Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Year of Shows...

The saga continues... and this wasn't even a definite. My co-worker went on this "National Treasure" like journey to secure his ticket to this "free" show LCD Soundstyem was putting on at the Sillimore last Wednesday (June 6, 2007). Why was it free? Click Read More to find that out and to see some blurry pictures.

Well, I do believe that Myspace has this new thang called "The List" and they decided to buy up all the tickets, place a large crane camera to the right of the stage, a large tv camera to the left, and probably a few more here and there. They also plunked down a rather large trakka-trailer out in the middle of South Street. As I waited patiently outside the venue for my free ticket to arrive (via The Shadow) a roadie, a priest and a horse offered me tickets. An expensive Irish car bomb (would it be wrong to start calling those IED's?) and a frisk or two later, we were secured in the rather packed house in the left hand bar.

I like the lead singer, James Murphy... I really do. For a picture of him that isn't blurry, click here. He's got great stage presence and he wields a wicked looking microphone. At one point he joined the drummer (aka human drum machine) and then screamed alot. He kept introducing his band which makes me think he just brought them along for the tour and does most of the work on the albums himself. There's a female asian keyboardist/back up vocal who really annoyed me. It had little to do with the fact that she was Asian and more to do with the fact that she couldn't sing very well.

Note to LCD... next time you're in Philadelphia, try not to sing a song the expresses your love for New York. I'm sure you know what happens now and you must have heard that small patch of ruffians. What did they do you ask...? Well, everytime the word New York was uttered, a wave of boos rained down on the band. There might have even been an E-A-G-L-E-S chant in there for good measure (Joe). Upon further inspection, one of the culprits was wearing a Manu Ginobli jersey, which pretty much makes him a racist.

So we left the show with an empty bladder and a free myspace hankerchief (thanks Tom). I don't know that I love LCD Soundsystem but they were enjoyable. Perhaps bearable is another word. I find that any normal human being can only listen to the word "yeah" being sung so many times before going deaf.

1 comment:

fuckthedisplayname said...

hmm, martin martin martin, where to even begin.

a) there was no treasure hunt to get my tix. got em like everyone else, by signing up on "the list" and then boom, they sent me info on how to get the tix and my roomie picked em up for me when he was getting his.

b) im not sure what your "review" is attending to accomplish. you basically talked about the scene, inside and outside the show. so, for all the scenesters, this was probably very helpful, because ya know, they go to events to be part of the scene you beautifully articulated for all of us.

c) james murphy is the man

d) his drummer is outstanding. anyone that can play live drum machine sounding drums on a real drum kit with the style and class he has is amazing, and to do for an hour and a half straight is also pretty hard. im pretty sure james murphy kept introducing him, as well as the rest of his band because the show was a live production of what will later become a video, so, he was probably instructed to introduce the band so they have a good clip of everyone’s introduction, makes sense, right?

e) he wasn't introducing the band because they're just a touring back-up band, and so what if they were? beck has a back-up band he tours with. sufjan stevens has a back-up band that he tours with. ray charles had a back-up band, stevie wonder, even your homeboy ZAC from beirut has a back-up band, hes even said himself that he records everything in the studio alone. so are you going to hate on beirut now cause zac does everything on his own and then hires friends to back him up? LCD soundsystem is a band, not an artist called james murphy and the band. regardless, sometimes when you're amazing and can write full songs that sound like a band, you need a back-up band.

f) you cant knock james for playing percussion like a motherfucker. Some of the songs call for percussion because they’re written that way, and yeah, he does say yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah a whole lot, and I love it! The same way I enjoy thom yorke singing “the rain drops” 52 times in a row in his song “Sit down, Stand up”. I also like it when bruce sings “born in the USA 7000 times in a row

g) myspace and google along with youtube are taking over the world, may as well give in now and enjoy free shows

h) drinks at shows are always expensive, especially cocktails that require beer and liquor….

i) leave the bar and dance for god sake, you were in the presence of james Murphy and some of the best dance rock around today… you can always buy an overpriced IED anywhere

j) j is for james Murphy

h) have fun

k) killer. The show was killer. Yeah the asian girl cant sing well.

l) sing about new York city, sing about London, sing about any city, its all about expression, and if some eagles fans want to talk about how Philadelphia fans are loud obnoxious and loyal to there pretty bad team with a dead end quarter back, tell em the patriots are fucking a dynasty!