"This Is Happening": the third album by LCD Soundsystem

it's not a matter of "i was there first!!" (for bragging rights)

more like "i have seen this band several times in the past 7 or so years, and they used to be MUCH more entertaining live than they are now... why is everyone losing their shit all of a sudden?"

xp

Because they're breaking up. Did you miss that?

I like the new songs fine (and my fave non-hits are easily on Sound Of Silver) and enjoyed the concert, but the vibe was definitely pretty planned out and looking back, not a Right Here Right Now This Glorious moment thing - usually you don't have a giant wad of papers atop some drums for that. Of course, they were in the middle of a four concert run at one venue, too.

"the vibe was definitely pretty planned out"

i think this is what kinda kills the 2010-11 era LCD live show, for me

If the Talking Heads broke up around Stop Making Sense, I could understand if someone was like "honestly, I'm more glad that I caught them at CBGBS/Remain In Light Tour than that I caught this," but it shouldn't be a shock that people would want to see and be glad they saw Stop Making Sense.

Yeah but otoh the Blonde Ambition tour was probably pretty planned out but also probably pretty awesome to be at.

imo.

like I don't think that "planned out" negates any of the crazy energy/awesome musicians/great songs/etc.

it probably does negate the "crazy energy" if you saw them in a more spontaneous time

serious question: ILXors of NY, did you guys actually see any of these shows? and if you've also seen the 2010-11 LCD farewell tour, which did you find "better" and why? i mean i can't imagine the MSG show will be any better than these!

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/lcd-soundsystem/2004/tribeca-grand-new-york-ny-1bd249e8.html
http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/lcd-soundsystem/2005/bowery-ballroom-new-york-ny-bd249ee.html
http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/lcd-soundsystem/2005/nokia-theatre-times-square-new-york-ny-bd249ea.html

IDK I saw them in 07 (festival-type gig w/ Arcade Fire), 10 (tiny venue/"first show in 3 years" or something), and 11 (planned out, ew!) and they seemed to have crazy energy each time.

ilxor, did you actually see one of the shows people are talking about now?

Murphy's made no bones about wanting to move on (and while I like This Is Happening, it's pretty much More Songs About Eno-Rock And Murphy's General Angst), so the idea that they're less intense than they were previously should be no more surprising than that people are psyched to catch them why they still can.

what exactly is the draw for that? I mean I like the idea of a band going onstage and not knowing what songs they'll do, feeling the crowd out and all that, but LCD have like 40 songs, many of them quite similar. What's the appeal of them being "spontaneous"?

i mean sure, the farewell shows are a grand statement/farewell/nostalgia fest/masturbatory & overlong setlist/"cementing the status of LCD at the top of the 2000s canon" gesture, but i can't imagine who caught the band in 2003-05 actually ENJOYING these shows more than one of those early, tossed-off sets when the band was hungry, urgent and far more unhinged

"Better" is objective; it's spectacle vs. intimacy. I mean, I am glad I saw them when they were playing songs like "All My Friends" and "Dance Yrself Clean" and stuff. Also, there's a difference between seeing a band that's new and pretty good and being blown away vs. seeing a band you're really familiar with and adore and being blown away and I definitely, definitely savor the latter much more.

ilxor, did you actually see one of the shows people are talking about now?

i have not seen any of the Terminal 5 shows, no

i did see LCD at their most recent stop in Austin on the current tour, late 2010 i think?

xxp jesus are you really that incapable of grasping the idea that some people have different priorities and interest and desires than you?

this is the show i saw, July 2010. total snoozefest compared to LCD five years earlier. wasted my $$, wish i'd have stayed home, no challops.

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/lcd-soundsystem/2010/stubbs-bar-b-q-austin-tx-2bd42cea.html

xxp jesus are you really that incapable of grasping the idea that some people have different priorities and interest and desires than you?

no, not incapable. i see, clearly, that people have different interests and opinions. i am asking WHY this is the case. especially for ppl that caught LCD before the big farewell hoopla all got started.

I will note that I might have been non-plussed if they'd played that setlist instead of the three-hour-plus discography-spanning monster they did at Terminal 5

xp because they have better songs now and play tighter as a band??

was there any 'last tour' specific merch? any I WAS THERE t-shirts?

they are playing a THREE HOUR set now, can they really not find time for anything from the back half of the debut album ("never as tired" "on repeat" "thrills" "disco infiltrator" "great release") or "beat connection" "give it up" "tired" "yr citys a sucker" i mean come onnnnn

"give it up" is a fuckin monster live, instead we get to sing along to "i can change" and "ny i love you but..."? god please spare me

I was just kidding around b/c ilxor's one post read a little like an early LCD song itself.

and they've gone from quite awesome early cover songs (siouxsie "slowdive"!!!) to doing a mash-up of "ny i love you" + jay-z "empire state of mind" loooool. like, people think this is a good thing?

but i was there

i was there when LCD Soundsystem played Siouxsie and the Banshees covers and early B-sides in 2005

:(

brotherlovesdub lol yes

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2011/03/lcd_soundsystem_40.html

okay im done being a negative nancy, you guys enjoy

honestly i'd probably buy a Terminal 5 ticket if i lived in NY, anyway, so fuck knows what im saying

NANCY WHANG SOLO LP NOW PLZ.

and they've gone from quite awesome early cover songs (siouxsie "slowdive"!!!) to doing a mash-up of "ny i love you" + jay-z "empire state of mind" loooool. like, people think this is a good thing?

yeah that mashup sucks, but besides that what? "Throw" was awesome. The thing is that the back half of their debut album is not really considered by many people to be as good as their later stuff. Just saying. "I Can Change" is a lot better than most the songs you mentioned

They sucked when I saw them open for Daft Punk at Wireless Festival 2007. Like, a really bad performance. And I'll never get to see them again, ever.

Okay you realize they have FIVE album-length releases worth of material, right (first album, second disc of singles, sound of silver, 45:33, this is happening)?

"i can change" is among the worst songs LCD has ever recorded, a hugely cloying attempt at being nostalgic and touching, rivaled only by "drunk girls" as its parent album's worst track. quite honestly LCD goes downhill the more their songs skew toward trying to dance less, emote more. kinda pushed the boundaries of that with "someone great" -- which works (but barely), murphy is at his worst when he's trying to be an old softy

:O

I love how you say "a hugely cloying attempt at being nostalgic" as if "Losing My Edge" like never existed or something.

best possible MSG scenario would be murphy downing a 6-pack pre-show, another during; crumbling up the setlist after opening with "dance yrself clean" then ripping through every song they haven't rehearsed and played to death the past two years of touring

i thought you were done being a negative nancy.

thankfully they skipped the "empire" medley

I love how you say "a hugely cloying attempt at being nostalgic" as if "Losing My Edge" like never existed or something.

um those two songs couldn't be more different; "losing my edge" is murphy being lol-witty, "i can change" is murphy doing a lovelorn ballad

a "ballad" that is faster than "losing my edge"

Wait, LCD didn't rehearse or have a setlist for the first tour?

I do agree that "I Can Change" strikes me as a little insecure. But it's a great tune. Its kind of like some of the best stuff that OMD ever did. I mean not all his songs have to be epic dance rave-ups. He's got enough of those. Sometimes music is about more than getting sloppy drunk and tearing through a bunch of songs, you know?

ilxor, i think your account upthread is off. shit robot didn't exist when LCDSS's first tour took place. Also I don't think they'd book a place that large on their first tour considering we got them in a 400 person capacity club... where do you live again?

i had to really dig on Google for this, but found gig details

October 26, 2005 - Austin, TX

show preview: http://austinist.com/2005/10/26/tonight_lcd_soundsystem_at_stubbs.php

of note, sounds like it was 45 degress that night (v. chilly for Austin) which probably thinned the crowd out a good bit

also, it was DJ Shit Robot supporting, looks like ;)

i guess the first show was 2003, 04 era.

it was 2005, clearly i was wrong. always seems like that debut came out earlier than 2005 dang it

LCD Soundsystem with The Juan Maclean and Shit Robot
Wednesday, October 26
Stubb's

^ Shit Robot at the show; DJ Shit Robot at the after-party (sorry)

Oh... well, the 2005 shows were good, almost as good as the first two tours before that.

oh i'm sure!

tried to see LCD at SXSW 2004 i think, but small club/ltd. capacity pretty much meant that was a no-go

didn't play austin again til Oct 2005

Just think of the 110k people who saw them at Coachella a year and a half before you saw them.

lol alright alright, now yr just clowning me dude

I don't think any moment at any show ever has my heart pounded with so much anticipation as it did during the last "aaaahhh" before the drop in DYC. The song's p dear to me to begin with and live it was just unreal.

Cosign.

Listening to the live at Alexandria Palace album from last year now, and it just doesn't quite work; I suspect any bootleg from the final show will be disappointing. Something missing in the mix/the dynamics, I guess?

the mastering on that live album pretty much sucked