I often marvel at performers' ability to put forth energetic performances on an almost nightly basis while simultaneously skipping about the country, or often the world. That sense of wonder is heightened when an artist puts forth music that is intricately layered, both on a musical and an emotional level.
LCD Soundsystem is such a band, and Saturday night, the patrons of Charlottesville Pavilion were treated to a performance with near-universal appeal and endless depth. Interestingly, LCD Soundsystem does not function as a normal band. James Murphy produces and records LCD Soundsystem albums on his own but because of the complex musical layering in the songs Murphy performs with the same six musicians for LCD Soundsystem concerts. The formula has worked well for him, and each of LCD Soundsystem's three albums has enjoyed critical and some commercial success.
These six performers came together around the mastermind James Murphy to create the plethora of sounds that comprise their songs. As staggeringly complex as music from a seven-piece band can be, almost every song is built on a highly catchy beat. This facet of LCD's music was not lost on the crowd Saturday night, and seemingly each member of the audience danced until his head spun as fast as the lights that played off the oversized disco ball above the stage.
The setlist encouraged said behavior, deftly skipping between tracks from each of Murphy's three studio albums. A few songs were played with no break between them, but most demanded a short break. After all, just six songs from the band's 33-song studio album catalogues are less than four minutes in length. The songs are gracefully and engrossingly piled high with layers of instrumentation and synth work until they reach a natural crescendo and break down as smoothly as spilled water spreads on a table.
The audience soaked it all up as Murphy crooned into a vintage-styled microphone and the other band members channeled the emotions of the music. On "All My Friends," Murphy sings about living life without regrets - to simplify a staggeringly beautiful song - and proposes that perhaps only one question really matters: "Where are your friends tonight?"
Those lyrics, like much of the band's work, invite the listener to wallow in the moments when they feel most alive. Any member of Saturday night's audience would have been hard-pressed not to feel wonderfully lost and alive in listening to LCD Soundsystem's performance. Judging by the copious amounts of crowd surfing and chants demanding a fourth encore song after the band had finally concluded a lengthy set, the rest of the audience was just as enraptured by the performance.
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