I’d heard previously that MGMT were not a good live band — I heard wrong. Andrew and Ben have assembled a crack team of musicians to flesh out the wacked-out noises and sounds on their fab album Oracular Spectacular and it payed off in a big way Thursday at Bonnaroo.

Prior to Bonnaroo, I knew that MGMT were getting to be a sizable band; I knew they sold a lot of records in our little store in Lexington, KY and I knew they popped up in a lot of TV shows and magazine articles. But while I knew all that in my head, it was still impressive to see how amazingly into it and devoted MGMT’s fans are in person. They knew every song (particularly flipping out at “Time to Pretend,” “Weekend War” and “Kids”) and went absolutely bonkers for the band.

As for the band’s set, they definitely amped it up for the Bonnaroo crowd. Now, Bonnaroo has gathered quite a reputation for being a druggy, jam-friendly festival, and MGMT definitely played to those strengths. A few of their songs were extended into tripped-out solos — ordinarily something that I don’t care for, but really took to in their case. They had a huge, devoted crowd and used it as a perfect platform for a great set that was one of my favorites of the festival.

MGMT at Coachella
MP3: MGMT - Weekend Wars
MP3: MGMT - The Youth
MP3: MGMT - Of Moons, Birds and Monsters
MP3: MGMT - Future Reflections
MP3: MGMT - Pieces of What
MP3: MGMT - The Handshake
MP3: MGMT - Electric Feel
MP3: MGMT - Time to Pretend
MP3: MGMT - Kids

More photos after the jump…