MGMT at Cleveland Masonic Auditorium: Concert Review

By the time the crowd managed to cough up a collective "meh," the dude sitting in front of me had already completed at least 26 Sudoku puzzles. Onstage, something entirely distinct from a rousing concert was taking place.

MGMT hauled their varying degrees of experimental pop into Cleveland over the weekend - and made sure to bring the technicolor headbands, as well. In fact, it seemed that the band's appearance of nonchalance and been-there-done-that-itis was the more important focal point of the gathering - not the show itself.

The venue is actually one of the more interesting and aesthetically pleasing joints in town for music. But attendees and security personnel seemed to be arguing around every corner over the archaic no re-entry policy. Strangely enough, that whole deal wasn't enforced during the Jeff Mangum show at Masonic earlier this year. It didn't really matter, though. Five songs in - after the band rolled out tunes like "Time to Pretend" and "Weekend Wars" - people started leaving not so much in droves, but in noticeable numbers.

For what it's worth, at least several concert-goers made their way to West Park Station after the show, where The Porcelain Busdrivers threw down a set of standard covers that blew MGMT away completely.

Night: redeemed.