I caught the National and buzz band CYHSY this past Friday and have pictures up now on the photoblog. As expected, the crowd was primarily there to see CYHSY, and Schubas was completely packed. They started out with two new songs, which I liked, and played most of their recent self-titled album. Their sound was very tight, and keyboardist/tambourine man Robbie was a barrel of fun on stage, jumping around constantly with the biggest smile on his face. They hardly spoke a word in between songs and had a good stage presence, but nothing spectacular.
The crowd thinned a bit for the National, with the true fans clearly up front while a lot of people rudely spent their set talking loudly in the back. Unfortunately, the good sound from CYHSY didn't carry over to the headliner, as the bass was way, wayyyy too loud. Singer Matt Berninger was by far one of the most intense singers I have ever seen- he sang every song with his eyes tightly closed, appearing to be on the verge of tears at any moment. Clearly, his songs mean a lot to him. The other highlight was their violinist, who was the most rockin' violinist I've seen yet in a rock band. Most of the set came from their latest album, Alligator, except for my two favorite songs of course, "Karen" and "Friends of Mine." An audience member called twice for them to play Karen; Matt claimed they forgot how to play the song, and dedicated the next song to "'Karen,' that song we forgot how to play." Bummer.
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I'm not very familiar with the National, but I have heard a lot of reports of people leaving after The Clap played at almost every show on this tour. Who does that? You paid for both bands, and if you are in attendance at this show you obviously pride yourself on discovering new groups and sounds... why leave before they even come on? Such a shame.
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