This was one of those shows that I was totally on the edge about, and looking back on it I can’t imagine why. I’d seen LCD Soundsystem twice before, so a third time seemed like a low priority in the midst of a busy October concert schedule, especially by Detroit terms (which begs the question, do more people come to Detroit now or do I just like more music?). But then I remembered how much I enjoyed the two times I saw them before, and I was still feeling a little guilt for missing out on Hot Chip at Coachella, so I decided I needed to go. Let this go down as one of the best decisions I’ve made in the last week, if not fortnight.

I’ve always been a huge periphery Hot Chip fan. I wouldn’t generally think to listen to them, but I always go nuts for them when I do remember, but I still had to imagine that their funky and unique albums would translate pretty well into a live setting. Little did I know that they would bring the beats harder than I ever imagined, all while electronically shaking me to the core, literally, all with the heaviest bass I’ve heard in a while. Bone-shaking even. I think my favorite party about their just under an hour set (not nearly long enough even though we were sweaty and worn out from the constant movement) was that they got the crowd riled up right off the bat with a version of “And I Was a Boy from School” with an unsuspecting slowed down intro, and then they kept us there the entire set. No, they didn’t pull the classic Phish move of tearing the roof off the place and following it up with a slow ballad. They just went for it. And from what I can remember, they represented every one of their albums equally. A move that far too few bands employ these days. It’s perfectly OK to play the same amount of songs from each album, even though you just released a new one this year. I only wish that they had more time to keep it going. Oh yeah, and their gratuitous use of the steel drums definitely did not lose them any points. Did not see that one coming even though it was clear as day.

In retrospect, it goes down as one of my favorite sets in a long time, based on how much I thought about wanting it to happen again throughout the day today, and based on how incredibly their music does translate into a live setting, far more than I thought was possible (maybe because I didn’t know there were 6 people in the band before?). It also made perfect sense to me why Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem are the perfect bands to tour together. I never really saw the parallels until last night, but they are pretty apparent. I kind of regret having not seen them at Coachella, but at least I am sure not to make that mistake again. And the best part was, I knew that there was still LCD Soundsystem to play.

As for the song below, I figured I’d make today an all Erol Alkan day on dailybeatz.

Hot Chip – And I Was a Boy from School (Erol Alkan Extended Rework)

After a thankfully brief intermission and some fresh air, Rachel and I gathered our bearings and made our way back up through the easily maneuverable crowd to a nice spot near the front as the lights went down for the next set to begin. As I heard, LCD opened the set with the song made to open a set, “Dance Yourself Clean”. Every show should begin with a song that starts out suspiciously subdued despite the fact that the whole crowd knows it’s about to blow up. And this one blew up 2 or 3 times. I sometimes question if I’m being obnoxious dancing while I’m taking pics, but I can’t really help it, and I don’t really understand how the others do.

I was obviously less surprised by the greatness of LCD Soundsystem as I’d seen it a few times before, but that doesn’t mean I enjoyed it any less. James Murphy is a presence, as are the rest of the who knows how many people on stage. From what I can remember, there were 7 or 8 but I might be wrong. LCD could have also fallen into the trap of disproportionate representation of their albums but they stayed strong as well. Their light show is also something to talk about, although I question why there was only one laser beam that only showed up in one song. Their now trademark giant disco ball (“That’s the biggest one I’ve ever seen!”) made a few appearances as well, and it’s funny that no matter how many times you’ve seen a giant disco ball illuminate a huge theater, it never really gets old.

I’ll let you take a look at the setlist (which I’m not sure changes much, but it doesn’t really have to, it’s all good). While one of the more downbeat tunes, my highlight was perhaps “Someone Great” since I hadn’t heard it yet when I saw them before and I think it’s musically one of the most interesting songs they’ve got, but it was all a homerun, slam dunk, wham bam thank you ma’am. And to think I almost didn’t even go.

Also, I might have taken a lot of pictures of Nancy.

LCD Soundsystem – Drunk Girls (Holy Ghost! Remix)