By: Maddie Pecak

After a semester and a half of adjusting to the trials and tribulations (!) of freshman year, I was ready to “Dance Myself Clean” with the tickets I impulsively bought with my girlfriend back in December. To be honest, I knew very little about LCD Soundsystem and James Murphy prior to the show—a habit I picked up when I saw my all-time favorite band, Wallows, with only one song of prior knowledge: “Are You Bored Yet?”. But determined to broaden my music taste beyond indie and yacht rock, I curated a study guide of what I thought were the essential LCD Soundsystem hits and got to listening

The Journey 

Living in the suburbs of Chicago, I am an avid abuser of the Coach Van Galder bus (and the fact that I have no classes on Fridays). So on Friday morning, I boarded a stifling-hot commuter bus, ready to drown out the pouring rain with the synth-heavy tunes of James Murphy as I headed home.

The next evening, my girlfriend and I boarded the BNSF Metra to Union Station—my favorite way to get into the city—very excited and very ready to dance. After some confusion and a few reroutes, we eventually found the Red Line, and before we knew it, we were at Aragon.

The Venue

Somehow, despite the number of shows I’ve seen in the city, I had never been to Aragon Ballroom before. It was definitely one of the more unique venues I’ve visited. Turning 100 years old this July, the space has a theme that vaguely resembles our local medieval-esque Chuck-E-Cheese, Enchanted Castle.

The venue only offered GA standing tickets, but there was also a balcony option for those less inclined to be packed in like sardines on the floor below. To me, the layout felt similar to the Rave/Eagles Club in Milwaukee, for those who are familiar.

The Opener

While we debated making it down early to see the opener, Automatic, after listening to at most 30 seconds of one of their songs on Spotify, we decided it would be worth it to try. In my opinion, Automatic was the best possible opener for a band like LCD Soundsystem, because even if you knew absolutely none of their songs, you could still find yourself dancing to them.

The Show

Around 9:15, the band finally made their grand entrance with “Oh Baby.” Immediately, I could tell that the vibes of this show were different from those I had been to before. One of the problems I tend to have at concerts with younger audiences is that you often end up viewing the show through the iPhone camera of the person in front of you. Trust me, I’ve been guilty of this before. But in an audience of mostly twenty-somethings and middle-aged dads, you could feel the shift away from the screen-based culture we surround ourselves with.

The energy was magnetic. People all around us danced like no one was watching. Inflatable disco balls were being passed through the crowd, and each beat of the synth was accompanied by a strobe effect of varying intensity (and some of them were intense). From the two-hour setlist, a few of my favorites were “I Can Change,” “Tribulations,” “Home,” and “Someone Great.”

During the encore, I became increasingly excited to hear the unmistakable intro of “Dance Yrself Clean.” And when it finally came on—oh man—those might have been the most euphoric nine minutes of my life. Once the beat dropped, the crowd went absolutely crazy. The strobes turned red, everyone was jumping, and at that point I was soaked through with sweat from moving so much.

The Aftermath

As we sat, tired and overheated, on the El back to Union Station—my voice completely gone and my bangs completely astray—I felt strangely content. Maybe there was some truth in the idea of dancing yourself clean. Because despite how tired, sweaty, and gross I felt in that moment, there was nothing I wanted more than to be back on that dance floor again.