After releasing some of best dance music of the past decade, LCD Soundsystem played their final concert last night at Madison Square Garden - but I was there. The highly anticipated sold-out show lasted over three hours and included two encores.
The set began with the softly marching conga drums of "Dance Yourself Clean," which build up for a few minutes before erupting into an assault of synth notes. The appropriately named song is the opener and most cathartic on LCD Soundsystem's latest album, This Is Happening, which frontman James Murphy announced would be his last creation as the the popular Brooklyn-based group after he turned 40 in 2010. Madison Square Garden exploded with hundreds of glow sticks flying in all directions and the crowd of over 14,000 fans pulsating - dancing themselves clean.
Murphy has been known to sing about his eclectic love of music, most famously on his breakout single, "Losing My Edge", and LCD Soundsystem shares inspiration with influences that range from 1970s punk rock to Euro-pop, while sometimes blatantly borrowing from icons like Daft Punk and David Bowie. The result is a sound that is highly accessible while evading membership to a single genre.
Grammy winners, Arcade Fire, hit the stage during the show to provide back up screaming, singing, and choreographed snapping and clapping to "North American Scum." The lead singer, Win Bulter, giddily grinned throughout the whole song.
The last encore ended with the expected "New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down" but the energy of the song didn't feel sad. The whole show just felt like a kick-ass bon voyage party with thousands of close friends who wanted to celebrate what a wild ride it was.
The crowd sang every lyric to every song in unison along with Murphy, as an enormous disco ball spun above the stage with squares of light that swirled around the packed circular venue. It was the perfect visual for the energy of love emitted by the band, circling back and returning to them from the ecstatic crowd.
