- Heading inside Wicker Park's famed live music institution Double Door, one can't help but notice The Juan MacLean poster hanging in the window. White background, everyone's favorite bald-headed disco psychopath John MacLean, and above him…Nancy Whang of LCD Soundsystem? Sure, Whang's infectious energy has been used to back the band before, and everyone recognizes her deadpanned dance floor delivery on Soulwax's 2005 smash "E-Talking," but tonight's performance in Chicago was a revelation: The Juan MacLean is a better live show with John MacLean supporting Nancy Whang.
Now before you get your Six Finger Sassypants in a bunch, this statement isn't meant to devalue the genius of MacLean. And anyone who's witnessed a full-on Juan MacLean live meltdown (Coachella 2006, for instance) knows how mercurial he can be. But on this evening he seemed loose, content to be the wizard behind Whang's tambourine dream curtain. Freed of being the focal point, his rhythmic eccentricities were given a chance to shine, manning a theremin to wonky perfection, or adding the perfect ass-shaking accent with cowbell strikes, or starting up the crowd with handclaps, or even cracking jokes ("this next one is called 'Whispering Eye!'").
Whang, decked out in a shiny Ming the Merciless meets hipster hoodie, had the crowd moving early, singing with a subtle bounce to Italo-edged synth workout "The Simple Life." But the show really started firing on all cylinders with newly arranged versions of old standbys "Tito's Way" and "Give Me Every Little Thing," before shifting into overdrive with the acid crunch of "No Time," and an extended version of "Happy House," their closer that took the original ode to NYC piano house and transformed it into a 15 minute party jam, complete with a "French Kiss"-styled slowdown, and a simian groove that got the audience's hands in the air.
This show seemed a departure from previous live tours, with only drummer Jerry Fuchs to accompany the mountains of electronic gear onstage—no bass player, no guitar. But while The Juan MacLean benefited from this addition by subtraction, openers The Field beefed up lonely Axel Willner's one-man laptop show by adding percussionist Dan Enqvist and multi-instrumentalist Andreas Söderstrom.
Focused and engaged, with only small head nods as acknowledgement to the audience while they hunched over bass, keys, a mixer and laptop, this trio admirably replicated the gravity and sonic wizardry of The Field. Unfortunately, this is headphone music at its core—or maybe it's the techno in every inner shoegazer that fuels a more introspective experience. Nevertheless, a stimulating loop of video accompanied the ethereal soundscapes, like David Fincher's gigantic Rolling Stones ("Love Is Strong") combined with Michel Gondry-like image sequencing, synced to the music, plucking bass strings from telephone wires, banging giant oil tank drums. And, to be honest, this cerebral multimedia experience was the perfect primer for the disco party that would later ensue.