MGMT Play New Songs in Hit and Miss London Set

Posted on Mar 19th 2010 11:45AM by Chris Cottingham
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MGMT's forthcoming second album is called 'Congratulations,' but compliments were not in order after a faltering gig at Heaven in London on Thursday night (March 18).

The band have a hit-and-miss reputation as a live band, and Andrew Van WynGarden and Ben Goldwasser seemed lost at times.

The main problem was a set list dominated by new material, which lacks the immediacy of hits such as 'Time To Pretend'.

'Congratulations' sees the band exploring a more psychedelic sound inspired by Syd Barrett. However, the acoustic guitar strums and wispy vocals of new tracks such as 'Flash Delirium,' 'Song For Dan Treacy' and 'I Found A Whistle' didn't connect with the audience.

VanWynGarden in particular failed to deliver the kind of charismatic performance that might have compensated for unfamiliar material.

When they did play songs from their 2007 debut Oracular Spectacular, which has sold over a million copies worldwide including 300,000 in the UK, the contrast was marked.

The opening bars of 'Electric Feel' drew a cheer and they played with the kind of confidence so conspicuously absent on the new songs.

However, by the time they walked back on stage for the encore, 'Time To Pretend', it was too little too late.

Speaking earlier this year, Goldwasser told the NME that "there definitely isn't a 'Time To Pretend' or 'Kids' on the new album". As the their fans left Heaven last night, more than a few of them must have been wondering why not.