James Murphy is having the time of his life
The band, as is de rigor these days, played a setlist of 80% similar songs with a few rotating in and out. While I forever say Nancy Wang is the engine of the band, her laconic presence providing an anchor to the proceedings, the shows live and die by James Murphy's showmanship.
I swear this isn't a concert review.
Blessed I've been to have been to multiple LCD Soundsystem shows during the NYC residencies in last two years. In 2023, the band spread the love to three of the city's five boroughs: Knockdown Center in Queens; Brooklyn Steel in, well, you can guess; and Terminal 5 in Manhattan. Something stuck with him/them in those Queens shows, so they chose to decamp solely to Knockdown in 2024. Spread over a couple of weekends, they played 12 tights shows running a gauntlet from Thursday to Sunday.
One can imagine seeing the same background, playing the same songs, could wear on a band, but if that was the case, it was hard to tell during the penultimate show.
The band, as is de rigueur these days, played a setlist of approximately 80% of the same songs with a few choice ones rotating in and out. They were tight, like a band that only needed to take car to the venue they've been playing day after day.
While I forever say Nancy Wang is the engine of the band, her laconic presence providing an anchor to the proceedings; the shows live and die by James Murphy's showmanship.
Considering Murphy's disaffected air is fundamental to the appeal of the band, it could be challenging to hold that and hold the crowds' attention night after night, but damn if he didn't nail it.
Attending a later period LCD Soundsystem show is to be witness to incredible precision. Never clearer than with Losing My Edge, in which the band has perfected the organized chaos of their breakout hit. If you've seen a LCD show in the last decade, you know amidst all the name dropping, you'll get a snippet of Yaz' Don't Go and Daft Punk's Robot Rock. Every... single.. time.
But when the song breaks down and James Murphy cycles through all of this influences, it is apparent how locked in and how in command of the crowd he is. No mailing in here: 12 shows in a row of crowd pleasing and, dare I say, hits.
The band famously said - "Nothing's ever tough enough. Until we hit the road."
Technically, Queens is, for the Williamsburg resident, down the road, but he made it his home for three fantastic weeks and 12 shows. Not seven days and 40 nights. Four days and 12 nights suffices.
Maybe that's just what they do.