Music Review: MGMT Live: Time to pretend (Bob Z)

2.5 stars (Out of 5)

MGMT came rolling into town on Wednesday night at Artpark in lewiston, NY, and there are two things that stood out amongst people leaving the show.

1) "Is it over already? That was really short." Indeed it was. The quality of the music was pretty good overall. I was bobbing my head and having a good time. Then suddently, it was over. I estimated it to be about an hour and ten minutes or so. Maybe i've been spoiled by the "jamband" scene, where shows regularly go 2.5 to 3 hours without hesitation, but a headliner should never play less than 90 minutes.

2) "I can't believe they didn't play 'kids' " It's true, they didn't play thier biggest hit (#1 most listened to on Spotify). In general, this doesn't bother me, i'm sure bands probably get sick of playing the same material over and over again, and if they don't feel like playing a hit then i have no problem with that.

But.

This being coupled with the show being so short made this more pronounced. It's not as though they were epically blasting out tunes and playing forever and the rest of the concert was so good it didn't even matter. At 1:10, you have to play what the people came to hear! Otherwise it leaves a sour taste in peoples mouths, and listening to conversations on the way out, it certainly did. They did, to their credit, play "Time to pretend" (my favorite), "Electric feel", "Weekend Wars", and "Congratulations", so it's not as though they played all rarities and "b-sides" (do bands have "b-sides anymore?)

All this being said. It was pretty good. They had good command of their instruments, and the lead singer came out and performed with a sling on his left arm. They had pretty good stage presense, and overall it was a beautiful evening in the summertime outside, what's not to love about all that.

Also, to add, boy did i feel old. AS someone in my (Very early) 30's, it's not often a show i go to makes me feel like a grandpa, but the 4 of us who were together (ages ranging from 28 to 31) we all remarked how we were the old people in the crowd. I was glad to see the younger generation out seeing some good music! (says gramps)

That being said, if they come back again in the future, it'll be iffy on whether this fan goes again. I did happen to see them in San Francisco 2 summers ago and they were very good, so that might nudge me to give them another chance.