A sold out Avalon Hollywood was filled with about 1500 surf fashion people for the 2nd Annual Design for Humanity Wednesday night. It was as swanky as surf industry stuff gets (I’m assuming with the red carpet and all).  A former Billabong person, Kati, was nice enough to bring me along. We’re borderline MGMT groupies at this point.

The drinks were flowing, some sweet art was displaying, DJ Steve Aoki was spinning, and it was all supporting the Surfrider Foundation. And the runway show was nice.

Walking up to the stage was way too easy. I had planned on hanging back but this opening was hard to pass up. When the band started sound checking from behind the curtain, people finally took the cue and everything got a little more
normal.

“Weekend Wars”, lead into the familiar set that was seen at Coachella. The one that makes you earn it. See on casual listen, Oracular Spectacular is incredibly front-loaded with pop songs and then goes into a more rolling, psychedelic production. When performed the order is basically reversed, going through the second half of the album, first. In other words, they save “Electric Feel”, “Time To Pretend”, and “Kids” to the very end. Might I suggest picking one of those three to open, just to get the crowd into it? But their system still works as the crowd is rewarded for waiting every time. And I’ll add that the opening songs are not duds, they’re just not as fun.  “Pieces of What”, “4th Dimensional Transition”, and “The Handshake” have all gotten better live. If their next album sounds more like these instead of chasing another anthem, I might actually dig it more.

I hardly looked up from my dancing at Coachella, so this time around I was the guy standing completely still with a camera. My videos reflect this:

"Electric Feel" 

and also "Time To Pretend"

For the “Kids” finale, dreamboat Andrew VanWynGarden changed from his Kurt Cobain dress to a George Clinton poncho. A bit out of his past shy character, he grabbed drinks from the crowd among other objects (glasses, bras).

Security didn’t stop people from getting up there. Two dudes actually stage dived, one failing miserably, and the other faring better (way to go Action Jackson!).

I could say much more about MGMT. Their rise to fame shows that, yes, bands are gaining popularity through different avenues these days, but, major labels still make this all happen much faster.  In less than a year, they can go from “new band watch in 2008” to a massively embraced hit record, to a “guilty pleasure.”  Forgive me for romanticizing when I talk about these guys, but there is something to them that’s so likable (and inevitably unlikable). And I refuse to succumb to a backlash. They have a couple of exceptional songs that make you feel good. It helps that they have the right style, the right visuals, and the right looks to boot. They sing songs about pretending to be rock stars, which are quickly becoming self-fulfilling prophecies. 

Rarely do the pics come out this decent, so here's more:

Oh right. The models...