MGMT Thrill the 'Kids' at Sasquatch!

Minutes before MGMT took the stage on Monday, the last night of the Sasquatch! music festival in Washington, one concertgoer said, "This is either gonna be the high point or the low point. That new album sucks."

This would seem to be the story of 'Congratulations' for a lot of fans, but if MGMT's second album was partly about resisting the first album's huge success, playing a rock festival demands you give the people what you want. From the instant sing-along opener 'Youth' to a robust 'Electric Feel' to a transcendent 'Kids,' that's exactly what MGMT did.

Frontman Andrew VanWyngarden began the set with quiet dedication, "To the men and women who have lost their lives in combat, because it's Memorial Day." The crowd seemingly didn't know how to react to the statement: Cheer? Wave glow sticks?

An endearing, sheepish presence, VanWyngarden's not one to seduce a crowd with over-the-top gestures, but the music did it for him, especially when he and guitarist/keyboardist James Richardson turned up the volume. While the 'Congratulations' track 'Song for Dan Treacy' would be probably best left to the smaller indoor venues, 'Brian Eno,' with its bouncy bridge and polyrhythmic drum-and-keyboard outro, became genuine pogo material.

Of course, the crowd responded instantly to Ben Goldwasser's keyboard intro to 'Time to Pretend,' with VanWyngarden grinning like a puppy dog as disco clusters broke out all over the Gorge's double floor sections. "This has been the greatest night ever," he enthused before the band finished with 'Kids' a song that MGMT left out of their Coachella set last month.

'Kids' was possibly the best moment of Sasquatch!, not so much for the performance -- it's a song that demands little live musicianship, with all five members straying from their instruments -- than the crowd's maniacal response, a total dancing and singing frenzy. Long after the band had finished, people were still singing the opening keyboard melody aloud in little groups. As the lyric says, "Take only what you need..." and everyone at Sasquatch! seemingly did just that from MGMT.