Into Live Music: LCD Soundsystem

Venue: Glasgow Barrowland
Date: 1 July 2024

 

 

The band were in the midst of the festival circuit having only played the behemoth that is Glastonbury two days earlier. Easy enough to have some downtime before the next festival or to do a run of shows in London but no, Murphy and band followed their hearts, heading north for three consecutive nights at the Barrowland Ballroom. 

 

Now, I’ve often wondered about the Glasgow gig experience whereby a band/artist proclaims the city as the best place to play ever. But do they say the same at the Roadmender in Northampton, Nottingham Rock City or Bristol’s Beacon? Somehow, I very much doubt it. 

 

In Glasgow, the Barrowland Ballroom is the one though. As Shirley Manson once said, “At night this room is transformed into both castle and cathedral … legends are born in the Barrowland.” On Monday night, the first glimpse of the neon sign outside raised the pulse, the queue snaking round the venue brought back memories of mid ’80’s gigs, the walk up the stairs sending butterflies to the stomach and then going through the swing doors, the stars on the ceiling and the buzz, nothing like it, nothing at all. In fact, if someone could bottle up the atmosphere of this magical place and sell it in the market underneath the venue, they’d be a millionaire overnight.  

 

The music? Jeez, it’s in that same bottle somewhere, impossible to define, atoms and molecules colliding in some sort of musical/chemical reaction, fizzing, sparking, wiring, ringing, exploding, connecting. Get Innocuous! with its jarring synth, like a pulsating heart coupled with sounds akin to a helicopter in ‘Nam spraying machine gun fire far and wide. Lordy, we had taken off…

 

LCD Soundsystem are very much the archetypal NYC band, their sound could only emanate from there. Songs which pirouette, double back, loop the loop and make you want to dance yerself dizzy. Describing the stage set up as complex would be an understatement. Most of the band are multi-instrumentalists and there was a broad array of synths, keyboards, samplers, percussion, drums and stuff (yes, stuff) that lights up more often than an air traffic control desk. Nancy Whang switched from front of stage to the synths at the back depending on the tune, effortlessly cool.  

 

While the music remained central, Murphy’s vocals bound it all together and on tracks like I Can Change, provided a platform to raise it up an octave or two. There was so much to hear, so much to digest in the sounds that whirled around the room. The intro to You Wanted A Hit was like a bullet train travelling through the Atlantic Ocean at a rate of knots, Tribulations and Tonite were dance-centric leading to involuntary crowd hip gyrations while Movement provided the space for the band to blast out a white noise rocker. 

 

Each song ended like the one before, with a roar from a crowd which was as loud and raucous as any who’d celebrate a last minute winner for their team. And it was a Monday night FFS. But then again, Glasgow crowds don’t do Monday nights, they do Saturday nights, seven days a week. And that’s why bands and artists love the city, the crowds, and why our reputation is unparalleled. LCD Soundsystem knows this, the closing All My Friends the perfect finale in the best venue. Gig of the year.