Andrew VanWyngarden, the duo's lead singer, fell ill on Friday and MGMT cancelled their tour dates for the weekend, ruining the Dartmouth student body's "wildest hopes and dreams," as one e-mail from Friday Night Rock, the organization who planned the concert said. This statement wasn't too far off the mark.
The concert was going to be the biggest bursting of the Dartmouth bubble since Bill Clinton came to Food Court. MGMT's recent release, "Oracular Spectacular" (2007), has been gathering attention on college campuses and across the nation, and MGMT (formerly known as The Management) has become one of the year's hottest bands.
We were finally going to have an authentic performer come to campus that Dartmouth students not only wanted to see, but had heard of before. For one night, it would have been like we didn't go to school in the sprawling metropolis of the Upper Valley. But, alas, the bubble remains secure.
The information regarding the cancellation is insultingly sparse. MGMT booking representatives did not respond to inquiries about the cancellations.
Because the group had not been paid yet, the cancellation was quick and easy. Friday Night Rock lost no money, which means that the funds will be allocated towards other shows. Except for the pang of regret I will feel every time I see an MGMT concert poster lying around, it will simply be as if they were never booked. However, this has left a deeper scar on the student body than Friday Night Rock might suspect: The hype was huge (they even had a Facebook group!).
Austin Bowers '11, an avid fan of MGMT, who is sure they're "definitely going places," felt that it was a "big let-down."
"We were all pretty excited to be able to see a band like that in such a small venue like Fuel," he said. "This definitely put a damper on my night."
As for placing blame, Austin didn't feel like it was appropriate to judge a man for getting sick.
"I can't really hold it against them, he said. "I just hope they'll come back in the future and redeem themselves."
But MGMT didn't cancel a stop in Burlington, Vt. on Sunday night, raising suspicions among bitter students about the veracity of the band's excuse.
Still, there have been a few good things to come out of this situation. In my pining for more MGMT in my life, I discovered a YouTube video of "Planet Earth" highlights set to their song "Time to Pretend." Though it provides little solace, it makes for an entertaining pity party.
