MGMT dedicated their gig at London‘s Heaven last night (March 18) to Alex Chilton, the Big Star legend who died of a suspected heart attack on Wednesday.
Towards the climax of the comeback show, which saw the band preview tracks from their second album ‘Congratulations’, singer Andrew VanWyngarden paid tribute to the songwriter and frontman.
“We’d like to dedicate this set to Alex Chilton,” he said before launching into new song ‘It’s Working’.
MGMT showcased several more tracks from ‘Congratulations’ during their set, including the 12-minute long ‘Siberian Breaks’, which VanWyngarden described as “an epic folk song”. As well as kicking off their performance with new track ‘Brian Eno’, they also played new material including ‘Flash Delirium’ and old favourites such as ‘Pieces Of What’ and ‘Weekend Wars’.
The group also performed ‘Congratulations’ track ‘Song For Dan Treacy’, despite the Television Personalities singer failing to appear when his band were due to open the gig.
It was rumoured that the singer, who was replaced by two other vocalists, was stuck in traffic, although no official explanation was given for his absence.
MGMT still paid tribute to their hero, though, with VanWyngarden playfully declaring that ‘Time To Pretend’ was “for Dan Treacy“, adding: “Hopefully he comes back”.
Despite mixing songs from their new record with tracks from debut album ‘Oracular Spectacular’, the duo decided not to include former single ‘Kids’ in the set. This prompted the crowd to chant the song’s name after the band left the stage, and some audience members booed when they did not return to play the hit.
MGMT played:
‘Brian Eno’
‘Pieces Of What’
‘Flash Delirium’
‘Electric Feel’
‘Song For Dan Treacy’
‘Weekend Wars’
‘I Found A Whistle’
‘Siberian Breaks’
‘The Youth’
‘It’s Working’
‘Time To Pretend’
‘Congratulations’
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