6-12-07

On Friday in the early evening I found myself and my generous and
patient boyfriend waiting in a long line outside of Mezzanine to buy
tickets specially priced at $10.53 each and brought to you by Live
105.3 as the radio station kicked off its annual BFD summer
celebration with an opening night show featuring the band LCD Sound
System among a couple other notable acts that would be playing the
following day at the shoreline with a huge array of amazing bands from
all over the globe in one huge multiple stage music festival, a
long-standing tradition for the hippest most popular non-pirate radio
station in the bay area.
In the past, I’ve done my share of lalapalooza’s,
Coachellas, Reading Festivals and Days on the Green to know that for
me personally I cant really take much more than three bands in one
outing, it’s too much, sensory overload, the sort of thing that has
prompted me to breeze into a lalapalooza to catch Snoop Dog only, then
leave, forsake seeing Radiohead and Kraftwerk because The Pixies were
just so mindblowing, or happily walk away from the grounds while Green
Day or The Red Hot Chili Peppers capped off a day of music or had the
misfortune to follow an amazing set by PJ Harvey or the scariest
american gothic mayhem of Ministry. While the BFD line-up was fucking
incredible, i had no plans to go and was truly glad to see that Live
105 chose to present a few of the days featured acts both before and
after the event. I was especially excited about catching LCD Sound
System because I had heard such unanimously glowing reports of their
last show here about a month ago, an affair that was sold out well in
advance on the strength of the second LP Sound of Silver, a great
follow-up to the intriguing yet hard to classify debut disc by this
mysterious one man musical force whose catchy synth-heavy and
elongated dance grooves hit with a certain urgency and twice the
hardness of your average synth-based electroshock dance record. LCD
Sound System had won the praise of many people who generally shy away
from “dance music.”
Waiting in line for the tickets was a truly edifying experience on
the behavior of todays youth. My friend pointed out that most of the
young people around us seemed to have unlimited nights and weekend
minutes with their phone plans because conversations lasted the entire
duration of our wait, and we could without straining hear each and
every sordid and silly detail about subjects such as drug busts, huge
debts to dealers, new boyfriends, how far back in the line someones
friends were, how to send maps on your phone, sharing naked phone
pictures, kitty pictures, rock show pictures, graduation pictures etc.
Texting was rampant, even between people standing close enough to
just talk. How scary is that? About as scary as the emergency shower
and eye-wash station beyond the moveable chainlink gate with barbed
wire on top that everyone leaned on while waiting. What kind
neighboring business to Mezzanine requires a Silkwood style safety
station? hmmmmm. We got our tickets and went home for a nap before
showtime as we are old enough to know about Karen Silkwood.
When we returned to the club LCD Sound System were onstage and
playing to a wildly boisterous, fists in the air dancing throng of
people yelling along with the lyrics. The air was thick and damp like
a sauna and the stage was full with lots of equipment and six
musicians total. There were 2 guitarists, bassist, drummer, keyboards
and additional keyboards for one of the guitarists and lots of
additional percussion and synth-pads for the vocalist/figurehead who
really commanded the stage with a full-tilt energy level that was
maintained throughout and built upon with a fervor and lust that had
the crowd exclaiming loudly many times. You could tell that special
measures had been taken to transform this studio project into a first
rate live spectacle, like this committed artist simply wouldn’t settle
for less and the efforts clearly paid off. The excitement level on
stage alone was pure and totally infectious, hitting the crowd head on
and running, and they latched onto it solidly. They really seemed to
respond the most to the cuts from the more recent record like the
awesome “North American Scum” which was an odd juxtaposition, seeing a
thrilled crowd dancing happily and wildly to the obvious shameful
lyrical indictment, screaming along “We are north american scum.” It
was curiously anthemic and funny and I noticed for the first of many
times through their set what a great vocalist this guy is, throwing
down an exciting performance for each song and displaying an
impressive range.
Each of the songs performed seemed a lot faster and harder live which
was totally appropriate, fitting well with the heightened response of
the crowd. This was especially apparent on the song “Trials and
Tribulations” one of my favorite cuts from the first LP and a catchy
pastiche of New Order’s “Blue Monday” only played like the band
members didn’t have ice water coursing through their veins. It’s a
nice change, dropping the cold soul-lessness and punching it up with
heat and a more human flesh and blood quality. In fact I think that
was the biggest triumph of this entire show was the totally effective
transformation of two fine studio recordings into a masterful live
performance that really delivered on every technical level. I can see
why LCD Sound System has become such a big seller and popular live
attraction.
My date and I spotted between five to seven different Amy Winehouses
in the crowd that night, a few of them grabbing and climbing past or
over us in the crowd in a very tactile manner which i guess is
customary these days for young girls as they continued to do it all
night. Whats up with that? A simple “excuse me”is better than digging
your talons into our arms as you pass by. In contrast to this, I did
witness two club security workers help out a guy who had gotten a
little too high and i was totally impressed with their sensitivity and
commitment to helping him to safety. That really rocked, hat’s off
to Mezzanine’s security staff.