Concert Review

September 19^th I went to see MGMT at what was dubbed the KIA Soul Collective Warehouse. Currently MGMT is touring with the KIA car company and if test-drive a KIA before the show, you get to two free tickets to wherever MGMT are playing that night. In DC it was a warehouse that they temporarily turned into a venue. It was cheesy to say the least. There were fake KIA Graffiti on the walls, a free Pepsi stand, and cardboard robots shooting lasers out of their eyes.

The band MGMT play an eclectic mix indie-rock, some songs are mellow indie kid jams and others are synthesizer heavy dance tracks. The band consists of a drummer, a keyboard player, a guitarist who also plays keyboards and a bass player who sings most of the time. But often the other band members sing backing and occasion lead vocals. This is an augmented tour line-up, because the band really is just two guys most of the time, Andrew Vanwyngarden and Ben Goldwasser

Truthfully the venue was a lame place for a show, and I think the band knew that. They seemed to be making fun of crowd with comments asking everyone if they wanted to hear the same song again, and asking if the audience liked KIA’s and what not. Also the sound at the venue was very bad. The vocals got washed out in the huge space, and the mix of the instruments was muddy. But dispute their attitude and overall sound they played quite well. The guitar player was particularly impressive; he would go from arpeggiated chordal accompaniment, to raging solos, to playing catchy keyboard lines, a very energetic display of musicianship. Overall it was an ok time, and was bearable on account MGMT were the only band playing that night.