I got into the band kind of late - they only surfaced on my radar when Sound of Silver got so much critical acclaim in every music/culture magazine back at the end of 2007. At this point, I had recently returned from my year in England and I was trying to get acclimated to the States again and find some grounding for the life that was in front of me. There was something about the band's name and the album cover that made me want to see what all these magazines were talking about. It only took one listen for me to fall in love with this music, with "All My Friends" perfectly matching my mood at the time and acting as the perfect gateway to all things LCD. I quickly picked up their eponymous first disc and their project with Nike, 45:33. I couldn't get enough. I bought EPs on iTunes and hunted down more elusive tracks on elbo.ws as I soaked myself in this new sound that penetrated to my core.
LCD was a fitting band in which to become immersed before moving to New York City. Because I discovered the band on the tail end of Sound of Silver, I missed any opportunities I may have had to see them live in conjunction with that album. "But I'm moving to New York," I thought, "Surely I will be able to see them there." Little did I know that it would be over two years before an opportunity to see LCD live would present itself.
In the mean time, I continued to become even more deeply enthralled with the band and with James Murphy, expanding my horizons to include DFA remixes and artists on the DFA label. This allowed me to experience James Murphy DJing (FANTASTIC set!... which led me to James & Pat Mahoney's wonderful Fabric.Live CD) at Webster Hall for GBH's 10th anniversary (my Kill Shop Kill tote bag is my only souvenir) and Hercules & Love Affair's very first show at Studio B (the stuff of legend). It also helped me discover The Shocking Pinks and Hot Chip and gave even more validation to Holy Ghost!, who I had somehow discovered while in England. There was also "Big Ideas," the highly underrated single for the film 21, James's work on the Greenberg soundtrack, and a few other singles scattered here and there, each one a gem.
Finally, 2010 rolled around and brought with it a new LCD album. Highly anticipated to say the least, This Is Happening didn't disappoint. Like the albums that preceded it, this one presents new nuances and pleasures with every listen, and my favorite songs change with my mood. Being fanatical about concert tracking, I was able to catch both LCD warm up shows at Music Hall of Williamsburg and Webster Hall last April. They were my first LCD live experiences, and they were everything I hoped they would be, even if they were a little rough around the edges. I thought it would be impossible to find James Murphy any more charming than I did prior to the shows, but I was wrong. The man is magnetic in his sweet aloofness. He knows how good he is, but he will never quite admit it outright. LCD even managed to make Terminal 5 bearable, a difficult feat indeed. As I wrote about those shows in my 2010 recap:
I went to both of their warm-up gigs in April, which were all I had been hoping for. The MHOW gig was the more entertaining of the two since James was drunk and produced some fabulous quips throughout the show. Webster was a tad more sober and serious, but the music was still fantastic. And then, Terminal 5: my most hated venue in New York. However, LCD really works there for some reason. They are just the right kind of loud to fill the space and I am so taken by their music that I can easily get caught up and ignore all the obnoxious jerks surrounding me. The balloons at the end of the show during the "New York State of Mind" cover were so magical. I will never forget those two shows; they were perfect in every way.Riding on the high of 2010, it seemed that LCD was just a part of New York and that I would be able to see them at the end of the This Is Happening tour when they circled back to this fair city, and then maybe some random shows in between that and their next real tour. Then came February 2011, bringing tweets and blog posts that sent me scrambling. Was LCD really calling it quits? It was sad news, but not hard to believe. It seemed like just the kind of thing that James Murphy would do, and since I respect him (and the rest of the band) as an artist, I respect his decision if he feels that this particular project has run its course. I get that true music production geeks can feel burdened by the pressures of fronting a band, just like Calvin Harris getting out of singing to focus on producing and DJing. Yes, James is a wonderful frontman, but his real talents are in the raw creation of the music. That takes inspiration, and if that inspiration is gone, then it is time to switch gears.
For the umpteen-hundredth time in my life I got lucky. An unemployed friend offered to go stand in line at Mercury Lounge for GA tickets to the very last LCD show at Madison Square Garden. Through some great connections, he got a good spot in line and secured two tickets. I happily paid for both of them to thank him for his efforts, and when the big ticket fiasco hit, I was even more glad and lucky that I would for sure be going to this historic event. Of course, when the Terminal 5 shows were announced and went on sale, I thought those sounded like a good idea too because I wanted to make up for all my lost time in the realm of LCD and see them live as many times as possible before they faded into New York rock history.
I bought tickets for three nights of T5, thinking it would be fine because of the usual 11pm curfew for the venue, and figuring that I wouldn't need to go a fourth night because my Philosophy class would be in the way anyway.
So much for that 11pm curfew - try three nights in a row of standing from 7:30 to 12:30 and then not getting home until an hour after that. Yet I don't regret a single minute, foot cramp, back ache, or long trudge from 7th Ave to 11th Ave (and back) on 56th Street. These shows were amazing; they were addictive. I woke up every morning of the week with LCD stuck in my head, the beats and bass still thumping away from the night(s) before. I couldn't get enough and I wanted more. Thursday came along, and I thought "Why don't I check Ticketmaster to see if they release any last minute tickets. LCD doesn't go on until nine, I can totally catch most of their set after class." Lo and behold, there were last minute tickets. I bought one, as if there was ever a doubt that I would. And I went to the show, hoping there would be something more than Wednesday night. There wasn't, but again, no regrets.
It is hard to rank LCD shows. It's like saying one bar of gold is better than another bar of gold. But with small changes to the set lists and shifting crowd composition, some nights were subtly better than others. My rank for the T5 shows is: Wednesday, Monday, Thursday, Tuesday.
Monday had the most obnoxious, but also most energetic, crowd. There were some crazy kids there that night, and everybody jumped and thrashed at all the right moments. Experiencing Reggie Watts dueting on "Shame On You" for the first time was a seminal moment and I love the funk he brought to the song (live album PLEASE!). Also, it was the first night and everything was fresh so it was a night of discovery.
Tuesday had a much more subdued crowd that mainly seemed to be there because it was a "cool" thing to do. These were the scenesters who didn't really love the band, but understood that these shows were a significant cultural moment. I had tall European men standing in front of me on this night, and the vibe just wasn't as electric as it was on Monday night. The show was glorious of course, but I wasn't feeling it as much as I had been the night before, even tough there were some terrific additions/adjustments to the set list.
Wednesday I was questioning the sanity of doing three shows in a row; my back was killing me. However, I was very glad to catch Shit Robot's opening set, and as soon as LCD started playing, my back pain melted away. This show had the most positive energy going for it. The crowd was enthusiastic, composed of fans, and respectful of the experience. Someone had brought hundreds of thin glow sticks in colors that spanned the spectrum. These little sticks of light were flying through the air all night, looking like a cross between fire flies and fire works and adding an ethereal, magical quality to the proceedings while also creating camaraderie in the audience. James had to handle "Shame On You" on his own, because Reggie Watts was off doing his own show, but James's solo version brought a soulfulness to the song that was quite lovely. The real highlight of Wednesday was the addition of "Jump Into The Fire" (a Harry Nilsson cover) to the encore. Even though it's a cover, this is one of my favorite LCD songs. It has an incredible energy combined with an underlying 60s vibe and I find it all to be totally irresistible. I had never heard it live before and it totally blew me away; it's a perfect encore song, even if it does shred James's voice.
By Thursday, the band was feeling the effects of such an intense week. James's voice was shredded, Pat's back and leg were killing him by the encore (James: "That's reason 700 we're getting out of this. We're old..."), but they still gave it their all and put on just as solid a performance as on the first three nights. It was nice to be there for LCD's last T5 show, and I'm glad I was able to go, if only just to make my week that much more complete.
MSG on Saturday was it's own beast. It didn't offer as many surprises as hoped, but it was still very special, and the closing "New York I Love You" was poignant and final. There was no question that this was the end, for better or worse. Because I had a general admission ticket and was in the "pit" right in front of the stage, my vantage of the show wasn't that different from T5. It is difficult to take in the enormity and spectacle of Madison Square Garden when you are that close to the band. Don't get me wrong, I love getting to see them up close one last time, but some of the MSG-ness was lost through the proximity.
And now back to that first question: what do I like about LCD Soundsystem? I like that they created their own sound out of the sounds that came before them, paying homage to the material from which they borrow while creating something that will one day get an homage of its own. I like them because they put on a live show that I can see five times in a week and never get sick of. I like them because they know what they stand for and make no apologies. I like them because their music speaks to me in the same way that the music of The Beach Boys and The Doors speaks to me - through songs that are carefully crafted from bass to vocal and everywhere in between, and I know that that care has not gone to waste, because I am there to appreciate it with every listen. I like them because I feel connected to them through their art.
After Tuesday's show at T5, I was having a conversation with a colleague who had also been at the show:
Colleague: I really liked in the beginning his speech about recording, because he was like "you are free to record whatever you want!" And people were thrilled; and then he was like "but don't because it's lame," and they cheered that too!!! To me that embodies perfectly LCD Soundsystem: "I'm going to talk about this thing and you'll relate but then I am going to reveal to you that it's sarcastic and you're a fool for falling for it." The majority of that fanbase was totally weirdAnd then it hit me, maybe the new kids just don't get it. Maybe they are so steeped in Meta Gaga Jersey Shore world that the art of subtle irony is lost on them. Maybe the true hipster is a dying breed. And maybe this is why it it time for James and crew to close up shop and leave their legacy to be found by the few discerning kids who can truly recognize magic when they stumble upon it, because the kids now, too distanced from the source material, are not a receptive audience for LCD's brand of high art, and the rest of us veterans can bask in the glow we know so well, content that a band, that embraced us just as much as we embraced them, went out on top.
Me: Yeah, there were so many kids who just didn't get it; these shows are making me feel old
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