EVENT: LCD SOUNDSYSTEM’S LAST SHOW (2011)
YEAR: 2011
After more than 10 years, three albums, and countless stories in which they were called “indie darlings,” LCD Soundsystem announced in 2011 that they would play one final show at MSG. Their latest album had peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard charts, so this was anything but a forced retirement. As frontman James Murphy said in the movie made about the show, Shut Up And Play the Hits, he simply didn’t want to get famous. And so 19,000 lucky fans wearing only black and white, as the band had requested, were treated to a four-hour show featuring dancing pandas, spacemen in a spaceship, a gigantic disco ball, guesting by Reggie Watts and Arcade Fire, a pantsless drummer, a massive balloon drop, and of course the hits … even though LCD Soundsystem never had any real radio success. As Murphy sang the night’s final song, “New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down,” he was signaling the end of an era for not only the band, but for MSG’s hometown.
