We Can Normalize

LCD Soundsystem @ Webster Hall 5/14/2007
Us V Them / Daft Punk Is Playing At My House / Time To Get Away / North American Scum / All My Friends / Get Innocuous! / Tribulations / Movement / Yeah // Someone Great / Watch The Tapes / New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down

LCD Soundsystem “Get Innocuous!” – I’ve seen a lot of good live acts since 1995, but very few of them are in the same league as LCD Soundsystem. This was certainly the best show I’ve seen the band play — from start to finish, just relentless perfection. I’m afraid that I’m still too overwhelmed to describe it in any useful, thoughtful way.

I can tell you that last night’s performances of “North American Scum” and “Yeah” immediately rank among the most completely thrilling concert experiences of my life. I was totally lost within those songs. I felt totally alive.

I can tell you that my appreciation of “Time To Get Away” and “Watch The Tapes” has skyrocketed after having seen them played live. They both seem kinda minor on the album alongside the big epics, but they shine in the context of a concert.

I can tell you that even though “All My Friends” and “Someone Great” may be two of the most sublime songs to be released in this decade, the show was so excellent that they could’ve skipped them both and it wouldn’t have mattered very much.

I can tell you that LCD Soundsystem fans, or at least the ones in the front half of the room, are total fucking maniacs and I love them for it.

I can tell you that James Murphy has become a very good singer; he’s really put in the work. He has developed this great, controlled charisma — he’s not hamming it up, but he’s definitely putting on a show. The entire group is like that too; they hit this very rare sweet spot between session-player precision and “band of friends” comradery.

I can tell you that whenever my mind wandered (which was very rare), I just kept thinking “Why can’t this be normal? Why can’t everyone bring it like this? How long will it take before people start to learn from James Murphy and his bandmates?” At first I thought Nancy Whang’s vocal hook in “Get Innocuous!” was sarcastic, but maybe it’s actually a challenge to other musicians: “We can normalize / don’t it make you feel alive?” (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Yacht “Platinum” – Yacht was the opening act, and he put on a fun, silly show that actually gained something from earning the intense disdain of some of the macho jock types in the room. My friend kinda nailed it: Yacht is like Andrew WK if he was from Portland and never heard a guitar, went to the gym, or ate meat. (I don’t know whether or not Yacht eats meat, but he totally seems like a vegan to me.) He’s all about the good vibes and encouraging self-improvement via self-belief (“if you say it out loud, you can make it happen”), and the music is mostly cute and catchy even when he’s overworking his smirk or seeming as though he’s just setting passages from The Secret to fake Timbaland beats. (Click here to buy it from Marriage Records.)