November 19, 2023

LCD Soundsystem played Brooklyn Steel (Night 3)


The now annual tradition from LCD Soundsystem felt like their biggest homecoming yet.

By now the novelty has worn off, but there's still a lot of excitement that rolls around when LCD Soundsystem announce their annual holiday shows in New York City. Expanding beyond Brooklyn for the first time, the Tri-Boro Tour, as they've dubbed it, kicked off at the band's home away from home, Brooklyn Steel, this week and after a summer on the road, you could feel the camaraderie from the band as they were able to stretch out in their home setting and let the grooves take over. No longer confined to a festival set length, the band dug deep to play the biggest and best hits from their catalogue and put on a show like only they know how to do. As usual, the band has been changing up their sets a tad each night and on Saturday, they kicked things off with "You Wanted a Hit," which slowly built to a great drop before grooving hard to the dynamic one-two punch of "Tribulations" and "Movement," two songs that really lean hard on the dance-punk aspect of their sound and hit with killer power that brought the energy of the show to a staggering height very early on in the evening. For this residency, the band brought out "One Touch" from This Is Happening and gave it its live debut and it's a great addition to the band's set, fitting in perfectly amongst so many classics. "American Dream" is still a slow burn that seems like a chance for the band and the crowd to catch their breath, but can be a bit of an energy killer half-way through the main set, but the band made up for it with a triumphant "Daft Punk is Playing at My House." By now, this song is nearly a standard for the group (although they leave it out more than they should), but on Saturday night the song exploded with serious force that transformed the show into a next level party and set the tone for where things would go for the remainder of the evening. It was loud, dazzling, and had everyone losing their minds as the infectious rhythm took over the venue. Ending the first half of the night with the classics "Someone Great" and "Losing My Edge" brought some great nostalgia back and led perfectly into "Home" as a solid way to head into intermission. Reviving "Oh Baby" has been another great addition to the set on this go around as is their cover of Harry Nillson's "Jump Into the Fire," a song they played a bunch during their initial farewell run back in 2011 and one that still comes to life with such virtuosic enthusiasm. As I've said numerous time, live music doesn't get much better than the finale of an LCD show and no matter how many times I witness it, I still get chills and a rush like no other when they begin. The trifecta of "Dance Yrself Clean," "New York, I Love You," and "All My Friends" remains as powerful as ever and stands atop the best encores of all time. Whether it's the first time or the tenth, the drop of "Dance Yrself Clean" lights a fire that cannot be replicated and the surging joy that pours out of "All My Friends" never fades. Without question, it's become one of my favorite holiday traditions and I'm hopeful they'll do it for years and years to come.

01 "You Wanted a Hit"
02 "Tribulations"
03 "Movement"
04 "One Touch"
05 "American Dream"
06 "I Can Change"
07 "Thrills"
08 "Yr City's a Sucker"
09 "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House"
10 "Tonite"
11 "Someone Great"
12 "Losing My Edge"
13 "Home"
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14 "new body rhumba"
15 "Oh Baby"
16 "Jump Into the Fire" [Harry Nilsson cover]
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17 "Dance Yrself Clean"
18 "New York, I Love You but You're Bringing Me Down"
19 "All My Friends"

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