Ever since the release of their debut album, Oracular Spectacular, back in October 2007, MGMT have cemented themselves in the lexicon of indie-pop icons. The group’s career is far from over, with their newest album, Loss of Life, coming out as recently as this year. Still, given that it’s been nearly fifteen years since their initial album’s drop, and its songs are still being celebrated (heck, “Time to Pretend” was just used in the second trailer for A Minecraft Movie [2025] a couple weeks ago), long-time fans might be feeling nostalgic for the two-man group’s early days.

If one wishes to get a look into the humble beginnings of two indie-pop legends, then, remarkably, a string of videos was recently uploaded to YouTube showing one of the duo’s first shows back in 2003. The concert videos, courtesy of “Rad Scientist,” show MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden and Benjamin Goldwasser performing at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, where they both attended. According to Brooklyn Vegan, the event they were performing at was the school’s annual Zonker Harris Day, which is held every year on April 20th to celebrate psychedelic counterculture and everything else associated with the day’s date.

Among the songs performed at the event, one that’ll surely perk up the ears of many fans of the group’s work is “Kids,” the leading single of Oracular Spectacular. Although VanWyngarden claims that the song was made with the intention of making “the most stereotypical pop song,” the two clearly have passion in their performance, or at the very least are having a lot of fun with it. At one point, the two roll around on stage like rockstars, only to pick themselves up and start running around the campus while the song’s instrumentals continue on without them. While singing, they both crack themselves, laughing through full choruses. It’s truly quite sweet to witness.

During the writing process of “Kids,” Goldwasser allegedly was inspired by David Byrne, explaining why one of the other songs they performed was “This Must Be the Place” by the Talking Heads. While VanWyngarden does his best impression of Byrne vocally, the electronic stylings are a clear prelude to what the rest of their discography later had in store.