The Boys From School and Someone Great

Hot Chip & LCD Soundsystem
Alexandra Palace
10/11/10

I went to this gig the night after seeing Marina & The Diamonds at the HMV Forum and, no bones about it, I was way more excited about this one. The thought of this gig had me foaming at the mouth in a Pitchfork Media like manner. Two of the most inventive, progressive, quirky and clever acts from the past ten years who have both released stunning albums this year, topping off incredible back catalogues. I was psyched.

The gig was at the MASSIVE Alexandra Palace, which I had never been to before. My older brother gave me a couple of warnings about the place. 1) As I live in Surrey and Ally Pally is in Tottenham it would be a TREK, and getting home would be a mission. 2) The place is like an airplane hanger- so get to the front.

Alexandra Palace Interior

My two companions and I got going just after four, got to Wood Green tube station, got hopelessly lost walking up to the venue, but thankfully arrived and virtually no one was there. Slap bang at the front. The only way at any gig as far as I'm concerned. Despite being accosted by a rather drank and exceptionally camp American called Tony (who apparently works for Wedding TV...) my excitement was building and building and building parallel to the increasing amount of audience members arriving.

The lights went down, the crowd cheered, screamed, whistled, and in such a massive venue, the effect was fantastic. When Hot Chip wandered out, I was not let down! Lead singer Alexis Taylor was clad in characteristically strange attire- what appeared to be hugely baggy blue and white stripy pyjamas, with curly hair held back with hair band. And his massive specs of course. He looked like the indiest teddy bear around.



They opened with huge classic "And I Was A Boy From School", which was a great move. It really reinforced that these guys have some stunning songs which their fans just love and adore as hits. They followed with "One Pure Thought" which went down MASSIVELY WELL and the front was a sea of dancing, flailing, jumping, whatever you can think. "Thieves in the Night" inspired a great singalong (well, from me at least...) "Over and Over" was everything I wanted it to be. The intro was reworked and made noisier and pretty intense, and the whole venue was leaping, thrashing, sweating in unison. "Alleys Cats" was beautiful and I was so glad they played it as it's one of my favourites from the new album, and just demonstrated that these guys can take electronic music from one extreme of thrashing and leaping to to other of spaced out melodic reflection. The set was heavy on material from the new album, but that's ok because One Life Stand is brilliant and the fans clearly love it as much as anything else the band have done. Having said that, they closed with biggest hit "Ready for the Floor". Alexis Taylor launched into an absurd leg kicking dance, but couldn't beat his band mate Owen Clarke who whipped out some of the funniest dad dancing I have ever seen in my entire life.

One thing I loved so much about this set is that, whilst I love Hot Chip more and more as I listen to them, the tendency in their music to shift texture mid song, have things like intros totally detached from the rest of the song etc. have sometimes been hard for me to reconcile with their music as a whole. But when I experienced it all in a live setting, I just got it. It all came together and I was caught up in everything about the music and their albums have been in heavy rotation since Wednesday! Oh and Alexis Taylor told me that he loved me!



After leaving the stage to rapturous applause, the wait for LCD Soundsystem began. My friends, myself and a couple of girls in the audience we befriended had been chatting about who we thought more people had come to see- Hot Chip or LCD. That question began to be answered as more people tried to push their way to the front in the gap between the two bands. It was answered a little more when LCD Soundsystem started playing. The applause and rapture when James Murphy non-chalantly swaggered on stage was phenomenal. Adoration was POURING off of the audience onto the stage. But the question was REALLY answered when the distinctive drums of opener "Dance Yrself Clean" began, accompanied by lone keyboard throbs which were layered with bright flashes from a wall of strobes. The slow build in the song was a feeling I could never even hope to replicate, the aura James Murphy had around him just unbelievable. Then when the song kicked up several gears and and the whole band stormed in, the front went MENTAL. It's definitely the craziest I've ever seen the front of an audience during the first song of a gig. There was no question about it. This was LCD's night.



"Dance Yrself Clean" gave way quickly to "Drunk Girls" which was just unbelievable. The whole front section knew every word and yelled the chorus back at James Murphy in one euphoric, heaving mass of bodies. "I Can Change" inspired a huge singalong, gave us a rest, before smashing into "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House"- probably my highlight of the show. The energy- band and crowd- was unbelievable. James Murphy just howled, totally lost in it, moving around stage, smashing the drum kit along with epically good drummer Pat Mahoney. "All My Friends" drew out an unashamedly overwhelmed response from me. I bloody love that song. First LCD song I heard, and hearing that intro just took me to another place and, once again, the crowed poured their adoration and the lyrics back onto the stage, engulfing James Murphy. And I finally learned that the piano part is played live, not looped. MAJOR kudos to the beyboard plater. At the end of the main set, "Yeah" was drawn out for a good 15 minutes and was joyful, sweaty anarchy. It got ridiculous, but neither me nor anyone else at the front cared. There was one girl in front of me though who literally moved hardly a single muscle during the WHOLE gig. I may have used "Yeah" as a chance to take a couple of digs at the back of her legs...

The band disappeared briefly and returned to launch into "Someone Great"- a necessity at LCD concerts, and the crowd rose and rose with every word. They closed with "Home" and part of me really wanted them to finish with "New York, I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down", but there was NOTHING to complain about. I was able to stay for the release of a ride of white balloons and had to cut the last song short by a minute or two to get home, but this set was phenomenal. The set was heavily weighted between the first and third albums, eschewing some of the most popular songs from (arguably most popular album) Sound of Silver, but it was so clear that this band have a fan base who love every inch of what they create, so whatever they played was reverently, euphorically received. Just sensational. One of my friends had this as his first gig. Oh how I envy that privilege! After a few days tired reflection (got home at 2am after a route involving McDonald's, a drunk auntie and a replacement bus service...) I've decided it hasn't usurped Blur's Hyde Park reunion gig as my best gig ever, but it came so, so, so SO close. There was definitely the same sense of true, proper love between the band and their audience- an audience who adore their music and really take it into their hearts and lives. Oh gosh it was amazing.

James Murphy has said he's shutting LCD Soundsystem down after this album has run its course. Oh please James. Don't leave us.