MGMT Are Sorry If They're Boring You

Photograph by Josh Rothstein

Having seen MGMT perform at the South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, earlier this year, I'm not surprised when someone who adores the band's debut album, Oracular Spectacular, says they were disappointed by the Brooklyn duo's live show. But, after talking to Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser at Lollapalooza, I have high hopes for their set at Austin City Limits in late September. "If you look boring onstage in a club, you look 20 times more boring on a big festival stage," says Goldwasser. "Yeah, we're not exciting," adds VanWyndgarden. "We're trying to figure that out." These mop-haired hippie boys were barely even touring last summer, and it's obvious they're still figuring it all out. To that end, they say they've been compiling a catalog of live performances by their favorite acts from the Sixties and Seventies — bands like Queen and Led Zeppelin — to figure out how to improve their performances. "A lot of bands handle the 'being boring' thing by like, getting the crowd to sing, or clap, or having extended parts of the song," says VanWyngarden, totally ingenuously. "We're still just playing our songs. And maybe that's good for now." --JENNY ELISCU