11/11/11 – MGMT Performed at the Guggenheim Museum

Posted by The G on November 12, 2011 under G Reviews | Be the First to Comment

Photos by G.

Could there be a better way to celebrate 11/11/11 than by seeing MGMT perform at the Guggenheim Museum in New York?  Doubtful!  Of course, technically, you could kick off the night by running into Michael Stipe (formerly of REM) and Terry Richardson, but I digress.  Before I explain the amazing performance, here’s a little bit of back-story on what is happening at the Guggenheim right now.  Artist Mario Cattelan has a retrospective of his works entitled “All” on display – literally suspended from the ceiling!  The objects range from a stuffed horse to animal bones. You’ll have a hard time wrapping your head around how the exhibit was installed and how it doesn’t fall over as there are easily 50 works suspended from the ceiling.  More and more objects are revealed as you make your way up (or down) the spiraled museum.

MGMT wrote a special 45 minute piece of music inspired by “All” and performed it live for two nights only at the Guggenheim Museum.  The piece was largely instrumental and you could think of it as a long suite similar to their epic songs “Siberian Breaks” and “Metanoia.”  The music had surf, pop and funk sections to it and it was really great!  Fans of “Kids” that didn’t care for the art-rock album “Congratulations” might not have enjoyed it because it was not “commercial” and was extremely artsy, but I loved it!  Every few feet around the spiral of the museum was a strip of lights that lit up every few seconds during the performance and one can only imagine that if you were on LSD, your head might have exploded.

Whether or not this piece of music will ever see an official release is uncertain, but I am hopeful MGMT will put it out some day as it was really great!  See the set list after the jump.  Thanks for a great night MGMT!  I’m glad I spent 11/11/11 with you!