. These are all reasons to like them. But why do I - along with hundreds of their fans at last night's "hometown" show in Brooklyn's Prospect Park - feel something just south of sheer ambivalence for them?

Mostly because they’re a band capable of creating brilliant sonic soundscapes, and they instead rely on tired pop music cliches that form their career. For example: MGMT did a cover on Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer” that absolutely kills it. They sound is messy, muddled, sloppy, and fuzz-heavy; the result is utterly brilliant. And then there’s the car-commercial ready “Kids,” which, of course, starts out with kids playing in the background. Fine: even Radiohead uses kids. Passion Pit used the kids who sang Coldplay better than Coldplay sings Coldplay to brilliant effect on two of their songs. But that preening chorus! The few lyrics that exist implore you, the listener, to “take only what you neeeeeeeed from it.” Which just chaps my ass! Maybe I have a stick up it. Who knows. But: one of our intrepid staffers went to see them at said show last night. What was it like?

Quality: “It’s not that the show was bad, it just really wasn’t that good either. Underwhelming.” Woah! Underwhelming shows are worse than “bad” shows. At least a Richard Marx concert would be entertaining.

Diversity: “They’ve played the same 10-song set every summer for the past three years. If I’m going to spend 37 dollars and travel 30 minutes in each direction to and from Prospect Park, you better play for more than 70 minutes.”

For-The-People Factor: “They did absolutely nothing to get the crowd into the show at all. No interaction whatsoever.” Meh-factor is strong.

Booze: “We arrived to the venue just as MGMT hit the stage and already they were completely out of beer aside from Budweiser’s new Ale which tasted like beer that once was cold, then got warm and skunk and then got cold again.” Obviously not the fault of MGMT, but a serious detail nonetheless.

Crowds they bring: “The ticket-holding mouthbreathers were at a near standstill until the encore when the band played ‘Kids.’ At which point they instantly go from bored to totally apeshit, jumping and screaming and dancing and hugging. I felt like an extra in a mediocre, straight-to-DVD sequel of That Thing You Do. The Twonders!”

So, that’s what you can expect from an MGMT show in Brooklyn, in at least one guy’s opinion: The Twonders. MGMT has people who like them very much! We want to! But until they bring the same A-Game they bring to their cover songs as they do their recorded material and live performances, they’ll be nothing but Middle MGMT to us.