Until a couple of months ago, I hadn't heard of The National but some of my most trusted music buds were fans, so I checked them out. Suddenly, they were everywhere on MOG, eloquently posted about by "goodmusiconly":http://web01.mog.com/goodmusiconly/blog_post/86531 only last week. (read her posting: it is a great example of what makes MOG so wonderful)...Now, some of you may know I am a bit of a live music junkie, so when I heard The National was visiting my neck of the woods, I jumped at the chance to see what the hub bub was about.The opening band was The Broken West. I had actually seen them before, when they opened for The Long Winters in April. I didn't remember much about them (blame the rum) but they were a solid group of performers. They did all look like different versions of the same clone, however. Maybe they are all brothers...I'll have to check later. But genetic modifications aside, very enjoyable.
Then, out came The National. For a sold out show, the crowd was rather mild. Don't get me wrong, there were the uber-fans, who sang along with every song, and ample clapping and cheering and no rude rednecks, disrespecting the band's efforts. Just zero crowding, no pushing which surprised me but was kind of nice actually. The only time my toes were stepped on was by the lead singer when he jumped into the audience...but that kind of pain is appreciated by groupies like me. =O)The show was, in a word, _FABULOUS_. I can't thank everyone who turned me on to these guys enough because this was a stand-out show. The acoustics were only so-so (Neumos is fast becoming one of my least favorite venues in Seattle) but the performances were amazing.
I won't say any of the musicians were mellow; in fact there was this dude on the violin that would charge across the stage just sawing on that thing with gusto. But somehow I felt soothed and well, healed, by the songs. I've had a rather frantic, lousy week and this was exactly what I needed.
The lead singer (Matt Berninger, I believe) has an amazing growly voice that at times reminds me of Johnny Cash. He's a quirky fellow, with strange mannerisms he repeated while performing, and I don't believe he was entirely sober during their set (I refuse to speculate on what he had indulged in) but he had me enthralled the entire time. Absolutely lovely.Of course, I did manage to get a shot of his alligator skin boots...why do rock stars wear such great footwear??
I beg you:
see The National when you can (you Europeans will have the first shot at them-they finished their US tour last night in Seattle and are heading your way) and I'll close with the song The National chose to open with...
Locating MOG account...
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