The unmagnificent lives of adults
Thoughts on seeing the National live for the second time this year:
- Still no "Lit Up." One of the few disappointments of the night. Swapping "Brainy" for "Ada" and dropping "Guest Room" was fine, so was dropping "The Geese of Beverly Road," but I seriously need to hear "Lit Up" (last time's set list here).
- Bringing out "one of their heroes" sounded exciting; It was Hayden. Which is cool (and the version of "Dynamite Walls" they played was good), but he's not one of my heroes, so I wasn't going quite as nuts as some.
- For someone who sings about "all the wine" and his "Sauvignon fierce," I like that Matt Berninger drinks pretty much a whole bottle of white wine on stage when they play. He's still one of the most goofily intense and endearing singers I've seen, and his glee at playing with Hayden was awesome.
- The crowd was mostly into it, but not as much singing along, and between the Four People At The Front Of The Crowd Who Wouldn't Shut Up (Until We Asked Them To) and the Drunk Guy With A Loose Interpretation Of Personal Space I did lose my enjoyment for a song or two. Which is especially a pity because I was so unselfconsciously enjoying it the rest of the time.
- I also in a weird way respect the fact that, even as his bandmates swap instruments and play their asses off, Berninger doesn't touch anything more musical than a shaker, and that only once. With Padma Newsome once again along for the ride, there's five guys playing - it's nice that Berninger sticks with what he's definitely awesome at (although I don't know the guy, maybe he's Hendrix too).
- Ending the set with "Start a War" after starting with it in June was interesting (especially as they started with "Brainy"); it works pretty equally well in either place, although it was more of a shock when I didn't know about their tendancy to expand songs live (which they do without 'jamming,' which is nice).
- Speaking of which, anyone who thinks Boxer is too quiet or something needs to buy a ticket for the National Live; "Squalor Victoria" or "Apartment Story" or even "Fake Empire" should be enough to convince them.
- Last time I left off with "Very few things could prevent me from seeing them next time they come to town," and sure enough it was true. Sitting for 90 minutes on the ramp to the Gardiner Expressway while the firetrucks and ambulances dealt with an accident was absolutely worth it, nuts as it made me. Pete and Julia seemed to be impressed too.
