Before one can become management, one must first be a student. And before one becomes a kid, that person is usually a toddler. So when never-before-seen video of a very young MGMT performing iconic jam “Kids” to an unsuspecting crowd of Wesleyan University on April 20, 2003 hits our feeds, we jump up and take notice.
The buoyant performance was uploaded to YouTube this week by Rad Scientist and, according to the user, recorded on a Canon GL2 miniDV camera. In what comes off like archaeological footage from a long-gone time, an energetic Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser bump the now ubiquitous jam to a loosely assembled crowd for Zonker Harris Day on the campus of Wesleyan, the Connecticut college where the two met and started the band.
The video, showcasing an early, seven-minute extended version of the indie anthem, gives a fascinating glimpse into what would become one of the defining tracks of the 2000s — two years before first surfacing on “The Management’s” 2005 EP Time To Pretend and four years (!!) before breaking through on 2007’s Oracular Spectacular album. Hell, we’ll even point out that this set took place five years before the unfuckwithable Soulwax remix changed indie dance floors forever.
It all pulls back the curtain on a type of style and sound that was merely bubbling up to the surface 21 years ago, one that would soon redefine indie culture and provide a blueprint for more electronic and synth sounds permeating the genre in the decade or so that would follow.
The “Kids” clip is one of six MGMT videos from this specific Wesleyan gig, and you can check out the rest over on YouTube (once, of course, we’re all done telling anyone within earshot how this was “the jam” back in the days when we were all wild and free and wore Diesel jeans).
Go ahead and control yourself, take only what you need from it.