GIG NUMBER ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE
Who
I had a mixed grill with a couple of pints and a McFlurry in Birmingham, although it was pretty boring by myself. I also felt a bit lost going from Broad Street to the new Academy without a map so walked the long way round via New Street to be on the safe side. I arrived slightly after 7pm and was surprised that the room was basically empty and it didn't fill up for ages, which defeated the point of my scheme a bit! Maybe The Flaming Lips and Madness were simply too popular for the venue and that's the only reason it filled up for their gigs so badly, but I'd expected LCD to attract hardcore fans who would arrive promptly! Strangely enough the Academy looked well organised and fairly nice when it was empty, with bars all around. Once you're away from the shadow of the balcony it's not too bad, yet for some reason the balcony was nearly entirely empty throughout. The room did fill up but I doubted it was a sell-out which makes me lose my faith in new music fans as Drunk Girls was catchier than just about anything else in 2010! Still, it was nice to be in a reasonable position amongst a crowd as large as the Academy can sensibly cope with. Also I didn't feel too out of place as, although most people were a few years younger than me, I remembered that Jamie Murphy is over ten years my senior! The stage was filled with tonnes of equipment, more than I thought necessary, and I suffered an over-priced and unpleasant pint of Guinness in a plastic glass which I couldn't bear to finish off, reminding me why I normally just say no!
Three guys in tuxedos then appeared and started up before a guy and a girl waltzed onstage - apparently they were Yacht and, despite being gayer than I'd had anticipated, they were pretty good, catchy and went down well. I'm sure I wasn't the only one wondering whether the girl was, how to say, entirely a woman, but the performance and songs were strong enough to distract from such trivialities. Somebody asked the frontman what his favourite colour was and he quickly responded with white, pointing out that it was all the colours together, providing a snazzy response further backed up by the fact his outfit was white anyway! However perhaps my defining memory will be when it was all over and the guys in tuxedos had to lug the equipment offstage, surely being the smartest roadies the world will ever see? And next up of course were LCD Soundsystem, who are a bit hard to review due to their choice of songs and as I'm only writing this in full a couple of weeks later now my memories are fading. I'd half-anticipated an overload of new songs but the first two albums were very well represented with all the OK songs which kind of merged into one. However I have found out the setlist which helps me out a bit. They opened with Get Innocuous! which was a hugely exciting barrage of noise and Daft Punk Is Playing At My House was an early highlight whilst Drunk Girls was possibly the standout and the moment I felt most energised. However I was a bit annoyed that some tossers chucked beer over my nice new clothes and the crowd moshed in some seemingly random places, leaving me little choice but to take a few steps backwards, hoping to save my energy for some real hits.
Listening back to some of the old songs they played they were all quite strong and the issue was with what they didn't play! Yeah closed out the main set and was a standout but it had mostly blurred into one. Jamie looked rather scruffy thanks to his t-shirt and stubble and gave a few hints that he was feeling ill but he still did the job. The rest of the band were fairly anonymous although the Japanese girl who did some backing vocals stood out. Jamie had his usual tannoy mic which was a bit distorted (I think that's the point anyway!) and kept inter-song banter to a minimum, pointing out his experience was that we couldn't understand him anyway. Also there were some pretty good lights and the sound quality was fine and Jamie seemed to be studiously conducting his band throughout, happy to leave the front to correct any noise he wasn't happy with, although he may just have been mingling with his chums? The encore started off with Someone Great, but sadly that was only the name of the song and not a hint that it was something I'd been waiting for. Losing My Edge is popular and did stand out but by now the time was getting on. I was therefore deeply annoyed when Jamie announced he'd be playing a newbie followed by an old song. I guessed that the old song would be New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down but was frustrated to think I could end up missing the train just to hear my third favourite song. But more annoyingly it was because by now it had became obvious that my two favourite hits had been omitted!
But anyway, the new song was as unnecessary as I'd expected and the tactic of touring an album before it is even out is one I strongly disapprove of. Does anyone come away loving the new songs? They're either barely played or earn bad feeling by dominating the set! New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down was the finale as predicted and is a truly lovely song, completely at odds with the rest of the LCD back catalogue. However my eye was now firmly on my watch and the second it seemed Jamie had finished the singing I quickly dashed towards the exit in the hope of catching my train, not wanting to miss it on account of some feedback-heavy ending! I was gob smacked to catch the train in plenty of time, thanks partly to its random delay, and my only problem was how damned thirsty I was. Still it was a relief to avoid paying for a taxi, especially as the quality of the show had been disappointing and I'd had resented having to pay extra just to enjoy the only song which they bothered to play that I truly wanted because they'd saved it until the very end! On the way back I drafted the review and arrived home in reasonable time, although it's always a shame when the train doesn't show the same urgency to be punctual as I do!
So anyway, it should be obvious to any LCD Soundsystem fan that their two best songs are North American Scum and Sound Of Silver. North American Scum was the tune which got me into them (although I'd heard and liked On Repeat first) and Sound Of Silver took my breath away when I first heard it. It's too sedate on record but it seems clear it would be a stormer live. It was unbelievably frustrating that LCD would play so many OK songs from their first two albums yet cream their two finest moments from the set. Their songs were just too long, repetitive and samey to hold my interest for the whole duration and the crowd really should have taken exception and started heckling once it became clear that Jamie couldn't be arsed to play the highlights. The only consolation was that I'd seen a gig setlist in NME the week before so had half-expected these unforgivable omissions which reduced my shock and disappointment. Perhaps if they can't be bothered to play their greatest songs it's for the best that LCD Soundsystem are calling it a day! For the crime of not playing these two classics (or On Repeat) I deduct a full mark from the score below. I'm glad I saw them but they could have done so much better!
Mark: 7.5/10
LCD Soundsystem
Support
Yacht
Where
Birmingham O2 Academy
When
26th April 2010
Price
£18.50
Who with
No-one
Position
In the middle
Comments
My choice of gigs has admittedly become less cutting edge over the last few years and LCD Soundsystem were the closest I got to seeing a "fashionable" band in 2010. But that's not for my lack of effort, it's simply the state of the charts and scarcity of great new bands, a situation I'm hopeful will improve again before long. I had very high hopes for this show despite only knowing On Repeat from a compilation and North American Scum from TV festival coverage so I purchased tickets swiftly plus both of their LP's. After listening to them repeatedly I was vindicated to hear that LCD were the band I'd expected: slightly too indieish for me to love but pretty good and worth seeing once. I also heard the new album on the LCD Soundsystem website but only a couple of times, although Drunk Girls quickly sunk in as a contender for their best song to date. On the day itself I was excited after having bagged tickets to see Macca again! I had fully expected his 2008 show to be a one-off but I'd enjoyed it enormously, wanted something great to look forwards to in the summer and was already heading to London that weekend anyway. I figured if I couldn't get into Wimbledon as planned at least I'd have something even better lined up to get over the disappointment! I'd also grown sick of my gig routine of dashing home from work then going out again, not trusting the trains enough or the over-crowded Birmingham Academy and wanting to chill out a bit. It was slightly awkward having to leave my bag at work overnight and not being able to freshen up or get changed but I enjoyed a pint of Erdinger in Wolves before heading on the slow train to Birmingham.
Setlist
Get Innocuous!
Us v Them
Daft Punk Is Playing At My House
Yr City's A Sucker
Pow Pow
Drunk Girls
All My Friends
I Can Change
Tribulations
Movement
Yeah
Someone Great
Losing My Edge
All I Want
New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down
