Members of Grammy-winning indie rock band the Arcade Fire joined LCD Soundsystem on stage at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, handling background vocals on the song “North American Scum,” off of LCD Soundsystem’s 2007 album Sound of Silver.
The MSG show, which sold out in seconds, is LCD’s farewell concert and was preceded by four performances at New York’s Terminal 5. LCD frontman James Murphy introduced Arcade Fire’s Win and William Butler and Régine Chassagne with a long-winded explanation of how the band has its roots in both Canada and the U.S. — a fitting preamble considering the title of the song, but also one that prompted Butler to yell, “Shut up and play the hits!”
Amping the already frenetic energy on stage, the pairing of these two indie super groups served the song well, as did a full brass section which Murphy described as “two horny horns, one flatulent drummer and four troubled souls.” The singer later remarked that the band hadn’t played “North American Scum” for a couple years “because we’re f–king idiots.” The band closed out the night with another song from Sound of Silver, “New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down.”
LCD Soundsystem announced their retirement on February 5 and in leading up to the April 2 show, much has been written of their impact on music and the industry. Their last televised performance was on The Colbert Report on February 14. In recent years, Murphy has expanded his portfolio, which includes being a co-founder of New York-based DFA Records, with film work. He arranged and scored the soundtrack to 2010’s Greenberg.