The line into the venue was probably barely 10 people long. There were these two girls in front of me that seemed very sweet so I decided to talk to them. We got along pretty quickly, and in the meantime, I became friends with this other guy, soon to be known as my soul friend, Kevin. I was certainly going to get front row but there was one problem – coat check. I openly expressed my concerns to my new friends and one of the girls offered to check in my coat for me. I shouldn’t have been surprised as I always find genuine people at LCD Soundsystem concerts. Soon enough, 7:30 p.m. came around we finally were let into the venue.
After I scanned my ticket, I entered the lobby and started to quickly head towards to stairs that led to the floor. As I was rushing towards the stairs, I saw the merch store out of the corner of my eye and headed right to it. My friend Christian had sent me a picture of the merch store from the previous days and I already knew what to get. The guy manning the booth was busy with another customer, but I was not about to wait so I made the bold move of slamming my $40 on the counter and stating, “the long sleeved shirt, please,” and he looked at me, quickly left the transaction with this other lady and proceeded to hand me my shirt. I tucked it into my pants and hurried up towards the dance floor.
As I emerged from the stairs, I glazed over the general admission floor and I briskly ran towards the stage. I saw my soul friend as he greeted me at the front of the hall. There was a spot next to him I was able to secure and it had suddenly become official -- I was front row.
The concert started at 9:00, approximately an hour and a half later than I thought. The wait was worth it because as soon as the band came on and started playing Us V Them, time was expectantly surmounted.
Something particular happened a few songs into their set. Kevin started waving his newly bought t-shirt with the american dream cover art on it and James, away from the mic, notices and starts paying attention to us. This was my chance. Kevin kept waving the shirt and James responded, "that's a shirt" and I start exclaiming "great album! Great album!" making the "okay" hand gesture where you circle your thumb and pointer finger while keeping up the other three fingers. As I did this James pans ever so slightly towards me and tries to figure out what I'm trying to say. He eventually heard me and responded, "okay." Although emotionless, it was a great moment for me. Having one of my idols acknowledge me is quite enthralling.
It didn't end there. There was a moment when their photographer was doing a round of shots and James threw up the "okay" hand sign and I had never seen him do that at a concert before. The photographer captured it, so wherever that picture is, it stands.
For those of who truly know me, they know I love to get groovy with LCD Soundsystem. If that means jumping up and down at distinctive bass parts or whipping my hair for thrilling disco melodies, I have no shame. Now, I don't think James is the type to do either, yet when he started jumping up and down on the stage I couldn't help but think he was imitating me. Again, I had never seen him do this at a concert. Maybe he was just getting into it, but I don't think anyone was dancing their self harder than me and not be noticed.
After the band 's blatantly honest pee break, James and the gang return to the stage to perform a few more songs. Halfway through this round, James takes a moment to say a few words. He said something along the lines of "time to go back to our lives," and I immediately take the opportunity to present myself in a greater light. I chant, "this IS my life! This is my life!" and Pat Mahoney, the drummer, must've heard me because he smiled at James and then proceeded to take a drink of his wine. Whether or not that was directed at me, I presented myself and quite the fan that night and maybe deep down I represent Chicago whenever I make it to an LCD Soundsystem show.
I walked away from that concert with a new perspective. There was a point in one of their songs that the lyric goes, "yeah, no one ever knows what you're ever talking about so I guess you're already there. No one opens up when you scream and shout so it's time to make a couple things clear. If you're afraid of what you need, look around you, you're surrounded, it won't get any better," and at that point I jump up, grab a hold of the crowd barriers, and glance over the entire audience. For the four
