From the very outset, my anticipation (and indeed, expectation) levels for LCD Soundsystem were set pretty high, after hearing breathless reports from friends who’d been lucky enough to catch the band at the SONAR Festival a couple of years ago, as well as the promise of an Australian a few years ago that eventually materialised with mainman James Murphy playing DJ sets alone at the Big Day Out around the country. But alas, tonight represented my first opportunity to check out the full five-piece band in the flesh. Sadly, automotive issues along the way meant that I arrived at the Enmore Theatre (a perfect venue for tonight’s Sydney performance, if there ever was one) slightly too late to catch local boys Dappled Cities Fly, with the main act stepping onstage at the rather early hour of 9.15pm.
Kicking off with the familiar strains of Daft Punk Is Playing At My House, the tight live unit of Murphy (vocals, percussion and electronics), Nancy Whang (synths and vocals), Pat Mahoney on drums, Al Doyle on bass and JD Mark on guitar and synths, proved over the next ninety minutes that they could manifest the lion’s share of both LCD Soundsystem albums, pretty much without a hitch, and with additional ‘rough around the edges’ live energy, to boot.
While Murphy seems less inclined to play the traditional frontman role, instead subsuming himself into the extended jamming grooves along with the rest of his band, and there was the occasional sense of a slightly road-weary band rolling out a precision-practiced set, there were thankfully no hints of the technical problems that apparently plagued the band’s Boiler Room appearance. While well-loved radio singles such as Movements and Tribulations provoked some of the biggest cheers from the eager-to-party Enmore crowd, some of the biggest delights came in the form of older tracks such as Yeah, which was extended right out into a live interpolation of Carl Craig’s classic Throw and a previously unheard cover of Joy Division’s No Love Lost (available on the split Arcade Fire/LCD release 7” which was also for sale on the night).
When Murphy finally said goodbye to a packed house and launched into the opening notes of closer New York I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down, it seemed like all those years of waiting had just been paid off in spades over the last one and a half hours. Let’s hope Australia doesn’t have to wait so long next time for a repeat performance.
