This past Sunday American rock band LCD Soundsystem began a four day residency at the Roadrunner in Boston, a new concert venue located in Allston. One of my close friends has been a big fan of this band since I met him and therefore I knew and liked a few songs already, so when he asked me if I would go to the first night of the residency on April 3rd—I agreed.
For some context, LCD Soundsystem was formed in Brooklyn, New York in 2002 by James Murphy and expanded to about eight full-time members. In 2011, the band held their farewell concert at Madison Square Garden with a plan to break up permanently. Attendees were required to dress formally and the show lasted 4 hours. Five years after this final concert, LCD Soundsystem got back together and headlined Coachella music festival in 2016. Since then they have released another album in 2017 and have just finished a 20 day residency in New York City and a 4 day residency in Philadelphia.
The Roadrunner website was clear about doors at 7pm, music at 8pm no opener and in order to check out the venue and get a decent view of the stage, we showed up around 7:30pm, bought overpriced drinks, and then moved towards the stage to stake claim to a spot. My friend predicted music actually starting at 8:15 but what we did not expect was having to listen to lyricless house music played loudly over the speakers for about two hours until the band actually came out on stage.
However, it was fully worth it. The stage had a large disco ball at the top, which allowed for ridiculously impressive lighting effects, as multiple synthesizers and a large drum set. Even the songs I hadn’t heard or felt familiar with were fun and upbeat, with the synthesizers allowing for a large range of sounds and effects to accompany their music. The crowd consisted of the largest age range I’ve ever seen, from older grandparents to millennials to college students and everything in between and everyone was dancing. I left that evening planning on listening to more of their discography and despite being new to the group, the show was so fun and the band knew how to entertain a crowd. Not to mention, band member Nancy Whang is probably the most talented woman on earth and I would recommend seeing them live if given the chance simply just to watch her play her synth.