Making an experimental album on the back of major commercial success isn’t necessarily the recipe for disaster it might at first seem. Indeed, in certain cases – eg. U2 (Achtung Baby/Zooropa), Blur (Blur, 13), Radiohead (Kid A/Amnesiac) - taking the “difficult” route has resulted in the bands in question becoming even more popular than ever. The offbeat, leftfield album can be a very clever way of undermining hype and disproportionate commercial expectations, and in this context, MGMT’s Congratulations might well have been a masterstroke.
For sure, the record doesn’t contain the monster hit singles that peppered the widely beloved Oracular Spectacular, but it’s still a fine psych-pop album, and a heartening example of a band stretching their creative wings and refusing to let outside perceptions dictate their artistic agenda. As with the above mentioned bands, MGMT’s gamble would appear to have paid off handsomely, as tonight’s gig is merely the first in a sell-out three night residency.
Performing against a backdrop of psychedelic visuals, much of the performance sees the band getting their avant-pop groove on. You can hear touches of Bowie, Barrett and sundry ’60s art-rock oddballs throughout the show, but at the heart of the performance is a series of Floydian, stoner-rock epics. The centre-piece of the show is an extended, space-age jam that rises and falls in intensity to powerful effect, while the encore finds the band embarking on a sonic odyssey that climaxes in a blistering Krautrock freak-out, squalling guitars and berserk electro noise going off all over the place.
And the hits? Predictably, they go down a storm, with ‘The Youth’, ‘Electric Feel’, ‘Kids’ and ‘Time To Pretend’ all prompting mass singalongs. To be frank, a few of the quieter numbers from Congratulations just don’t work in a live setting, resulting in occasional moments of tedium that cause the atmosphere to dip considerably.
Overall, however, Andrew van Wyngarden, Ben Goldwasser and their band of merry men have shown what can be accomplished when talented bands ignore convention and go with their gut instincts. Keep on psych-rocking in the free world, boys.