After nine years together, LCD Soundsystem is calling it quits. (It’s a punch to the gut to see them go, but also kind of noble for a great act to go out on top.)
To bid a fond farewell to their fans, they decided play one final show at Madison Square Garden—a giant venue with lots of room in their (sort of) hometown. But no sooner did tickets go on sale than they sold out. Even the band couldn’t buy tickets for their friends and families. Scalpers soon listed thousands of tickets for sale at exorbitant prices.
What was a band—one that cares deeply about its fans—to do?
After initially taking to Twitter to voice their rage—”I’m wondering now what on earth could be less effective and more of a first-world spoiled idiotic move than ‘angry tweets,’” frontman James Murphy wrote—the band came up with a rather shrewd solution: They added four more shows at Terminal 5 the same week as the MSG show. Not only does it give their fans more chances to see them before they retire, but it also devalues those many scalped tickets—an awesome way to hang the scalpers out to dry.
Murphy wrote an impassioned letter to fans on the LCD website, in which he narrated the situation, explained the rage he felt on what should have been a joyous occasion (selling out the Garden), thanked fans for their years of support, and outlined his plan to allow fans to see the band at reasonable prices. Warning: strong language to follow.
we’re announcing all the shows at once, and if they don’t sell out, i don’t care. i just want to give people who actually want to see us a chance to see us. for a reasonable ticket price. and i want to drop the price of the msg tickets being sold by piece of shit scalpers.
oh—and a small thing to scalpers: “it’s legal” is what people say when they don’t have ethics. the law is there to set the limit of what is punishable (aka where the state needs to intervene) but we are supposed to have ethics, and that should be the primary guiding force in our actions, you fucking fuck.
and to everyone else: thank you. you rule. don’t let the shitbags win.
i feel like conan o’brien.
I guess he rediscovered his edge.
Photo (cc) by Flickr user localjapantimes
