I will always remember the day I bought this album. It was on January 12, 2009, the day it came out in Europe. I bought it after school at my favorite music store in town in Brussels. I walked into the store, "My Girls" was playing in the background, and I directly walked to the first shelf and looked for "Animal Collective" (I already knew where it was because I was purchasing Strawberry Jam at the same place two days before). I took it, held it like the Holy Grail and picked up a copy of Ágætis byrjun by the way, for only 8,00€. As for "THE album", I paid 13,50€. I gave 21,50€ to the guy at the counter, then I left, waited for the bus and went home. I didn't directly listen to IT, no, I first listened to Ágætis byrjun to remember how good it was. After that, I put Merriweather Post Pavilion into my PS3, because my CD player was (and is still) broken.
From "In the Flowers" to "Brother Sport", I couldn't describe what was happening, man, that was so perfect, I couldn't recall every moment of it, or even the titles but I just knew it was perfect. Also, I was happy to recognize some songs, like "Summertime Clothes", because I heard it months before when they played it at the Pitchfork festival (I watched it live in streaming and at the time, the only song I knew was "Peacebone", the Dinosaur Jr. show was pretty good too). So, I finally listened to the most anticipated record of my life and wasn't disappointed at all because it already was, with only one complete listening, my favorite AC album ! I put it on my iPod and listened to it during the 5 next days, because I had to know it perfectly before their show at the STUK in Leuven on January 17.
What can I say about the show ? It was one of the best days of my life. I don't say that like if I was calling a day at the beach with two dumb friends "one of the best days of my life". No, I say that because it TRULY was one of the best days of my life, because many days of my life are empty and nothing great happens. That evening, the show was beginning at 8:30 and I arrived there at 8:00 or something like that, so I waited alone (because my brother wasn't feeling very well and stayed at home, but he had the chance to see them with me in March) during 30 minutes and then, the doors opened. I was at the best place of the show, JUST IN FRONT of Panda Bear, can you imagine ? That was awesome, unbelievable show, wonderful setlist (they even played "Slippi" and an epic version of "Fireworks") and the crowd was pretty good (better than the one in March).
You know, MPP is one of these records that makes you wish you were there for the recording, because such a magical moment is being captured and transferred to audio format. While I'm writing this, it makes me think of the day I saw the movie Dazed and Confused for the first time, I thought it was a great movie but I realized why only two or three days after: I wanted to be there, with the characters. I wanted to live what they lived at the same time, in 1976. At the time, all those thoughts almost made me cry. I'm weird, I know.
So, yeah, MPP is one of the best things that ever happened in my life and it sure is one of my favorite records, forever.