LCD Soundsystem @ Bowery Ballroom 3/30

The crowd at Bowery Ballroom on Friday night was a tale of two crowds. On one hand you have the music fans, the kids that go out to shows three or four nights a week and let the music consume the souls. Those kids were packing the middle of the cramped floor and ready to dance the entire evening. Then you had the people that wanted to be seen along the outer walls, in the balcony, and especially at the bars of the place. I think these are the people James Murphy wrote "New York I Love You" for.

But this isn't about the crowd, well not entirely at least, its really about the fabulousness of LCD Soundsystem. Featuring some of the most gifted musicians I have seen in a long time, and of course the leader of it all James Murphy, LCD Soundsystem positively rocked Bowery Ballroom on Friday night. The band tore through the material from the latest album, Sound of Silver and mixed in some of the best tracks off of the earlier eponymous album. From the opening notes of "Us vs. Them", through the slight set delay after the drummer broke his snare drum, and to the grand finale of "New York I Love You" LCD Soundsystem owned the place and wasn't giving it back any time soon.

The kids in the middle only added to the fun. Watching them flail about all over the place (sorry I was too tired to join in the fun that night), spontaneously hugging each other, cheering along with every word and every beat, I was reminded why music is so important to so many of us. It allows us to let go of the outside world for a few minutes at a time and lose ourselves within a delicate and beautiful piece of art. I won't say the show on Friday was my favorite ever, or the greatest, but I will say it reinforced my absolute love of music. Thanks James, thanks band members, and thank you kids in the middle cause without you guys and your passion we'd be overrun by the people standing along the walls and that is not the type of place I wanna live in!

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