National Concert

So maybe the Washington Post was not such a fan of the National, but we certainly enjoyed the soggy concert last Thursday night. Highlights included singing along to Apartment Story and England, the crowd-friendly Bloodbuzz Ohio, the amazing acoustic rendition of Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks to close the show, and getting a chance to fall a bit more for some of the new tracks like I Should Live in Salt and Demons. And Mr. November was particularly rousing, though we thought it should have been "I did f' you over,/I'm Mr. November." The rain did lend a new dimension to the general gloominess, but we loved the show and would return anytime.

Brightest Young Things was more positive, as was DCIst.

The National opened their headlining set with a trio of rockers, two hailing from their latest album, Trouble Will Find Me, but not surprisingly it was the High Violet standout "Bloodbuzz Ohio" that got the crowd on their feet early. After slowing it down a bit, lead singer Matt Berninger prefaced "Sorrow" by stating, "We know this one better than any in our catalogue." The quip from Berninger referenced a recent performance art show in New York where the band played the song for six hours straight. He then went on to reminisce about the other times they had played the venue (including the first time, opening for R.E.M. in 2008), and thanked the staff for always being so welcoming and kind to their band.

"Secret Meeting" from 2005's Alligator was a nice surprise, and though the majority of the audience likely came on board with 2010's High Violet, they responded very well to the first older song of the night. At the conclusion, Berninger joked, "I have GOT to write lyrics for the end of that song." It was a playful jab at guitarists Aaron and Bryce Dessner whose unintelligible shouts color the end of the song.

The end of "Afraid of Everyone" saw Berninger hovering over the front row screaming at the top of his lungs, something he did a handful of times during the night, but never as fiercely as during the crowd pleasing "Abel." An audience member near the front had been incessantly yelling a request for "The Geese of Beverly Road," to which guitarist Aaron Dessner joked "Matt is like a floppy disk, if you don't insert them in the right order, he messes up", causing Berninger to double over in laughter.

The band ended their main set with even more fire, including an extended heavy outro to "Humiliation," along with another of Trouble's faster songs, "Graceless," and likely their most well known song, "Fake Empire."