Academy, Dublin
Even in their wildest dreams Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser couldn’t have imagined the success MGMT has achieved. In the 2½ years since the release of their
Oracular Spectacula
r album the duo have enjoyed the gamut of megastar experiences, from Grammy nominations to being labelled style icons
du jour
.
By all accounts the young New Yorkers have indulged in the pleasures superstardom has offered, but, faced with the task of creating another album, has the endless cavorting led to a jaded burnout or helped feed their creative instincts? Judging by this gig, just weeks before the release of their new record Congratulations, the future looks bright.
VanWyngarden, like a young Bob Dylan in his winkle-pickers, skinny jeans, knee-length coat and shaggy mop top, has lost none of that space-cadet kookiness, and is the willing recipient of a wide variety of underwear tossed his way throughout the show.
And while the new songs performed here lack the immediacy of Time to Pretendand Kids(the former a flawless pop song), the five-man ensemble has developed into a far more cohesive unit. Those infectious choruses may be missing in action, but the fresh material, still a mind-bending mix-and-match of dissimilar genres, has added flesh to the bones of their set.
Siberian Breaks, all 12 minutes of it, is a meandering prog-rock assault on the senses, but Brian Enocaptures the early Roxy Music aesthetic in a most irreverent fashion and is quite brilliant. Throughout their 70 minutes on stage the rhythms are tighter and the grooves looser than before. What all this means is that the 2010 version of MGMT is a far more satisfying live proposition. Don't be surprised if they sell out the O2 by year's end.
