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“This is the last song,” said James Murphy to a packed Madison Square Garden. The crowd erupted in applause as Murphy, frontman of LCD Soundsystem, sang the final song the band would ever play together.

The previous night, Madison Square Garden was host to The Strokes’ grandiose kick-off concert for their new album, Angles. The five-piece band played an hour and a half long set to an equally full audience at the Garden.

I went to both concerts, fervently enjoyed them from start to finish, and came out of my music-filled weekend exhausted, happy, and somewhat perplexed.

The Strokes have been to the top of the music-fame mountain: within the first few months of the band’s formation in the late 90s, their take on rock n’ roll ain’t dead led to a unique sound that The Strokes, and only The Strokes, could claim. The band’s distinct music allowed them a level of esteem that no one, not even non-fans, could deem illegitimate. Then, after three albums and more than eight years of concerts and tours, the boys went on a long hiatus of family making, solo albums, drug use and sobriety, leaving everyone in the dark as to the future of the band. Angles, The Strokes’ fourth album, finally came to fruition in 2011, bringing the boys-turned-men back together (though in an unconventional way: while the rest of the band recorded the songs in guitarist Albert Hammond Jr.’s home studio, Julian recorded his vocals separately in New York City’s Electric Lady Studios). Angles is The Strokes’ weakest work to date, lacking the charm that gave Is This It and Room on Fire their ravishing allure, as well as the novel qualities and experimentation on First Impressions on Earth. Though new songs such as “Life is Simple in the Moonlight,” “Call Me Back,” and first single, “Under the Cover of Darkness,” have hints of The Strokes’ captivating power, the tracks don’t compete with the full-body experience that the likes of “Under Control,” “Hard to Explain,” or “You Only Live Once” still generate.

However, this isn’t a typical attempt at a comeback for a band that may be past its prime. The Strokes, upon announcing new work in 2010 after their long break, were immediately scheduled to headline popular music festivals around the country (they played to a passionate crowd at Lollapalooza last year and will be performing at Coachella this year, on April 18^th). They sold out the April 1st show at Madison Square Garden right after the release of the new album. The boys even inspired Beatles-like sobbing fits amongst the teenage-girls in the audience that night. In the end, the ferocity with which the band played their songs, sizzling with energy, could have floored a crowd back in the hey-days of the 2000s.

The next evening, LCD Soundsystem partook in a three and a half hour goodbye-concert, marking the end of their successful nine-year run. James Murphy, who sings and plays most of the instrumental parts on the recordings of LCD’s repertoire himself, performed live that night with the likes of Nancy Whang, Phil Mossman, Pat Mahoney, Tyler Pope, Matt Thornley, Gavin Russom, and David Scott Stone. Special guests such as Reggie Watts, Shit Robot, Juan Maclean, and Arcade Fire, also made appearances throughout the evening. Prior to the concert, Murphy requested on the LCD Soundsystem blog that all attendees wear black or white, and those that didn’t stood out in the sea of devotees. It was an epic evening: an extended dance party of hit after hit, filled with guest stars, alien space ships, afros, tuxedos, and mosh pits. The tear-filled “New York, I Love You” finale, topped off with a sea of white balloons falling from the ceiling at the song’s end, is bound to go down in music history.

LCD Soundsystem released three albums before calling it quits, in the same amount of time that The Strokes released their first three. The third LCD album, This is Happening, was received with remarkable reviews. The band’s goodbye to the musical world feels as though it has come too early.

So, you may wonder, in the grand scheme of things, what does it all mean? Why does a band choose to break up when it seems like they have a whole life ahead of them? Murphy will continue to create music, most likely under a different name, but in that case, is LCD actually dead? Will it live on in whatever comes next? And why, then, put those songs to the grave so soon? Is it the simple fact that Murphy’s sick of playing them?

As for The Strokes, how does a band that could (others say should) easily break up, still manage to send everyone back to the early 2000s with the same sense of hysteria as if Is This It just hit the charts yesterday? Does a part of every logical Strokes fan want to say, “Fuck you Strokes, for not getting your act together to produce something better!” ? That person would still most likely guarantee that they are the number one fan, and would give an arm and a leg for the sensational feeling that the opening guitar line of “Last Nite” inspires.

Bands perpetually come and go, some at good times and some at bad times. Today’s talented artists need a transfusion of the in it for life mentality of past generations. Unfortunately, LCD leaves us at a time when it was just starting to get interesting. And if bands continue to play, they need the same zest that The Strokes have kept alive to this day.

[The Strokes]
[lcd soundsystem]
[MSG]

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