lcd soundsystem

lcd soundsystem

Jun 05

THANK YOU MR. BOWIE

When: 28 May 2018
Where: SWG3 Galvanizer’s Yard
Support: Young Fathers

 

It was one of those beautiful, balmy sunny days Glasgow occasionally delivers, with the sun not dipping until after 10pm. James Murphy was surprised that our city could deliver such a bucolic setting for his band’s open air gig. And the weather was matched by the joyous music.

 

A big shout out to support band ,and currently Edinburgh’s finest, Young Fathers. They delivered a blistering, electrifying set – don’t miss their gig at the O2 Academy on 30 November.

 

James Murphy is the most unlikely of music stars – an affable stage presence, like Guy Garvey he’s someone you can imagine just sitting down to a drink with to shoot the breeze. But the music he makes belies his laid back stage craft – it is intelligent dance music that connects directly to the feet and from the first beats of opener ‘Get Innocuous’ [not a word often associated with dance music] the crowd is swaying and bopping. And it never lets up, except for the ‘toilet break’ that JM tells us about in advance (‘You don’t need to cheer or clap or whatever – we are coming back’).

 

JM is in great voice tonight and the band is deliciously tight, from Nancy Whang on keys/synths/vocals, to Tyler Pope’s bass playing, the presence of Gavin Rayna Russom on synths, the guitars of Al Doyle and Matt Thornley, the titanic drums of Pat Mahoney, and Korey Richey on percussion/keys. It is so good to have them back.

 

The latest album, 2017’s American Dream, provides about a third of the set, including great takes on ‘Tonite’ (also the sample video below) and ‘Oh Baby’. The debut album, 2005’s eponymous, gets just as much set time which allows them to flex their punk muscles (‘Movement’) and to play fan favourite, and the song that put them on the map, ‘Daft Punk Is Playing At My House’. The set is littered with songs that show JM’s originality and humour and his great dance instincts: ‘Dance Yrslf Clean’ (with its unmistakable debt to Arthur Russell), ‘Someone Great’, ‘Yr City’s A Sucker’ (Eno for your feet), ‘Call The Police’, etc.

 

The set started with a song from Sound of Silver and it also provides the final encore,  the could-not-be-more-appropriate ‘All My Friends’. If you weren’t a friend of lcd soundsystem before the gig but merely a curious music lover, or dragged along by someone else, then you probably ended the evening very much in their camp. Glorious weather matched by a glorious set (in fact, thanks to YF, two glorious sets) – what more could you ask from a Bank Holiday Monday.

 

Band page

 

Sample video