Show Review: The National @ ACL Live (4/22)

After last year’s RainCL debacle, many fans of these gentlemen from Brooklyn were disappointed to miss out on their set, which was scheduled for a brief slot on Sunday. To counter this missed show, The National came back in full force, booking two sold out nights and a third added in the aftermath of popular demand. Riding high off of their sixth full-length album, which has steepened their rise of popularity initiated by High Violet to a new level. They brought along the ladies of LA’s Warpaint to open, and the crowd was amped up to hear their new favorites off of 2013’s Trouble Will Find Me. 

Click through for more on the show and plenty of pics from the honorable B.Gray…

Early door times of 6:30pm and a fan base typically on the older side prevented too many people from arriving early. The Moody Theater remained fairly vacant until Warpaint was slated to start at 8:00pm. This was surprising—as having attended several shows for this band I am familiar with, and essentially apart of, the cult following that surrounds the somber styling of the group. Regardless, Warpaint took the stage promptly at 8:00 pm, playing a 45-minute opening set primarily centered around tracks from their self-titled album from late last year. This all female group really dug their heels into the calm energy that their music offers and grooved within this mindset. The crowd seemed to enjoy the first half of the set, dancing a bit to the jangly guitars and bone-chilling uber-feminine vocal harmonies that pushed the sound to the brink at points. As their set progressed, disconnect grew as the crowd grew antsy for the headliners. Overall the set was listenable, but not exactly the encapsulating quality that one might expect from the studio albums that this band has put out.

The crowd didn’t have to wait long for the band they came to see, as a short transition between set-ups got The National out on stage and kicking things off with “Don’t Swallow The Cap” by 9:15. For essentially the first half of the show the band doled out track after track from their two most recent releases to the majority of the crowd’s approval. Frontman Matt Berninger, dapper as always, clung to his microphone with closed eyes, throwing his whole body into the music. His movement is minimal while at the mic stand, until he paces around nervously about the stage, as if he is looking for the right place to dwell. Occasionally he will lift his eyes to look in the crowd, giving intensity unmatched by most front men on stage that does not don a single instrument. When he isn’t engrossed in the mic stand, Matt will make the occasional trip into the crowd for rowdier songs like “Mr. November,” or “Terrible Love,” stretching his mic cord as far as it will go while he meandering through the crowd. I was lucky enough to be directly in his path on this second night of shows and it has to be one of my favorite experiences at a show. Call me a fan girl, I will gladly own up to it, but to be screaming and dancing along with the front man is simply fun and a level of intimacy that is hard to come by in these larger venue shows. If you’re looking for a different kind of intimacy, while Matt goes elsewhere and draws the crowd, turn your eyes back to the stage and take in the rest of the band– they will appreciate the rare attention.

The band chugged through hit after hit of their set; honestly it’s difficult for me to choose a favorite track in the live setting from this band, but their fleshed out version of “Squalor Victoria,” that builds up to pretty danceable ending is always a pleasure. They treated old school fans with some early hits, traveling back through their catalogue as far back as Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers with “Available,” and “Lucky You,” and began the encore with “All Dolled Up In Straps,” that transitioned to part of “Cardinal Song.” Even close to the very front of the stage, there was a definite decline in the level of audience enthusiasm for these songs, save for a select number of fans. I appreciated this greatly—as a fan of essentially the band’s entire catalogue, I was happy to hear songs live that I hadn’t before. I have nothing but love for this band; they take the feeling that you get when you listen to their albums and give it to you live.

Of course there will be those that say this band is on their way to the big leagues and out of the indie-sphere—which may be true, but I have yet to notice a difference in their flair over the past four years; they’re still putting on solid rock shows that leave you wanting to see them again and again. As for those up in the rafters, or standing in the back of the Moody Theater, I can’t speak for them, but I’m regretting not buying a ticket for their third night of shows as I write this very show review: if that isn’t a testament to a band’s live performances, I’m not sure what is.

**It should be noted that I was in attendance for Monday’s show as well, and while the band played a generous set of 24 songs for both nights, they not only changed the order of songs, but rotated a third of the set for different tracks from the night before. Night one was essentially a straight bill from the bands two most recent albums, which seemed to cater to most of the crowd. The band only dived into the past for 2004’s “About Today,” and a Sufjan-Stevens-less version of “Ada,” which ended with a tribute to his contribution to the band with a bombastic reprise of the horn segment of his track “Chicago—” which felt like a special treat.

A few more pics available at the overflow photo site.