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“The myth. The legend. The last rockstar” sounds in the Uber Arena to the flickering words “Lost Americana”. Bob Dylan already raved about the album of the same name in the trailer: “It is a personal excavation of the American dream” and “journey in search of what was lost.” But what exactly was buried there?
“Legends burn so bright,” whispers a pathetic intro before the first notes of “Outlaw Overture” begin. Machine Gun Kelly, who now calls himself mgk for convenience, appears as a Marlboro man in a white and red leather jacket, with a cigarette-shaped microphone stand next to him. A sunken Statue of Liberty flashes zombie-like in the background.
What we already know: The musician continues to work full time on his image as Son of Anarchy. His latest album therefore brings more Route 66 romance instead of exuberant pop punk. But he didn’t completely abandon the anarcho “era”: There had been a jackass moment in Vienna a few days earlier, when one of his roadies jumped into the audience without warning and landed face first on the floor.
mgk: Shooting in Berlin
On Instagram he announced a “non-scripted tour life version of The Office” with the clip. This is probably why he filmed with fans in a Berlin skate park during the day. The dress code: black and no cell phones please. Almost worked:
There is less of the youthful chaos to be seen on stage. Understandable, since a varied show has to be well planned. For example, mgk disappears behind the Statue of Liberty during “Goddamn” and a moment later lights a huge butt at a dizzying height with a floating mega storm lighter.
The merch game is played out very Americana-like with shirts, perfume and caps. Looking at it from a European perspective, it doesn’t really seem like much of a problem. Maybe mgk is simply looking for the not yet woke and political America that shaped him as a teenager in the 2000s. Even before the concert, Alien Ant Farm’s version of “Smooth Criminal” and “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers played to the delight of the equally polarized audience. A nostalgic soundtrack that could come from the old iPod out of the drawer.
Delivered as ordered: two hours of show “for your hard-earned money”
There is no question that mgk has enormous talent and feel for dynamics, harmonies and timing. His own documentary has already suggested this – told subjectively, yes, but not without foundation. Live, this quality is sometimes lost in the excess of choreo dances, on-the-nose symbolism and self-mythologizing.
mgk likes to flirt with his stage persona: he is a “tortured poet”, sex symbol, broken romantic. He smokes demonstratively, drops coaching sentences like “Life is rainy and cold,” but the wacky move follows straight away: “Should the T-shirt come off for the next song or not?” Only the Louis Vuitton belt ensures that skater pants still hang on the trained but slim body. Meanwhile, mgk’s loyal fan base is hanging on his every word and is delighted about the moment of singing along to “Bloody Valentine” on stage.
He also breaks open doors in Germany with “Lonely Road”, a quasi-cover of “Country Roads”. In the end you can actually look a little into mgk’s head – and there’s at least as much going on in it as in this entertaining surprise show.
