I arrived at the venue as Blonde Redhead was playing, but I never got close enough to warrant a comment (though I know they are great live from past shows). Now, I did make my way up towards the stage as LCD Soundsystem was getting ready to play. James Murphy and the band were excellent! Their set was full of energy and was fun all around. Each song carried a bright, bouncy dance beat with Murphy leading the band and crowd through the festivities. Everyone around me seemed to be loving the music as much as I was. James Murhphy was witty, and as a matter of fact, various members of the Arcade Fire came on stage to play different instruments or sing back up vocals (you'll easily be able to find pictures of this), so we were all very happy with the sounds coming from the stage. The set seemed too short in fact, even with the extended jams.
LCD Soundsystem's set list courtesy of Music Snobbery (read their great review):
- Get Innocuous
- Us vs. Them
- Time to Get Away
- North American Scum
- All My Friends
- Tribulations
- Movement
- Someone Great
- Yeah
- New York I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down
Though this was my fifth Arcade Fire show of the year, and it never could top the Judson Church shows, the band were great once again. From the outset, Black Mirror sounded fresh and powerful. Each member of the band did their thing playing with abandon while keeping the energy level high. Win told the us that it was his brother Will's birthday today and that this show was the last time they would play in New York for a few years (though I agree with most bloggers that this means that they will rest, record a new album, and be back within the next two years). I thought each song sounded excellent. I was especially pleased with their decision to add "Cold Wind", "I'm Sleeping in a Submarine," and "Headlights Look like Diamonds" to the set list. I had not heard the latter two
live since 2004, and I do not believe that they play "Cold Wind" much. What a great song! The second half of the set was full of Funeral songs and you could tell that most people in the crowd prefer those songs over most of the tracks off Neon Bible. I thought all the songs sounded great, but it was fun singing along to the Funeral anthems. During "Rebellion (Lies)", I believe, birthday boy, Win climbed up the scaffolding on stage right and banged his drum as he made his ascent. His antics increased the energy being emitted from the crowd, and it just looked crazy from my vantage point. I thought the encore was too short, but as I just stated, being a part of such a large crowd singing along to "Wake Up" was just perfect. Now, I thought it was strange that the band ended with 10 minutes to spare, but with the lights coming up and the stage music coming on I turned and made my way back to my car. I knew I should have trusted my instincts about this band. The way it ended didn't seem right considering the others shows I had been to. As with the most of us, I found out about the "second encore" by reading the blogs the next day. Damn, that would have been fun to be there for the "private" encore. Lesson learned. Next time look and listen more carefully.Set list from Brooklyn Vegan:
1. Black Mirror
2. Keep the car running
3. Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
4. No Cars Go
5. Haiti
6. I'm Sleeping in a Submarine
7. My Body is a Cage
8. Cold Wind
9. Intervention
10. Antichrist Television Blues
11. The Well and the Lighthouse
12. Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
13. Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
14. Rebellion (Lies)
Encore:
15. Headlights Look like Diamonds
16. Wake Up
Encore 2:
17. Kiss Off (Violent Femmes Cover)
As Brooklyn Vegan put it, "Yeah, I missed this too..."
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