LCD Soundsystem – Palladium Ballroom – 6/9/10

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Wow is all I can say. Once again James Murphy and crew melted my face clean off with the greatness of the LCD Soundsystem live show. I had previously caught LCD in their afternoon slot on Friday at ACL in 2007, and was pretty much blown away by taking the great material on the album and somehow making it more frenzied and more intense than you thought possible. Well, once again, the band brought the house down at the Palladium with probably the best show I’ve seen here in town in quite a while. There was dancing, there was a lot of moving, and you couldn’t help but love every minute of it. LCD remains as one of the best live bands out there and it was on full display.

Before I get into the melting of faces at the hands of LCD, let’s get into the opener. I had previously featured Holy Ghost!’s Static On The Wire EP here on Mix Tape Monday and really dug its smooth, cool synth disco sounds. They turned in a fantastic set to start the evening here. They hit all of the songs on the EP as well as a bunch of new/other tracks that were all exceptional as well. Despite the crowd being pretty apathetic towards them initially, the band quickly won them over and I think they had some super fans by the end of their set. They had a great high energy synth disco sound that slowly but surely got people moving. Nancy Whang from LCD played with them through their whole set and the bass player from LCD filled in on a few songs as well, which was a cool treat. Great energy from these guys, they get really into it and get you into it, and can’t wait to see more from them going forward. I understand they are working on a new record for the end of 2010/beginning of 2011. They will additionally be back here in Dallas opening for Chromeo in August, which promises to be a great show as well.

Once Holy Ghost! had warmed up the crowd, James Murphy and his LCD crew came to the stage with a slow build of “Us v Them” into a total frenzy. The band is currently operating on all cylinders and I think they might be the tighest sounding band out there today. Everything was executed perfectly, the beats and the fills all were insanely well crafted together as this runaway locomotive of dance beats behind James Murphy’s always entertaining stage presence. The music was as top notch as it gets and Murphy delivered with his performance as always. Once “Get Innocuous!” started to get cranking as the third song it was really clear that we were all in for some incredible stuff this night.

The setlist was very, very balanced between all three records, with the newest record maybe even getting the least attention. I was really surprised to not get “Dance Yrself Clean” in the set. I believe the setlist was pretty much the same as the ones I have seen posted elsewhere on this tour, with the first album getting a ton of love with absolutely incendiary renditions of “Daft Punk Is Playing At My House”, “Yr City’s a Sucker” and a barn-burning “Tribulations”. The aforementioned “Us v Them” and “Get Innocuous” as well as a superb “All My Friends” were all bringing the house down moments in a night filled with pure indie rock stardom bliss for one of the top frontmen out there. These guys were on top of it from note one. The new songs played were also incredibly strong, with a pumped up “Drunk Girls” and an excellent “Pow Pow”.

The encore was stellar with an amazing version of “Someone Great”, sounding like a timeless new wave classic, leading into a passionate version of Murphy’s ultimate self-referential hipster diatribe “Losing My Edge”. The house was brought down finally with a heartfelt, weighty “New York, I Love You” with a little Jay-Z/Alicia Keys “Empire State Of Mind” homage at the end of it.

I’m not sure there is a band that is as on top of their game and in as much mastery of their show and their material as LCD is right now. They have 3 stellar albums of material that they have picked what are really our era’s dance-punk classics. And while the music has such great power and force in the precision and cohesion of the band blazing through these tight dance tracks, it isn’t overly hard or tough or rigid, the levity of James Murphy and his great presence on stage make the whole show something that is a complete blast to be a part of. I know the rumors are out there that LCD is done after this last record, and that is a shame if true, but seeing them put together such incredible live shows really shows how strong this band is and what will certainly be a lasting mark on our indie world by these guys. These songs like “Daft Punk”, “Tribulations”, “Someone Great”, “Get Innocuous!” and “New York, I Love You” are just such incredible songs and are done so well live, that it is a great treat to hear what are pretty much instant classics being torn through by a band in the best way possible with the best attitude possible. It is all about fun and having a good time with these guys, and they make sure that they get everyone there quickly. Needless to say, if you have a chance to jump on it and see them before this tour is up, do it. I’m not sure I could really recommend many shows more than I could an LCD show, so get on it and enjoy them while you can.

Ed. note: I took this setlist from the BrooklynVegan post on their shows in NYC, because I believe that it is exactly the same, but please correct in the comments if there is a change I can’t remember from the show (it is at least 95% accurate).

LCD Soundsystem – Palladium Ballroom Setlist:
Us v Them
Drunk Girls
Get Innocuous
Yr City’s A Sucker
Pow Pow
Daft Punk is Playing at My House
All I Want
All My Friends
I Can Change
Tribulations
Movement
Yeah

Encore:
Someone Great
Losing My Edge
New York, I Love You But Your Bringing Me Down (w/ Empire State of Mind)

LCD Soundsystem – Pow Pow – From This Is Happening (Amazon, iTunes)
Holy Ghost! – Say My Name – From Static On The Wire EP (Amazon, iTunes)