Beck at the Sound Academy Beck at the Sound Academy Beck at the Sound Academy (more photos...) photos by Clint Gilders - staff photographer

by clint gilders - clubkingsnake staff

October 5, 2008.
The Sound Academy. Toronto, Ontario.

MGMT.......... Huh? Where's the photos? Well, as we arrived at the Sound Academy shortly before our photo call for MGMT the lovely Live Nation rep told us she had some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that no-one gets to shoot the MGMT show, the good news is that we still get to shoot Beck. I'd actually been planning on boycotting the Beck shoot due to the "We own your photos in perpetuity throughout the universe" release foisted on us by his publicist. So, I caved and signed the damn release and shot Beck. With gas prices the way they are I wasn't gonna go home with an empty camera.

MGMT's set was fantastic. Psychedelic/electro-pop/country/rock with a dreamy frontman. I really dug their set much more than the part set I saw at the recent Virgin Festival.

This is where I'd put some usually put some MGMT photos. That aint gonna happen. Lets hope they fit back into those britches they seem to have gotten too big for and lets some photogs in again.

The headliner was Beck. With a spartan stage only adorned with their instruments and amps, and lights like you'd see on an old time movie set Beck and his band came on stage and launched into Loser. Another photog and later I discussed how truly cool it was to be in the pit shooting Beck while he played Loser.

Of course, once we photographers had shot our three songs the real lightshow began. A large screen at the back of the stage was covered in what looked like about a million LEDs and was displaying this crazy abstract video throughout the set.

From beginning to end the set was tight and kept it's momentum. At no point did I find myself staring at my shoes or counting the cracks in the wall. I arrived as a casual fan and left with a new found interest in Beck and his music.