LCD Soundsystem
Main Stage
★★★★★
It’s rare to get this emotional about kit. But you’d have needed a heart of purest disconium not to watch James Murphy break down in a lock-up garage when LCD Soundsystem’s massed instruments were “retired”. Cluttering the mainstage, it’s a pleasure to see them again. The band too. And they’re happy to be back “for the four millionth time”, already advertising their return next year.
![James Murphy all in white on the main stage](https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/CGAGJ46AO4OBHEKJN6YYDZZHBQ.jpg?auth=a3a25504c8f61da7c20c8f65db50b1fa590e73d7bf35a11906fe7a421518fd58&width=800&height=467)
It’s tempting to consider them the great festival unifiers – dance for the rock kids, rock for the dance kids – but a five-year absence is a long stretch in the average kid’s lifetime. This feels more like a comeback tour for the negative equity generation. A discoball just slightly larger than a wrecking ball would dominate the stage if the musicianship wasn’t so divine. Murphy, besuited in virginal white, doesn’t just shut up and play the hits; he embellishes lyrics hilariously, pummels through agogo bell solos, and seems, somehow, finally, close to happiness. They play it all. They play it perfectly.
In Three Words:
All My Friends