spectrum51

MGMT played with Spectrum @ Knitting Factory

Spectrum (aka Peter Kember)
Spectrum

Peter Kember (born 19 November 1965) is a British musician, more usually known as Sonic Boom and was a founding member of Spacemen 3. Kember and Jason Pierce (born on the same day in Rugby, Warwickshire) formed Spacemen 3 in 1985. Sonic Boom’s first solo album, Spectrum (the same name he eventually gave his new band), was recorded in 1989 while Spacemen 3…. In 2010, Peter Kember produced MGMT‘s second album, titled ‘Congratulations’. Congratulations is musically adventurous, featuring nine psychedelic, space-inspired tracks that were no doubt, influenced by Kember… [Wikipedia]

On May 19, 2010, MGMT surprised the crowd at Knitting Factory in Brooklyn by joining the show’s headliner Spectrum on stage during the encore for a reportedly 19 minute version of Spacemen 3 song “Suicide”.Update via JamBands.com:

“MGMT keyboardist Ben Goldwasser and frontman Andrew VanWyngarden joined the group onstage at the start of its encore for the Silver Apples’ “A Pox on You.” The musicians later returned for a jam leading out of Spacemen 3’s “Suicide” that featured Goldwasser on synthesizer and VanWyngarden on auxiliary percussion. The musicians then both switched to effects pedals and other digital toys for the improvisational number that closed the night. The jam segments spiraled on for almost 20-minutes.”

One night earlier, Lost cast members showed up to watch Lost at the same Brooklyn venue (Knitting Factory is having the Best Week Ever). It was Spectrum’s 2nd NYC show in less than a week. The first was part of the Joshua Light Fest at Abrons Arts Center.

That said, it’s not the first time Sonic Boom and members of MGMT played live in public together. An older example is in the videos below…

mgmt and spectrum at the dome finsbury park feb 2009

SPECTRUM MGMT Feb 27 2009 The Dome Tufnel Park North London