I really like MGMT and anyone who thinks that Sam Adams is more talented than MGMT probably has a few loose wires in their brain. I almost feel bad for Scope, they have had a rough year. First their homecoming comedian cancels late so they grab Akon last minute. Akon is a big name, but he would have been better like 5 years ago. Anyways, Akon sells out the Whit, but supposedly plays a terrible show. I chose not to go but from what people told me it was short and reportedly he lip synched a bunch, but most rappers do live, at least a little bit. Then for the rest of the semester people, including me, bitch at Scope to get a band and not a rapper. So, they get MGMT, who is actually one of the biggest bands out there at the moment. I guarantee MGMT will be a better concert than Akon or any other rapper Scope would have paid the same price for. I have been to dozens of concerts and rap concerts are never as good as a full band. It happened last year at UNH, the majority people who went to both spring shows later admitted that the Brand New concert was better than Lupe.
Meanwhile, the other half of campus bitches at Scope either because the show is in the field house or because they don't like MGMT. I think this is funny, because if you go back on Scope's facebook wall quite a few people requested MGMT as well as on their surveys. MGMT is our generation's psychedelic pop band, like when the Beatles came out with Sergeant Peppers. Their first album "Oracular Spectacular" was revolutionary for music today. It had a little bit of every thing including funky drums and bass to dance to acid-trip inducing synthesizers. I haven't been to a party all year where "Kids" or "Electric Feel" weren't blasted and they seemed to be crowd favorites. "Time to Pretend" (below) has some of the best lyrics of any song I have heard in a while. With the amount of success MGMT gained through OS they tour across the country at the biggest festivals and sellout famous venues.
Now MGMT is about to release "Congratulations" which can be streamed on their website, FOR FREE. For the students who think MGMT is snobby for not moving the show to the Whit, they wanted let the album be a free download, but their label wouldn't let them. I have listened through it twice and it definitely shows they have grown musically. (Please note that I have never done acid.) Congratulations once again proves MGMT's lyrical ability, discussing their rise to fame and other trippy things that actually have some meaning. It opens up with a bang with "It's Working." Songs like "Flash Delirium" (below) and the 12 minute long "Siberian Breaks" show of the bands musical range while some songs like "I Found a Whistle" have singable lyrics reminiscent of Oracular Spectacular. A few songs, such as "Brian Eno" almost have a punk feel. Overall, Congratulations has more of a prog-rock Pink Floyd/Syd Barret feel and less of a pop feel than Oracular Spectacular, but they continue with their catchy lyrics and interesting sound. I think it is actually a better album than OS, but most reviews say otherwise. The band admittedly went in a different direction with this album and I personally think it worked. It already has me excited to see what they will do with a third album. I am not a "music expert", if that actually exists, so to put it simply I enjoyed Congratulations.
Maybe it is time we give Scope a break, they only have so much money and no matter who they get half of the campus will bitch them out. It is impossible to please the entire campus, because 12,000 people are bound to have different tastes in music. But ignorant students fail to comprehend that. It is true. I used to be one before I stood back and put my personal music tastes aside. What else are they supposed to do? Every fucking concert they put on people flip out. Scope could bring 2-Pac and Notorious BIG back from the dead, have them unite on stage simultaneously ending the war in the Middle East, and follow them up with the 70's Led Zeppelin and students would complain.
Stay classy, not UMassy.
Haha wow you really just compared MGMT to "Sgt. Pepper".
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