On Wednesday night, superhyped Brooklyn band MGMT played a packed record release show at Mercury Lounge. Attendees were either invited or were lucky and aware enough to reply to a web-circulating notice that promised a pair of tickets to the first twenty-five people to respond via e-mail. Luckily, my dear friend Kate had her ear to the ground and, therefore, we got to see these recent Columbia Records signees in a more intimate setting than they can expect to play from this point forward. MGMT tightly blazed through songs from their new disc, Oracular Spectacular, leaving the industry-heavy crowd obviously impressed. Favorites such as “Time to Pretend” and “Weekend Wars” sounded sharp and focused and the band was nary afraid to let their guitar chops show via several blistering jams. While capes were (unfortunately) not donned, the band’s performance proved that any and all post-Letterman (watch the video) attention is well-deserved. Do yourself a favor and try to Craigslist-snag a couple sold-out tickets to one of their upcoming shows with Yeasayer at Bowery Ballroom or the Music Hall of Williamsburg.

More photos below…