Live review : LCD Soundsystem @ Manchester Apollo (06/06/2018)
9th June 2018
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There really isn’t a star rating that can fully encapsulate the whirlwind of emotions felt by the crowd in Manchester on Wednesday. But, we’ll give the last stop on LCD Soundsystem’s run of sold out UK dates a solid five of them.
Striding onstage to a graciously mixed run of beats, curtesy of loyal support act Shit Robot, James Murphy embraces his old friend as the band slowly take their places under the mammoth scale mirror ball. It’s a humbling start to what would inevitably be anything but a casual Wednesday evening in Manchester.
A hollowing drum beat carves out the band’s opener, ‘You wanted a hit’; a track so perfectly tongue in cheek, as Murphy chimes “we don’t do hits”, as the set unravels into a chain of undeniable, hits.
The first of the sequence being ‘Tribulations’, taken from their eponymous debut. Soaring electronic beats help to loosen off the sold-out audience’s hump day blues. Murphy takes the time to apologise for the distance between the eight-piece band and the crowd, remarking that the moment is not lost because “emotionally, we’re close”.
The band are introduced one by one, with vocalist Nancy Whang garnering the biggest cheers from fans, which leads into a sample of Kraftwerk’s Radiative before ‘I Can Change’ rides in. Momentum builds for synth-heavy ‘Get innocuous!’. As the track progresses, Nancy’s steadfast chants of “don’t it make you feel alive” works wonders on those in the balcony, telekinetically commanding them to come out of their seats. There is a pure sense of awe from the crowd, as the song comes to a close with a minute of explosive production. This is followed by ‘Yr City’s a Sucker’, which had its humble beginnings as a B-side back in 2005 yet has evolved into Murphy’s favourite song to play live.
The set takes a step back from the electronic sounds that LCD Soundsystem are best known for. As guitar fuelled ‘Movement’ heralds back to the early days of the electro-rock outfit, the crowd welcome this throwback track with open arms and bodies stepped into motion.

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