LCD Soundsystem: Home

By Mike Stampalia.

No matter how good you do or don’t think LCD Soundsystem is, they are better than that.

I have “rock ‘n’ roll purist” friends who dismiss them for being too dancey, or too electronic, or not being “real” rock ‘n’ roll. Pssshhh … they are as much punk as they are dance (and what’s wrong with dance music, anyway?), and founder and frontman James Murphy has more rock knowledge and credibility than just about anybody on the planet.

I know others who love them, who have spent many nights dancing to their music, and who can shout along with the most well-known of their lyrics. But while I appreciate and agree with their admiration, I always feel like they are missing so much more underneath the surface. The subtle and not-so-subtle callbacks to an absurdly eclectic musical heritage. The astonishing intellectual range of their lyrics – some of which could hold up quite well in a University literature class, some of which repeat the word “Yeah” more than 50 times for the chorus. But both work devastatingly well. The use of dissonance and repetition to create songs that are like fine wine: not necessarily approachable on first listen, but by year-end, you realize one or two of them may have crawled into your Top 20 of all time. Or Top 10. Or 5.

Yeah, no matter how good you think LCD Soundsystem is, I promise you: they’re even better than that.

On November 20, the Grammy-winning dance-punk legends returned to the Knockdown Center in Queens to begin what has become an annual tradition: a multi-week residency in their hometown. I don’t travel down to the City for concerts that often, maybe 2-3 a year, but I decided this should be one of them; despite loving their music, I had never seen them live. And if the above praise wasn’t enough, I should mention this as well: they have a reputation of being an absolutely lethal live act. So it was time to find out: could LCD Soundsystem be THAT good live?

Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah. Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah!

Murphy and crew delivered a propulsive, riveting, and absolutely unstoppable 2 ½ hour set of music (with two very short breaks in between). To say they blew me away, along with the other 3,000 concertgoers, would be an understatement. This was a general admission show, so it was up close and personal; packed in tight with your neighbors, all sweat and smiles. 

The selections spanned all five of their studio releases (including “45:33”), notable singles, plus “x-ray eyes,” a 2024 song that teases much-anticipated new material from the band soon. The band’s well-deserved reputation for range is only amplified in a live setting. Quiet parts are riveting, hypnotic. Songs that “kick in” provide no optionality – you are dancing, or jumping, or throwing your hands up. Anything but standing still; simply not an option.

Song selection was top-notch (see below). While not exactly as unpredictable as, say, Phish, LCD Soundsystem does change its setlists from night to night, and even some of their biggest hits are not a shoo-in on any given night. So there is genuine anticipation and electricity in the room and amongst their fans as one song ends, and they begin to tease the next … which will it be?

Highlights included the simultaneously-lauded-but-still-somehow-underrated “Home,” a version of “Dance Yrself Clean” that nonchalantly walks right up to your face then proceeds to knock your teeth in, and (perhaps best of the night) “North American Scum,” which I swear physically lifted you off the ground when the chorus kicked in. The night’s closer was “All My Friends,” an all-time classic that is so exceptional on so many different levels that it makes my bones hurt to think about.

Of special note – this is the best-sounding concert I’ve ever heard in my life. Murphy’s obviously devoted his career to mastering this, on both record and live, but I cannot overstate how amazing the sound was. Touring, LCD Soundsystem is an eight-piece, with lots of percussion and keys and synths, and multiple rhythms happening at once. You could hear every single instrument crystal clear, like it was front-and-center, simply by turning your attention to it. But you could turn your attention to any instrument, at any time. I’ve never heard anything like it.

I remember reading an interview with Murphy years and years ago (I couldn’t find it now, I looked), and I remember him saying how annoyed he was that everyone seemed to think that it’s impossible to amplify music above a certain volume without it starting to sound like shit. He then proceeded to (seemingly) dedicate his life to proving that wrong. You can hear it on their records in spades, but even more impressive is how he does it live. Music loud enough to feel inside your chest and your bones, but smooth as glass on the ears. Simply magical.

The residency runs Thursdays through Sundays, December 4 through December 13. In today’s concert climate, it’s an absurdly priced bargain at less than $95/ticket to see them up close and personal, in a relatively intimate 3,000-person venue, in their hometown. So worth the trip.

LCD Soundsystem live was (they are all multi-instrumentalists, and change instruments throughout): James Murphy, Nancy Whang, Pat Mahoney, Al Doyle, Korey Richey, Abby Echiverri, Nick Millhiser, Nay Wilkins.

Setlist:

• Tribulations
• Movement
• Tonite
• I Can Change
• Other Voices
• Get Innocuous!
• Yr City’s a Sucker
• Time to Get Away
• You Wanted a Hit
• Home

<short break>

• Oh Baby
• new body rhumba
• 45:33 (excerpt)
• Someone Great

<short break>

• North American Scum
• x-ray eyes
• Dance Yrself Clean
• New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down
• All My Friends