MGMT on the potential of an “awesome” Las Vegas residency for ‘Oracular Spectacular’
MGMT have discussed the “awesome” possibility of taking on a Las Vegas residency for their debut album ‘Oracular Spectacular’.
The duo performed their 2007 record in full at the Just Like Heaven Festival last year, and in a new interview, they have opened up about the “incredible” prospect of replicating that performance across a full residency.
During their appearance on the Midnight Chats podcast, the band’s Ben Goldwasser reflected on the fun they had putting on the show at Just Like Heaven. “We worked with a friend [Tom Scharpling] who writes comedy,” he said. “So we wrote little skits in the middle. I ended up having a really good time with it. And, I think, in some ways reconnected with the spirit of the band, like before things really blew up.”
Check out the full podcast below:
When asked by host Greg Cochrane whether they would entertain the possibility of a Vegas-style residency, Goldwasser replied: “We have slightly tongue in cheek approached that subject. I mean, it’d be incredible. But I don’t know.”
His bandmate Andrew VanWyngarden added: “I think it’d be awesome. I really was getting into this sort of that different style of rehearsing and where it’s like a production and there are set changes, costume changes, scene changes and lines and all this stuff. I was like ‘this is nice’ – the whole communal group production thing.”
MGMT recently released their fifth studio album, ‘Loss of Life’. In a four-star review, NME wrote: “It would be easy for a band like MGMT, who initially made their name off anthems about living fast and dying young, to stick with a similar schtick. But on ‘Loss of Life’ – which, it’s worth noting, is the band’s first album not on a major label – they’re interested in some more complex introspection: What happens after you’ve gone to Paris, shot some heroin, and fucked with the stars?”
The album includes a string of recent singles, including the nostalgic ‘Mother Nature’, the ‘90s-themed ‘Bubblegum Dog’, the enchanting ‘Nothing To Declaire’, and the blissful Christine & The Queens collab ‘Dancing In Babylon’.
The duo also recently reacted to the unexpected viral TikTok success of their 2018 track ‘Little Dark Age’, with Goldwasser saying: “That was enlightening in that none of the conscious stuff we did to promote that album mattered as much as this random thing that got picked up on TikTok. I think in a way that freed us up a little bit on this record to just focus on the music. Don’t worry about the other stuff and whatever happens, happens.”
One band that will definitely be taking out a Las Vegas residency to celebrate their debut album is The Killers. In January, they announced they will be returning to their hometown to commemorate the 20th anniversary of ‘Hot Fuss’, playing eight shows in August at The Colosseum. Any remaining tickets can be found here.
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Max Pilley
NME
