Music review: LCD Soundsystem, SWG3 Galvanizers Yard, Glasgow

Following the shutdown of the Arches a few years ago, Glasgow had been wanting for a key facility to match its reputation as an international clubbing capital. Increasingly this conglomeration of repurposed post-industrial spaces on the fringe of Finnieston is rising to meet the challenge '“ particularly with the recent addition of the Galvanizer's vast indoor and outdoor events spaces, as well as the Acid Bar, the rooftop terrace of which offers a birds-eye view of the yard and the whole panoramic scene.

LCD frontman James Murphy saluted an audience for whom they have been returning whenever possible

LCD Soundsystem, SWG3 Galvanizers Yard, Glasgow *****

“So our favourite city to play we’ve ever played,” was how LCD frontman and fulcrum James Murphy saluted an audience for whom they have been returning whenever possible ever since their very first tour back in 2005, when the band were hosted by Glasgow club night and dance music institution Optimo and began a long-standing relationship with the city and its scene.

Never before can they have been greeted by a setting quite as perfect as this, as a crisp blue sky faded slowly into not-quite-darkness above, and the occasional rattle of a passing train over the high line behind – cue waves from the crowd to bemused commuters – mingled atmospherically with the music.

Murphy seemed to divide opinion with his decision to reform LCD Soundsystem in 2015 after an exquisitely orchestrated breakup just four years prior. But few could argue that this hasn’t been a comeback of the highest order, as typified by the fact that tracks from their superb latest album American Dream ­– including this show’s hypnotically pretty opener Oh Baby and the pulsing Tonite, the throbbing blast of bass at the midway point of which might have rippled the nearby Clyde – fit into their setlist as if they’ve always belonged there.

A cleverly choreographed switch on for the giant disco ball above the stage at just the right moment of Get Innocuous had earlier kicked the set into high gear. There it remained until night had finally just about descended, and Dance Yrself Clean and all-time hugs-on-the-dancefloor classic All My Friends closed in rapturously emotive fashion.

“Thank you for being here for us,” concluded Murphy’s to-the-point but still poignant exaltation of the Glasgow crowd at the end, and the feeling was mutual.