Gig review: LCD Soundsystem thrill Dublin crowd with a battalion of ...

They surfed into action on a wave from a 10cc I’m Not in Love mix, a gentle melody which gave little indication of what was to follow. Slipping seamlessly into Us v Them, cowbells were layered on top of each other, leaving the impression that rarely have cowbells been used to such cunning effect.

Then a dancefloor monster: I Can Change, providing a platform for James Murphy’s full vocal range, all falsetto, repeatedly throwing out his jilted lover’s plea, surely one of the wryest lyrics in popdom: “I can change, I can change, I change/If it helps you fall in love”.

Built on the beats from a Kraftwerk Computer Love intro until Nancy Whang’s 80s disco pop synthesizer took control, it kept going and going. Whang, part badass, partly the band’s spiritual guide, owned the stage, with her face menacingly striped in warpaint.

Then the anthems came not in single spies, but in battalions: You Wanted a Hit, later Tonite; Someone Great; Losing My Edge, with a Daft Punk Robot Rock sample melted into the mix. Few acts filch other catalogues with such aplomb.

The New York rock band, who have a reputation for playing clubs, were performing to their biggest ever audience, with the exception of festival gigs, announced peerless frontman Murphy gleefully. Some 20,000 fans were in attendance at what was the opening leg of LCD Soundsystem’s European tour, with a Glastonbury appointment looming this weekend.

“This is the best. We should do this next year except at the weekend,” said Murphy, wearing an I-will-perform-for-a-passport T-shirt.

Although no one seemed to mind what day of the week it was. There was a carnival atmosphere to the carry-on, with a sizable middle-aged cohort, colourfully clothed, Hawaiian shirts at most every angle of the clock, revellers dancing with abandon.

Closing inevitably with their masterpiece All My Friends, hands reached into the sky. Then suddenly Sinéad O’Connor’s Nothing Compares 2U wafted through the air, bringing the curtain down on the show with a shuddering, melancholic note. Slowly, on one of those summer nights that seems to go on forever, people drifted home through the castle’s gardens