Photo by Ruvan Wijesooriya
The blue light bled throughout Bill Graham Civic Auditorium as LCD Soundsystem took the stage, front and center, to revive their emotional, dance-punk tunes. Supremo James Murphy walked out onto the stage under the disco ball on November 15th in San Francisco to perform their new album, american dream, and to remind their fans of their intense dedication to such emotional, intense, and personal melodies and instrumental obscurities. The floor was sardined with young dancers and aging couples, all held together in unity with desire and awareness—awareness for what was to come and the impending emotional trance.
LCD Soundsystem opened with a prolonged synth, as they started to play “Oh Baby”. Murphy swayed along to the glittery melody in accordance to the blue lights that bathed the bubbling crowd and stage. They encapsulated present realities within us all through the power of such mesmerizing lyrical poetry, but also utilized sentiments which swayed from impending realities which created contrasts of good and bad dreams. Having recently reunited since their 2011 farewell concert at Madison Square Garden, LCD Soundsystem captured all of the crowd as every synth riff and silvery, smoky rhythm ricocheted throughout the temporarily adopted dance floor. James Murphy holds power over individuals by manipulating feelings of euphoria and intoxication, while also eliciting reminiscence and poignancy. The band captured the fleeting nature of life, preoccupations of anxiety, lost love, failure, and aging as they sang of changing for a loved one in “I Can Change” or the grieving process in “Someone Great”.
The audience, including myself, was guided on a journey through their genuine, emotional, and raw experiences and sentimentalism. Their performance evoked a sense of involvement in the music by promoting some semblance of identity and belonging in each song. James Murphy invited us all to witness, experience, and understand his own identity and life. Despite the release of their new album american dream, the set list focused primarily on their older songs as they reminisced with those of us listening. When Murphy left the stage momentarily, the understated vocalist and keyboard player, Nancy Whang, covered “I Want Your Love” by the 1970s band Chic, cementing the band’s musical connections with disco and pop, along with their eclectic synthesized rock/pop melodies.
Before leaving the stage for the encore, which they confirmed would happen, they ended with “New York, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down” which filled the room with raw emotion through gradually shifting from a moody, dreamy sound to a cacophonous crescendo of sharp guitar riffs, pounding drums, and authentic lyrics, “Like a death of the heart Jesus, where do I start? But you’re still the one pool where I’d happily drown.” Altogether, the keyboards, vocals, and synthesizer created a dynamic vitality in unison with the drums, bass, and guitar, inviting us into Murphy’s love, loss, change, and everything in between. Upon returning to the shiny and blue lit stage, Murphy moved the crowd with his polyrhythmic grooves as he performed one of his older and more obscure songs, “Yr City’s A Sucker”, confirming the true superiority of New York City—his stomping grounds. The final song played was “All My Friends”, which concluded the night with the reminder that Murphy “wouldn’t trade one stupid decision for another five years of life”. Whether drawing inspiration from David Bowie in their paranoia-based performance of “Change Yr Mind” or Talking Heads in their nostalgic rendition “Home”, LCD Soundsystem confirmed their power over the individual through their music.
Wednesday night’s performance was an echo of life-altering memories, feelings, and experiences that not only dwelled in the past, but introduced a new beginning.
EMMA WEAVER | KXSU Music Reporter