LCD Soundsystem - Terminal 5 - May 21, 2010
On Friday night, Terminal 5 went to full capacity to try to grasp LCD Soundsystem’s official return to New York City. And this isn’t even entirely true: Friday’s show was the second of a sold-out four-show run, spanning Thursday to Sunday and numbering 12,000 tickets. So as fans packed themselves between the stage and the bar, they were part of something achingly fun. Distilled as an English sentence: This was happening.
From the outset, the band made clear their desire to destroy any vestige of collective boundaries. On the stunning opener, “Us v Them,” from their 2007 release, Sound of Silver, LCD Soundsystem poked fun at the divisions that brought their audience in the door as individuals in the hopes of having them move in unison. Later in the set, frontman James Murphy directed, in quick succession, possible second single from the brand new This Is Happening, “All I Want,” the band’s thesis statement, “All My Friends,” and “I Can Change,” each full of the Confucian-style wisdom (“I wouldn’t change one stupid decision/ For another five years of life”) that breeds such a sense of unity among those who subscribe to their recommendations.
The night closed with “Losing My Edge,” a song about the fragility and impermanence of youth, and “New York, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down,” a darkly romantic ode to the city, a sense of a rapidly fading moment and the impossible mission of recapturing it. Balloons poured from the ceiling and a few thousand individual orbs all bounced together. —Geoff Nelson
Photos courtesy of Michael Jurick | music.jurick.net
