Although The National seem like they’re always playing around these parts, they clearly haven’t oversaturated the market yet, as last night’s show, their fourth appearance in DC in the last 15 months, sold out with ease. The crowd was brimming with excitement and anticipation for the band’s first ever headlining show at the 930 Club, their first DC show since the release of their critically acclaimed new album, Boxer, and The National did not let their loyal fans down.
Two hours before the crowd was sent into a frenzy by the headliners, however, Portland duo Talkdemonic took the stage and managed to grab the early arrivers’ attention with their interesting blend of folk and electronic music. The band’s heavily instrumental sound features Lisa Molinaro, who toured with The Decemberists on The Crane Wife tour last year, on violin and Kevin O’Connor on drums while a laptop fills in the rest of the sound. The closest comparison I can come up with for them is The Books, but without all of the vocal samples or visuals. Halfway through the show, the guys from The National came out with a birthday cake and the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to O’Connor, which oddly seemed to energize the then-quiet audience. Their set got stronger as they played and by the end, the crowd was sad to see them go.
Talkdemonic was followed by Canadian group Shapes & Sizes, who didn’t have as much luck with the audience. By the time they came on, the crowd had grown immensely, and most of those in attendance were chomping at the bit waiting to see The National. Their quirky, seemingly unstructured, songs didn’t play well to the audience, and very early on you could hear the din of chatter competing with the band. Fortunately, they didn’t play a long set, and it was obvious that both the band and the crowd were relieved when it was over.
Finally, around 10:20, The National took the stage to deafening applause and shrieks, and launched into “Start a War,” one of the finest songs on Boxer. They followed it up with the rocker, “Mistaken for Strangers,” which the crowd went nuts for, and the audience was putty in the band’s hands from there on out. They stuck almost exclusively to material from their last two albums, the aforementioned Boxer and 2005’s stellar Alligator and it felt as if they were playing hit after hit, as the audience sang along to almost every song thrown at them. They played the entire show bathed in a cool blue and purple light which perfectly suits the mood of their dark, somber music, and singer Matt Berninger even asked for the lights to be turned down at one point because they’re used to playing in the dark.
Multi-instrumentalist Padma Newsome brought some excellent energy to the band as the newest member, especially when playing violin. He attacked it so furiously on “Baby We’ll Be Fine” and “Racing like a Pro” that I thought it could splinter into a million pieces at any second. He made those songs highlights of the show, even though they’re typically not my favorite National tunes. The band closed the regular set with a blistering rendition of “Mr. November” on which brothers Bryce and Aaron Dessner strummed so fast on their guitars that you could barely even see their hands.
They returned for the encore after an extremely short break and followed “Green Gloves” with the fan-favorite anthem “Abel,” a near-impossible song to follow-up. But they managed to do just that, closing out the show with “About Today” from the Cherry Tree EP, the only song of the night from neither Boxer nor Alligator. Padma was back on violin to help bring the show to a beautiful, melancholy end.
The National won’t beat you over the head with instantly catchy songs or stage antics, but their live show is spectacular nonetheless. It’s just six guys playing gorgeous, note-perfect music with an obvious love for what they do. I overheard a conversation next to me where a guy turned to his friend and told him how lucky they were to see the band in a venue this small before they got too big. Perhaps he was onto something, The National have released back-to-back stunning albums, and it appears that people are starting to take notice.
Setlist
Start a War
Mistaken for Strangers
Slow Show
Secret Meeting
Brainy
Baby We’ll Be Fine
Lit Up
Racing like a Pro
Squalor Victoria
Apartment Story
Daughters of the Soho Riots
Ada
Fake Empire
Mr. November
Encore:
Green Gloves
Abel
About Today
to see the rest of Joel’s photos and to stream the show go to NPR
