“It’s better to burn out than to fade away,” Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain wrote in his suicide letter. The New York-based, electro-dance band LCD Soundsystem, which formed in 2001 and released three critically-acclaimed albums, took Cobain’s—by way of Neil Young’s—advice, choosing to abruptly retire at the height of their fame.
On Feb. 5, 2011, a letter was posted on the band’s website, saying, good people of earth: lcd soundsystem are playing madison square garden on april 2nd, and it will be our last show ever. we are retiring from the game. gettin’ out. movin’on. but for just one more night, we will be playing with friends and family for nearly 3 hours–playing stuff we’ve never played before and going out with a bang. and we’d like you to be there.
British filmmakers Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern, who filmed the 2010 documentary NO DISTANCE LEFT TO RUN about the band Blur, decided to chronicle the mega-concert in the documentary SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS, which made its world premiere at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.