It’s perhaps the hipster event of the year: the last show ever of LCD Soundsystem, the NY-based dance rock outfit known for such indie hits as “Drunk Girls” and “Daft Punk Is Playing At My House,” in its own backyard, with five shows at Terminal 5 that culminate in one last hurrah at Madison Square Garden on April 2.
Eric Cathcart, who served as LCD’s LD for the band’s recently completed This is Happening tour, is designing these last shows for the band. Cathcart is based in Kansas City and recently also worked with Devo and Thievery Corporation. Bandit Lites is providing the lighting, with BML providing the video.
LCD Soundsystem is the brainchild of James Murphy, who moonlights as one of the founders of DFA Records. The band has released three albums in the last decade, and Murphy had claimed all along he was only interested in playing rock star for 10 years . So as he entered his tenth year of the band, he announced the MSG gig as the last show ever earlier this year.
As it was the band’s first major headlining arena gig, Murphy apparently wasn’t entirely prepared for the onrush of fans—and scalpers—that snatched up the MSG tickets in a matter of hours. He posted this now famous rant on his website about the situation, and in the end added the additional five shows at Terminal 5, a smaller venue in midtown Manhattan, leading up to the April 2 finale.
But the MSG gig is the big one, both for the band but also for Cathcart. “This is definitely the most production that the band has dealt with as a headliner, it will certainly be the longest show for them,” he says. “We were doing festivals with way more people, but those weren’t always the ideal situation for my end of it. This is the biggest concert rig I’ve designed.”
Stay tuned for part 2 on Cathcart’s design.