MGMT @ 9:30 Club

As for MGMT, the last time they played in D.C. they were opening for Yeasayer on the small backstage at Black Cat. The show caused quite a stir because many concertgoers were not aware that they could purchase tickets to backstage shows before the night of the performance. In typical D.C. style, the bands were lobbied to move the show upstairs to the main floor, but to no avail. It remained downstairs, sold out, and left many wanting. Both bands were excellent, foreshadowing their current successes, and those of us who made it were thankful for the intimate experience.

The backstage at Black Cat holds approximately 200 people. Last night, less than 7 months after their first show in the city, they played for 1,200. At this rate, in another 7 months we can expect them to sell out DAR and in the fall of 2009, they'll play the Patriot Center or Wolf Trap or Merriweather. I say this with confidence because they simply rocked and their growth as a band was obvious. MGMT were tighter and their sound was infinitely better than their last show, and somehow bigger than on their album, Oracular Spectacular. Of course, some credit for their performance last night goes to the venue's sound technicians and audio equipment, which, as usual, were top rate.

With purple spotlights revealing their shaggy curls, the band filed on stage. MGMT is technically just Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden, but they perform their shows with an additional drummer, bassist and guitarist. They opened with "Weekend Wars", a song VanWyngarden sings in a nasal, Dylan-ish whine before breaking into falsetto chorus with the rest of the band. A few of the lesser known, mid-tempo songs followed, and the crowd's energy waned.

The hits came during the second half of the set. "Electric Feel" gave the band and the audience their first hints of the kind of rock show this would become. VanWyngarden could have let the crowd do the singing for him, but chose instead to deliver the sexy chorus, "shock me like an electric eel… turn me on with your electric feel," himself. The fans ate it up. "Time to Pretend" pushed the show to another level and revealed a substantial ratio of chunky, off-balance males who pushed to the front. The meek fought for oxygen and human dignity as MGMT's ironic ballad about success, stardom, and excess raced by.

For the encore, VanWyngarden began with a dedication to his mother and sister, who were in attendance. Mom and sis "asked us if we would play that 14 minute song no one knows," he smirked. For most people, a successful commitment to a song that long requires at least a bong, a couch, and a lava lamp. True to VanWyngarden's warning, MGMT ground the audience to a meager crush before unleashing "Kids", which was arguably the most enjoyable song of the evening. Goldwasser and VanWyngarden began the song by themselves with the rest of the band offstage. Both sung while the pre-recorded synth octaves bounced their accompaniment. Gradually the rest of the band returned to the stage and brought the show to its apogee. That would have been the perfect time to depart, leaving the crowd panting and begging for more, but they launched into a dithering Motown song. Oops.

The inconsistencies of their set, and their music in general, is overshadowed by their ability to write really catchy pop songs that fuse disco, rock, and electronic music. MGMT has said in the past that their goal was to sell-out as soon as possible and with "Time to Pretend" on shows like Gossip Girl, and getting heaving rotation on European radio stations, they are well on their way. But in this case, maybe that's not such a bad thing. Hell, I'd go see them at the Patriot Center.