Primavera Review: LCD Soundsystem

Tickets for the gig were released at 5 o’clock last Wednesday, and obtaining one involved a lot of page refreshing, stress and excitement. Another 100 were up for grabs yesterday at Parc del Fòrum, which involved being in the right place at the right time. For those lucky enough to bag a free ticket for this gig at BARTS, they got to witness LCD soundsystem at their finest. There was everything from funk, electro, disco balls and of course, an impressive light show.

On arrival, many of the crowd expected a bit of standing around, but were pleasantly surprised to be met by homegrown, Barcelona born DJ, John Talabot, a regular on the scene in the Catalan capital. The punters were swaying to his shadowy sounds before they had even got to the cloakroom.

There was a bit of a wait before the main act arrived out, kicking things off with ‘Us Vs Them’. If you weren’t already dancing, you had no choice—the time had come and everyone was ready to get Primavera Sound 2016 started, and what better way to do that than with a bit of funk. Followed up by their well-known hit ‘Daft Punk is playing at my house’, it was clear that the crowd was going to be treated to what they wanted. They blasted through some classics including ‘I can change’, ‘Get Innocuous’ and ‘Yeah’, all aided by flashing lights, lots of cowbell and their signature sound, with funk guitar and solid percussion.

James Murphy’s beatnik style rendition of ‘Losing my Edge’ was absorbing, showing his abilities in the spoken word and proving he has definitely still got it. ‘Someone Great’ and ‘New York’, ‘I love You But You’re Bringing Me Down’ were magical, chilling things out a bit and bringing the already friendly crowd even closer together.

As expected, the night did not finish on a calming note—they started the encore with the opening track from This is Happening (2010), ‘Dance Yourself Clean’, which left the crowd spotless. The final song, ‘All My Friends’, filled the theatre with dancing and chanting, making sure that everyone left with ringing ears.

It was the perfect way to start the festival, here’s hoping the rest of the week shapes up to be just as good.