I’ve been looking forward to this show for a long time; it has been on my radar since the second and third nights were announced. The National’s High Violet is a masterpiece, but I’m in the minority of people who maintain that their newest effort, Trouble Will Find Me, is just as solid. As such, I’ve had that album, along with the entire back catalogue, on heavy rotation for the past month or so. As high as my expectations were, it’s impressive that the show still proved as much fun as I had hoped.
When you see a band you love, especially one with an oeuvre as vast as The National, you’re never going to hear every song you like. Luckily, for fans of this somber indie pop outfit fronted by Matt Berninger, the body of work possesses such strength that there’s hardly a bad one in the bunch. The group mixed a few older songs such as “Ada” from Boxer and “Abel” from Alligator, but the majority of the material was culled from their two most recent efforts. Epic anthems “Sea of Love” and “I Should Live in Salt” sound particularly phenomenal live as does most of the newer material.
“Graceless,” one of my favorite songs from the new album got a rocked up treatment and felt faster paced than normal; live, it also lacked the nuanced sliding climb from the verses into the chorus. However, the crowd, myself included, still sang along with every word. The National’s austere, abstract yet somehow highly relatable lyricism drives the band, so it’s no wonder that even when a song feels a little off, the emotive power of its core still carries weight and makes for an enjoyable experience.
After an emphatic start and something of a lull, not in musical quality but in band member activity, during the second half of the set, Berninger closed the night by walking out through the crowd several times to the great excitement of fans. Throughout the night, Berninger paced the stage incessantly. After lifting the mic stand into the air and launching it across the stage, he also took to bashing the microphone into his head and included some strained screaming that I wasn’t crazy about on a few of the climactic moments of songs. For a while, I genuinely thought the guy might be having a bad night, but when he thanked the audience briefly at the end of the set he seemed genuinely happy to be in Austin for multiple nights. I’ve seen the band three times now, and I can’t say I ever remember those kind of antics.
The National returned for a four song encore that included fan favorite “Mr. November” and a completely acoustic sing-along version of “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks,” which was purely delightful. Night one of The National’s three nights at ACL Live was a triumph, and I wish I could be at all three, but Pop Press International is booked up with shows for the rest of the week. But you should go. With three nights in town, tickets at the front gates last night were reasonably priced. It’s worth it to see one of indie rock’s best acts. Warpaint opened the night with a set of brooding, atmospheric indie rock.
All photos © Bryan Parker & Pop Press International. Click any image to open in slideshow viewer.
