Yahoo! Music Review

Gig played on 28/11/08

To suggest that Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden have had some good fortune in 2008 would be something of an understatement. Who would have thought that within the space of a year, a pair of stray hippies with too much hair and questionable dress sense could have the UK's indie elite fawning at their feet? Of course, their phenomenal success is hardly surprising once you take into account their ostentatious and dance-funk-meets-indie debut "Oracular Spectacular". Swamped in dizzy pop and giddy psychedelia, it's a record that was brave enough to tread over several genres toes without alienating the masses with two-left-footed awkwardness.

It stands to reason that MGMT are playing at a sold-out Shepherd's Bush Empire, tonight up-sizing with additional backing musicians. But instead of appearing on stage like the spritely pair you envisage on record, Goldwasser and VanWyngarden seem subdued, shy almost; perhaps a result of the shrill screams that greet them on their whimsical and somewhat cynical opener "The Youth". The band may dispute that they have become pin-ups, but judging by the number of women making up the bulk of tonight's audience, it seems as if MGMT's Prince-esque hit "Time To Pretend", detailing the spoils of war obtained being an international rock star, has served as a self-fulfilling prophecy; art imitating life, if you will. Oh the irony.

Still, what the band lack in cocksure assuredness they make up for with a thoughtful rendition of "Weekend Wars". The aforementioned "Time To Pretend" sends the crowd seated in the venue's upper tiers up on their feet and dancing, while VanWyngarden's falsetto during "Electric Feel" and the playschool keyboards on the opening of "Kids" highlights the band's undeniable musical dexterity. There are moments of lacklustre, however. "4th Dimensional Transition" fails to carry the crowd into an otherworldly state, and by the time "The Handshake" is churned out, fists are firmly placed in winter coats ready to brace the cold outside.

The band opt to close the show with a cover of Jesus & Mary Chain's "Teenage Lust", with the aid of members of support band A Place To Bury Strangers, who, it should be noted, outshone their hosts earlier in the evening with the sheer ferocity of their noise and impassioned stage show. Admittedly, this display may not have been the mantic experience that MGMT would have hoped for, but the fact they have created one of the most spellbinding albums of the year should consolidate them while they dream-up their next one.

by Ash Dosanjh