MGMT, 'The Best New York Band About,' On-Board Beck's Upcoming Autumn Tour Beginning September 19 in San Diego

The Brooklyn-based futurist rock/pop ensemble MGMT will follow the group's sizzling summer concert schedule opening for Beck on the post-modern musical collagist's forthcoming autumn tour beginning September 19 in San Diego (please see full MGMT/Beck itinerary following).

Presale tickets for the MGMT/Beck concerts will be made available on the band's website (www.whoismgmt.com) in advance of the public on-sales for the shows. Presale alerts and further information may be found at the MGMT website.

2008 has provided a number of watershed events for MGMT, whose critically-acclaimed debut album, Oracular Spectacular, hit #1 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart and has recently broken the SoundScan 100K sales mark. The group has been honing its live show through a series of headline gigs and mind-bending festival performances including South By Southwest, Coachella and Bonnaroo in the states and the UK's mythic Glastonbury extravaganza. MGMT -- who opened for Radiohead in Manchester on June 29 during an extensive tour of the UK and Europe -- will perform with Columbia Records labelmates The Ting Tings at the JellyNYC Pool Party at Brooklyn's McCarren Pool on Sunday, July 27. The group is scheduled to play Lollapalooza in Chicago on Saturday, August 2.

Pegged as one of Rolling Stone's "Best Rookies In 2008" in the "Best Of Rock" issue, MGMT is proving especially popular with fans and critics in the UK where Oracular Spectacular entered the UK Albums Chart at #12 while the band came in at #9 in the BBC's Sound of 2008 Top 10 poll. Oracular Spectacular debuted at #5 on Ireland's Top Album Charts.

In addition to the acclaim surrounding Oracular Spectacular, MGMT has been amassing critical raves for its concert performances. "MGMT's show on Thursday night was my SxSW highlight," wrote The Sunday Times music writer Dan Cairns, "it's a long time since I have been at a gig that has so transported and unified an audience."

"In what was one of the hottest tickets in Austin," observed the NME, "MGMT performed an impressively tight set, complete with an awesome light show. The band's David Bowie-meets-Pink Floyd performance saw hundreds of festival-goers left out of Stubb's BBQ as the venue reached capacity shortly before they took to the stage."

The band's recently launched website, www.whoismgmt.com, offers an innovative interactive exploration of the MGMT aesthetic and experience including an MGmtSRCH function, a 3-D version of the "Time To Pretend" music video and much more. MGMT's new video for "Electric Feel" is building an online presence with pickup from more than 65 tastemaker and DJ blogs.

The MGMT single, "Time To Pretend," has been picked up by more than 35 radio stations coast-to-coast while the group's track, "Kids," is featured prominently in the upcoming zeitgeist documentary, "American Teen," directed by Nanette Burstein ("The Kid Stays In The Picture").

MGMT has received more than 5 million profile views on the group's myspace page (www.myspace.com/mgmt).

MGMT has been lauded as THE band to look out for in 2008 by publications ranging from Rolling Stone and Spin in the states to the UK's NME who recently called MGMT "The Best New York Band About" as well as "one of the most feted bands on earth right now." As reported by Nylon (http://www.nylonmag.com/?section=article&parid=1627) and other outlets, MGMT was recently feted by Gucci as the label's creative director Frida Giannini dedicated her latest menswear show to the band with "Time To Pretend" providing a soundtrack for the runway finale.

  MGMT/BECK TOUR DATES

  9/19   San Diego, CA       Street Scene
  9/20   Hollywood, CA       Hollywood Bowl
  9/22   Phoenix, AZ         Dodge Theatre
  9/23   Albuquerque, NM     Kiva Auditorium
  9/25   El Paso, TX         Abraham Chavez Theatre
  9/27   Austin, Texas       Austin City Limits Music Festival
  9/29   Kansas City, MO     Uptown Theatre
  9/30   Minneapolis, MN     Wilkins Auditorium
  10/2   Chicago, IL         Aragon
  10/3   Chicago, IL         Aragon

  http://www.columbiarecords.com/
  http://www.whoismgmt.com/
  http://www.myspace.com/mgmt

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

SOURCE: Columbia Records

CONTACT: Benny Tarantini, Columbia Records, Media, New York,
+1-212-833-5858, Benny.Tarantini@sonybmg.com

Web site: http://www.columbiarecords.com/
http://www.whoismgmt.com/
http://www.myspace.com/mgmt