I uploaded a couple of pictures from the National show Friday on the photoblog; sadly, my positioning and the poor lighting made it hard to get anything really good, but I posted what I could. You can go back to the photoblog set from the National/CYHSY show for better shots of the National and the crazy spazziness of the singer, Matt Beringer (Schubas is much, much easier to take pictures in). Anyhoo, it was nice to see the National get a sold-out show on their own merits, rather than on the coattails of a buzz band of the moment. The National has been struggling on the indie circuit for years now, and it's great to see the band finally get it's due. That said, there were still an amazing amount of people talking during their set and a very random crowd made up almost entirely of people over 6'4" in height (men and women, I swear- apparently the National caters to the freakishly tall demographic) and a few silly fratboy-types who actually high-fived between songs (and reached over several people to do so). Still, the band put on their usual impassioned intense show made up mostly of songs from their latest album Alligator, again skipping over two of their arguably best songs, "Karen" and "Friend of Mine." I was pleasantly surprised to hear them play the gorgeous "Wasp's Nest" from the Cherry Tree EP, a song recently featured (sort of) in Syriana (playing in the background at a bar George Clooney was drinking morosely at).

I should also mention the openers The Cloud Room, another Brooklyn band that has an interesting back story and one incredibly poppy song that Pitchfork deemed "the smash that wasn't", "Hey Now Now." Sadly, none of the rest of their music lived up to that song, not even the one apparently about Elenor Friedberger of the Fiery Furnaces, which we learned after the singer told a too-lengthy story about trying to talk to her about doing a song together only to realize she wasn't listening to a word he was saying. Meh.


Looking ahead: Ladytron at the Metro April 21, The Wrens w/ Tapes n Tapes at Schubas April 29, Sigur Ros at the Civic Opera House May 9, Frog Eyes and Sunset Rubdown at Schubas May 21.