april 2, 2011: death of my youth, officially.
we were there, we were THERE. madison square garden, new york city, new york, and we were there. i’m still in a small state of shock over the fact that we got tickets, we got on a plane and made it all the way to new york, to the concert, that it happened (this is happening? this happened!)
lcd soundsystem ended their amazingly spectacularly fantastically phenomenal run on saturday, in new york, and we were there. i cannot even really process this fact, i keep pinching myself as if to make sure this is real — this is happening — we were there and i am not dreaming.
and this is like, a HUGE part of my life…in fact, now that it’s really hitting me, i am realizing this is just the biggest thing, this overwhelmingly huge thing, and a whole era of my life, a whole era of music, it’s just…ending.
this morning, driving into work, i listened to as much of 45:33 as the drive would take…and god damn it, if i didn’t get choked up all over again.
february 2005: lcd soundsystem came out with their self-titled double disc album, my life was craziness. school was a bust, things at home were tenuous, i was on the tail end (FINALLY) of the world’s worst breakup (2005 officially marking the end of my ex being able to contact me at all), and i was in the midst of just the most insane crush on a boy ever. also, my lola bear was born in february, so clearly it’s an awesome month.
and then i got the album. between scooter and me, i think that both discs played nonstop in our tiny little apartment on cambridge street. there was never a moment when it wasn’t appropriate to be blasting “daft punk is playing at my house” or “disco infiltrator” (a favorite of mine).
june 9th, 2005: first ever lcd soundsystem show. i went with scooter, we were at what was then the avalon, i think. my mind was BLOWN. m.i.a. opened (and that sucked) but it was pounding, crushing, intoxicating rock. so much fun, it was exciting and new and considering everything else going on in my life around then, exactly what i needed.
november 20th, 2005: did i mention i had the worst crush on a boy in 2005? because, i did. oh god, embarrassingly bad. but you see, he liked the band i liked. either i gave him the cd, or made him listen and he liked it and bought the cd (i think it was the latter), but oh my god he liked the band that i liked and clearly we had more in common so YAY! and thus, he came to the concert with scooter and me. nothing is better than sharing music with people, experiencing it live together. i reconstructed my concert tshirt into something awesome (even more awesome). i couldn’t believe how amazing the show was.
in 2007, there was sound of silver. i remember playing HOURS AND HOURS AND HOURS of lumines on the boy’s xbox to this album. it was everything and all things and so good. god, so good. we saw them AGAIN live in may, it was epic, it was delicious, it was so oppressively hot and sweltering (a theme with our lcd concerts, apparently) and just AWESOME.
i think 2007 is when i moved into my own, “official”, All By Myself apartment (later, the boy stealth moved in) and lcd soundsystem was the soundtrack of the time, for sure. you are never as tired as when you’re waking up alone with sound of silver blaring in the background. hard to decide which album i liked better, though. both were in heavy rotation by this point. we saw them again in may. it was epic. “daft punk is playing at my house” and “all my friends” were incredible, they were transcendant.
2010: this is happening. new album, it is better than i expected, better than i imagined? it is so concise and powerful. i can’t stop listening to “you wanted a hit,” the song pounds through my brain and keeps me going through the insanity i’m dealing with at my (then) crazy, suckass job. when we see them in september, it is (again, SWELTERING) unbelievable. there is no way you can listen to this band live and not dance your brains out. i was super excited for this show even more so because sleigh bells was opening and i had just fallen in love with them this year.
the show was so spectacular, i don’t even know (at the time) how it could ever be topped. it was amazing and we came out of the orpheum soaking with sweat, ears ringing and wobbly from rocking out. it was perfect. everything was perfect. also, hilarious how even james murphy was like “what the fuck? it is so fucking hot here.” i wonder though, if they would have played longer if the venue had any fucking circulation?
2011: james murphy announces the final show, FINAL. the end of lcd soundsystem. i think i go through all 5 stages of grief in a matter of minutes. disbelief, i’m still there, though. i cannot believe that this is ending. is this happening?! it does not seem fair. and then, OH GOD WHEN DO TICKETS GO ON SALE I WILL DO ANYTHINGEVERYTHINGANYTHING TO GET THEM! tickets go on sale, there is a debacle, somehow, we get them.
we get them
we
get
them
HOLY SHIT, WE GET THEM!
LCDMSGNYC
we’re in new york. i have only been here a handful of times and less than half of those trips have been enjoyable. but i’ve never been with the boy. it’s exciting, it’s unreal. i cannot believe we are here. we are here. this IS happening and we are here!
new york is sunshine and barbecue and cupcakes and the most comfortable mattress ever (shhh, don’t tell my bed) and exciting and crazy cat dude forever and dressing up fancy in our black & whites and running amok and balloons and oh my god is this really it? is this really happening?
all i have are crappy cellphone pictures (i should have brought my damn good camera, but was so unsure and didn’t want anything to jeopardize the fact that WE WERE THERE) but i don’t even care, it’s fucking spectacular. it was spectacular.
when it turned into 45:33, i wanted it to never end. i never in my wildest dreams imagined it would be so amazing. reggie watts is a fucking beast, and i think i’m in love.
right around the time it got to “home“, with everyone’s airplane cloud footage…i started getting a bit choked up. oh god, and when james murphy teared up during “losing my edge” oh god… it was all REAL. happening. oh god. but there was also a really fucking badass snippet of daft punk that just revved up ALL the energy, it was insane. seriously, over 3 hours into it and i couldn’t stop dancing. i kept waiting for those balloons to drop, though. wondering if it would happen during “losing my edge”, it was so intense.
and then, at the very end, “new york i love you, but you’re bringing me down“… part of me was hoping it wouldn’t end with this song, because it seems like such a downer. but in a way, it was fucking perfect. IT WAS PERFECT. those opening bars, though…and the pauses (the last, final pauses) totally got to me. it was the best and the worst, because oh god how can this be ending? i don’t even know what life without lcd soundsystem is going to be like. without a show to go to, without new albums? it seems like i won’t even know what to do with myself.
how can this be happening? i was sad, i was elated, i was wiped the fuck out. i cried, for like half a minute, and then?
balloon drop…death from above! WHAM!
there will never be a more perfect show than this…
Set 1:
2:10 Dance Yrself Clean (with “I’m Not In Love” by 10cc intro)
12:40 Drunk Girls
17:09 I Can Change
23:45 Time To Get Away
28:16 Get Innocuous!
35:18 Daft Punk Is Playing At My House
41:45 Too Much Love
46:53 All My Friends
55:30 Tired (with “Heart of the Sunrise” by Yes snippet)
—
Set 2:
45:33 Part One
45:33 Part Two (w/ Reggie Watts)
Sound of Silver
45:33 Part Four
45:33 Part Five (w/ Shit Robot)
45:33 Part Six
Freak Out/Starry Eyes
—
Set 3:
1:54:39 Us v Them
2:04:00 North American Scum (with Arcade Fire)
2:11:45 Bye Bye Bayou (Alan Vega cover)
2:16:30 You Wanted A Hit
2:24:07 Tribulations
2:29:15 Movement
2:33:48 Yeah (Crass Version)
—
Set 4:
2:45:30 Someone Great
2:53:06 Losing My Edge (With “Da Funk” by Daft Punk snippet)
3:03:36 Home
—
Set 5:
3:15:53 All I Want
3:22:18 Jump Into the Fire (Harry Nilsson Cover)
3:30:30 New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down (with “Twin Peaks Theme” by Angelo Badalamenti intro)
i rocked out, i danced until i couldn’t feel my legs, i got super emotional, i was a complete and absolute wreck after it ended…
it was perfect.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgoooO-3MPQ&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
try not to just weep with how fucking awesome everything is. how perfect. then dash yourself into a thousand pieces because it’s all OVER.
everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt…