Ice Cream Man

MGMT, Black Moth Super Rainbow and The Ting Tings at McCarren Park

Words by Kate Schruth
Photos by Jason Bergman, Paul Bachmann

Who knew that MGMT had such a following, but what a line! The wait for this show was unreal. Before the show started Madeleine, Josh and I walked way way up Driggs looking for an ATM. We got around two blocks past Warsaw and still the line was going strong, at four or five deep. It rounded the corner and we could not see the end of it. Around the time we entered the pool deep grey clouds were sailing in and I made a mental note to stay away from metal railings and puddles. We walked around and watched some rain soaked dodge ball while waiting for The Ting Tings to come on.

The Ting Tings are a fun band, summer time music, as Madeleine called it. We were too far back to really see but it seems like there was some fun stuff going on onstage. I guess with only two people making loud dance music, there’s got to be a few pedals involved. “That’s Not My Name” stuck out for me much like all the bright colors in Katie White’s outfit. And like a true hype band, they closed with the single off the i-pod commercial and Gossip Girl, “Shut up and Let Me Go”.

After the Ting Tings finished up we sort of just wandered around the pool for a while, not really stopping in any one place to watch Black Moth Super Rainbow, but more just letting the music be our pool wandering soundtrack. As a fan of experimental psychedelic, I’m willing to admit that on first listen, I didn’t fully ‘get’ this band. I’ve never seen them live so I also won’t pretend that I could tell the difference between The Seven Fields of Aphelion and Father Hummingbird onstage.

Then began the big wait for MGMT to come on. One of the sponsors at the pool this summer is Scion and while the lightning and rain had subsided, we chose to camp out inside of one of the cars they had on display. To escape the crowd for a half hour was heavenly, as it was really growing. They continued to let people in right up until the end, though I did hear a rumor that the Parks Dept threatened to shut it down at 5:30 if they let anymore people in.

By the time MGMT took the stage the crowd had mostly gathered in the pool. Although they weren’t as totally enthusiastic as the line led me to believe they would be, there was a good amount of dancing and finger pointing. The energy did feel like it was lacking on stage too, I will say though they sounded like a thousand times better than the first time I saw them. “Electric Feels” got a good response, but they lost it with some fourteen minute song that just meandered, no direction there. High point, obviously, was “Time to Pretend”. It was thrilling to see MGMT play this anthem to its legions. Everyone there so clearly identifying with the song. What a pop gem. They should win an award for that one if they haven’t already.