B List: Luke’s Five Shows In Five Weeks

2. LCD Soundsystem – Madison Square Garden – Saturday, April 2

This final LCD Soundsystem show took on a life of its own when founder James Murphy discovered just how ridiculously hard it is for your average concert goer to score good tickets – or in this case any tickets – with the technological advancements of the scalpers combined with the reluctance of Ticketmaster to acknowledge there is a problem. But after asking people who actually scored tickets to tweet him, Murphy heard crickets and decided to add four shows at Terminal 5 to squelch some of the demand for MSG tickets. Musically Murphy has promised a three-hour gig and never-before-heard tunes and is asking all attendees to wear black and/or white. Liquid Liquid will open the night.

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3. Rush – Madison Square Garden – Sunday, April 10

The first time I ever saw Rush was at the Nassau Coliseum on December 9, 1987 on the Hold Your Fire tour. It is amazing how little these guys have lost off their fastball in those 20+ years. They are still absolutely killing it every night, everywhere they go and they can STILL sell out Madison Square Garden on a Sunday night. I can’t say I’ve spent as much time with the albums that came out after Presto, but I’m looking forward to every note and every minute of this show. Rush may be the ultimate “either you love them or you hate them” band in rock and roll and on April 10 they are going to get plenty of love. Here’s hoping for an Analog Kid bustout.

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4. TV on the Radio – Radio City Music Hall – Wednesday, April 13

A good friend suggested TV on the Radio’s breakthrough Dear Science to me shortly after its release and it’s been a constant in my iPod rotation ever since. Obviously the members of Phish also were impressed, at least enough to cover Golden Age on two occasions – 11/27/09 in Albany and 10/11/10 in Broomfield, CO. I am not very familiar with the Brooklyn-based act’s other three studio albums but I’m expecting to hear plenty of tracks off the forthcoming Nine Types Of Light, which will be released on April 12, the day before the Radio City show. The group announced this week that bassist Gerard Smith would not be touring as a result of a lung cancer diagnosis. A statement posted on the band’s website said, “Gerard is fortunate enough to have health insurance and is receiving excellent medical care. Already we have seen dramatic results. Combine that with Gerard’s legendarily willful disposition and it might just be cancer that has the problem. We appreciate your concern and support for Gerard and his family.”

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5. Cake – Terminal 5 – Thursday, April 21

I walked out of the February Trey Anastasio show at Terminal 5 and swore up and down that I had finally seen the last of the worst venue in New York City. Until I got home and my wife reminded me that we had tickets for Cake in April. I like Cake too much to miss the show despite knowing the venue will make it almost impossible to fully enjoy it. But I look forward to the unique vocal style of John McCrea. Cake’s 1994 effort Motorcade Of Generosity remains my favorite in their repertoire but any tunes from Fashion Nugget and Pressure Chief are also welcomed!

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