for the record

Author: Emily Temple

Life is unfair. Good things happen to bad people, nice guys never get the girls, Pavement broke up and I am always, always stuck next to the crazy, flailing person at concerts. The MGMT concert at Higher Ground on April 13 was no different. In a sold-out crowd of high-schoolers, college kids (many of whom hailed from our fair hillock) and what looked like a handful of family friends. I had the luck of being edged in next to the two drunk-or-tripping-or-just-completely-socially-unaware kids. They jumped, swayed and flailed their arms without abandon. They threw themselves at the kids in front of them. They moaned and clenched their eyes shut. They hugged each other, staggering from side to side. They elbowed me in the face. People like this always find me at concerts, moths to a flame.

The antics of the overzealous acid fiends were more conspicuous that usual at this show, as almost no one else was moving. Not only that, but for the majority of the concert, the kids invading my personal space were more interesting than what was going on onstage. MGMT is a relatively young band - the two key figures started playing together during their freshman year at Wesleyan in 2002 - but onstage they seem even younger. What I saw on Sunday night was a band that didn't know what kind of band it wanted to be. The concertgoers arrived, expecting, like myself, a pumped-up live version of MGMT's only full-length album, Oracular Spectacular. That is what they seemed to get - at least at first. The band started off with a strange choice - sing-along, lighter-than-air-worthy teen anthem "The Youth." Cheesy as it may be, it would have been much better for the band towards the end of their set, before bringing the energy back up with a rocking encore. Next was "Electric Feel," one of the best songs on the album, also played way too early.

Set-list organization aside, however, things were looking good. The songs were better live (not always a given) and the crowd was singing along, starry smiles on their faces, X-marked hands in the air. Then, around song number three, things got confusing. For the rest of the show, MGMT vacillated between drawn-out rock jams and guitar solos (one song lasted 14 minutes - I timed it), strange, dreamy sections that approached ambience in places, and poppier, unfinished-sounding songs that most people had never heard before. The band members threw rubber amphibians and had at least one false start because the drummer didn't know what song they were playing. But mostly they just didn't seem quite like the band from their album. For most of the show, the audience stood around expectantly, looking up at the stage waiting to hear a favorite song. The songs did come - "Weekend Wars," "Time to Pretend" and their encore song "Kids" - but it was too little too late. We even got an "I hope you guys are more energetic at the after party. Ha ha just kidding, you guys are great" shouted at us from the stage - yet another indication of this band's immaturity performance-wise, not to mention their general awkwardness in social interactions.

Ultimately, I did enjoy myself. Halfway through the show I loosened up and started laughing at the kids jostling me, in lieu of my previously favored disgruntled old man stares. I even danced a little when those rare gems of recognizable songs wafted from the stage. MGMT will make a great live band when they figure out what they're about and become either the trance/ambient acid trip they seem to be itching for, or the indie-pop pretty boys they keep on pretending to be. I'm willing to give them time , though. The show cost me just eight bucks and some elbow nudges, so for now I'm okay with it.