For those of you who don't know, LCD Soundsystem is the best band you've probably heard of but don't spend enough time listening to.
And they are on their potentially last tour.
James Murphy has only released three albums under this moniker with his killer combo.
Yet he's also 40. And he's losing his edge.
Or if nothing else, he's probably just losing his energy.
Last night I saw LCD Soundsystem for the second time this year, and second time ever. It won't be the last time I see them either, but I think this second time will be the best. The first time I saw them was at Coachella about six weeks ago. If you follow Omnaural, you are familiar with my experience and reaction. Basically, it was not the ideal setting for the band, IMO.
Last night's show at the Metro was a different story. I'll start by pointing out that a disco ball is NOT effective at an outdoor setting. Where does the light go? It disappears. In a club though, it's like a crystal ball that instead of being a window to the future or a distant vision, it transforms the atmosphere, spraying light upon every body like some sort of magic fairy dust or rays of infusing energy (depending if you're a fan of fantasy or science). Then you consider the band member elements that are different. Mahoney comes out with eyes looking like he's been drinking all day (instead of just for a couple hours like normal), and strutting some old school white trim, super-tight, athletic shorts, as if the tightness of the fabric is necessary to help ensure his drumming is extra precise. Nancy comes out in a classy v-neck black top as opposed to the more common ratty white tee. Yet both are hot, but instead of the usual raw rock star hot she is refined rock star hot. The rest of the accompanying band have their typical killer appearances, from Tyler Pope with a collared shirt so mind-blowingly colorful I can't help but be reminded of !!! to Gavin Russom with his receding hairline, long scraggily hair, white ratty tee and derelict face that reminds me of some psycho hillbilly killer from a Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie clone. And finally James Murphy comes out, evidently allowed to shed his formal Coachella-donned white suit and resort to his more comfortable Fruit of the Loom white tee, which he never somehow seems to sweat through.
And this is all before the band has played a note. When they do begin though, their music is like invisible hands that act as puppeteer for the audience. While throughout the Holy Ghost set, people hardly moved despite the fact that this was probably the tightest set for a band's seventh live show that I've ever seen, as if everyone in the audience were bound against their will as captives of some sort who struggled against confinement to only slightly wriggle and vibrate in place, when LCD started, the Metro exploded. It was like a shaken up bottle of champagne finally decorked. This was one of the more enthusiastic Metro crowds I've seen.
However this was not a crowd that would be constantly pumped with raw power like when I saw Crystal Castles. LCD is far more refined. That, and their lyrics are almost always far more reflective, or rather self-aware, and at other times, purely heart-breaking with emotion. The opener, 'Us vs. Them' was a proper hybrid of burner and anthem. The follow-up was 'Drunk Girls', an idiotic song no doubt, but whose music video justifies the song and proffers a certain appreciation for certain types of idiocy. 'Yr City's a Sucker' was third, completing the triumvirate of introducing the set with representation from each of the band's three LPs.
The excitement ceased to be quite as obvious for the rest of the set, as each person celebrated their love for the band in their own way, from the dudes who danced by themselves to the dudes who danced in their heads by themselves. I oscillated back and forth, as I continued to top off my mixed drink with more liquor from my flask, and revelling in each song that would start off with such a similar basic disco drum intro, then evolve into a unique and beautiful pop/dance creation. After way too much Pow-ing, I finally got to hear about how everyone's favorite electro-rock DJs are playing at their place of residence, and then a beautiful and bloopily accompanied explanation of everything James Murphy desires.
Then came the one of my favorite songs ever. A song with such a build so simple yet powerful that it is only perfectly mirrored in the music video, and song so nostalgiac that it also ranks up there as one of the most unlikely tearjerkers of recent years for me. The levels of irony just stack up like a midwest diner pancakes as unlike usual, when I listen to the song alone, I didn't really wonder at all where my friends were that night.
The irony continued as I listened to 'I Can Change' and while I usually think about how the ways in which I am ready for some much-needed change in my life right now, I instead thought about how I think this song is due for a much-needed remix or at least re-approach to the live execution. My forgotten lusting for that 'one other song from the first album I HAD to hear live' was satiated with the short burst that is 'Tribulations'. The alcohol and fatigue started to catch up with me during 'Movement', of which I found myself doing little anymore. To round off the set, I got treated to 'Yeah', which is another great song bogged down by a frustratingly repetitive monosyllabic chorus.
The encore was a treat however, beginning with the closest thing to a ballad LCD Soundsystem has to offer. I can vividly remember so many instances of breaking down to 'Someone Great', and so many great people that I've appreciated more because of it, and so it was probably a good thing I was drunk and tired or else my weepiness would probably have surely killed my mood for the rest of the encore. This was followed by James Murphy's (and every man who cared about the scene) immortal anthem, 'Losing My Edge', which needs no comment. The fact that the encore ended with 'New York I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down' was in every way predictable but in no way disappointing, since I missed out on this at Coachella due to LCD's set being cut short due to time constraints. The insertion of a short cover of Jay-Z's 'Empire State of Mind' was awkward but heartfelt, and made me feel that there's a part of each of us that is from New York, whether it's because of the roots of America's distant past or the influence of the city's culture throughout not only America but the world today.
Some day I may move to New York, if I get tired of Chicago before I run out of energy.
But for now and a at least a good amount of time in the near future, Chicago is my home.
I lived in South Bend longest, and Pittsburgh second longest, and while I have a love and an appreciation for both of those cities, I'll never live there again.
Family and old friends, your city's a sucker...
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