MGMT capped off their Canada/West Coast tour on Saturday at Stanford University’s Frost Amphitheater. Kicking the set off with Record Store Day single “Alien Days” (frontman Andrew VanWyngarden had a martian head-shaped guitar and sunglasses to match), the New York psych-rock outfit showed themselves to be a perfect fit for the California sunshine.
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Yes, Oracular Spectacular singles “Time To Pretend” and “Electric Feel” are as crowd-pleasing as ever, though the setlist was notably “Kids”-free. (Sucks to be the girl in the bathroom line who said that the breakout hit was one of the two MGMT songs she knew, hope she recognized another one!) College tour or no college tour, nothing’s going to stop this band from being resolutely weird and busting out the 12-minute Congratulations cut “Siberian Breaks,” which at times felt surprisingly reminiscent of Blur’s “Coffee and TV” live. There were also hints at what’s to come with a few new songs. “Introspection” is an upbeat, mid-tempo track that seems like promising summer jam material if the band’s ready to release it soon, while “Mystery Disease” features a proggy guitar sprawl. Hopefully soon we will all be this kitten.
Now that “chillwave” is no longer a top buzzword, it’ll be interesting to see where openers Delorean are headed, though their smooth sound still has plenty to offer. They were also joined by fellow psych-vibers Kuroma.
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