3 “Huh?” Moments in EDM Last Week

LCD Soundsytem’s ‘break up’ was used to help sell tix, says Murphy

LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy is sharing some interesting information about the band’s initial break up in 2011. Slated for a show at Madison Square Garden in April of 2011, and genuinely considering a break of some kind, Murphy has given credence to the idea that the show at MSG had an impact on the temporary dissolution of the group. Huh?

Although we now know the break to be temporary, fans at the time obvioiusly didn’t, and flocked to New York City to witness LCD Soundsystem for the final time. According to Murphy, once it was announced as the farewell concert, the show sold like gangbusters.

“They were trying to come up with big-name openers for us because they didn’t think we could sell out the place by ourselves…But behind that idea was the promoters’ belief that we just weren’t going to sell any tickets unless there [was] some extra element. So I got mad on the phone with them about it. I was like, ‘Well, how about it’s our last fucking show?’ And I hung up the phone. Then I was like, I guess that’ll be our last show then. – James Murphy via Vulture

Murphy had a similar story in a recent New York Times piece, highlighting one of the darker aspects of the music industry. Yeah, bands break up and get back together. And yeah, the ‘farewell’ and ‘reunited’ shows generally do pretty well. But, it’s still a bummer. Fans don’t like getting played, even if gimmicky stuff like this is essentailly expected.

For what it’s worth, bandmate Al Doyle utilized his Twitter account to provide an alternative point of view, even saying that the band lost money on the farewell show. Huh.