LCD Soundsystem returns to NYC for sixth residency this month

James Murphy will lead LCD Soundsystem through six consecutive nights in New York City starting Nov. 19. This marks the sixth consecutive residency the band has performed in the city since their reunion in 2015. The return follows a 2011 farewell show at Madison Square Garden where the group closed with the track “New York, I Love You.”

The song, released in 2007 on the album “Sound of Silver,” describes the tension of living in the city. Murphy sings about pulling minimum wage and the city's power-hungry leaders. He contrasts this hardship with the line, “But you’re still the one pool where I’d happily drown.” The track has become a standard for depicting the ambivalence of New York life in film and television.

The song appears in dramas such as “Gossip Girl” and “Succession.” It also features in the recent series “Nobody Wants This” and the new film “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York.” In that film, John Turturro plays an aging criminal struggling to adapt to a society that has moved on. The music supervisor, Dan Wilcox, chose the track to set the tone for a character attached to a lifestyle that no longer works. Wilcox described the feeling as nostalgia wrapped in the fear of change.

Sharon Van Etten performed the song live in 2018 during a New York-themed edition of BBC Proms in London. At the time, Van Etten had lived in Brooklyn for nearly 15 years and was preparing to move to Los Angeles. She told Gothamist that the weight of the song hit her as she processed her impending departure. She noted that she was trying not to cry while recording the performance at Royal Albert Hall.

Van Etten approached the climax of the song differently than Murphy. She described her version as more saddened and angsty due to unspoken decisions about her move. Murphy’s version, she noted, carries a smile despite the explosive finale. Van Etten connected with Murphy’s sentiment that New York is both beloved and difficult to inhabit. She recalled her friend Kyp Malone telling her that civilizations rise and fall, a view that helped her find peace with the city's changing scenes.

Murphy declined an interview for this piece. The song ends with a sense of acceptance, suggesting that others might still find the city viable even if he no longer does. He repeats the line, “Maybe I’m wrong and maybe you’re right,” to reflect this uncertainty. Murphy has since opened a Michelin-starred wine bar in Williamsburg, the neighborhood where he started. The song critiques Michael Bloomberg, calling him a “mild billionaire mayor … convinced he’s a king.”

Chris DeVille, Managing Editor of Stereogum, attributed the song's longevity to its social commentary. He stated that the Brooklyn world Murphy described feels like a microcosm of changes happening everywhere. DeVille said it makes sense to mourn an America that seems to be going away. The song remains relevant because it captures the specific pain of watching a community transform.

In “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York,” Turturro’s character accepts that his best years and the New York he loves are over. He does not mourn this truth. The film’s music supervisor, Wilcox, bookended the story with Bobby Short’s rendition of “I Happen to Like New York.” Short sings that even at his funeral, he would choose to stay in New York over heaven or hell. This mirrors Murphy’s own complicated attachment to the city he both criticizes and loves.