Tonight The National played a special secret show at the Park Ave Armory. It was a private invite only show (thanks Joe) that was a taping for Live From the Artists Den. This performance came only two days after playing “Sorrow” for 6 hours straight.
Coming into the show I had no idea what to expect. I figured since it was a free show, we would get a small but sweet set: a bunch of new songs as well as a few of the older classic cuts. That would have been the case if it was another bands. The National are not like other bands. They gave us a full hearty 20-song set that would have been more than acceptable at a paid ticketed show.
The Park Ave Armory served as an ideal spot for The National’s sound, providing a vast room of operation for their sound to work it’s magic. It provided Matt with an inescapable echo that only made everything that much more powerful. One half of the 20 songs that we got were new songs from their upcoming album, Trouble Will Find Me. They opened with “I Should Live In Salt” a spellbinding track that set the table nicely. “Demons” & “Don’t Swallow The Cap” are the two singles we already have heard, and they sounder as familiar as if they had been with us for years already.
Other new song highlights included “Heavenfaced”, “This Is The Last Time”, “Sea Of Love”, and “I Need My Girl.” In other words, all the new material sounded great live, only amping my anticipation for what is likely to be one of my favorite albums of 2013. These songs were a mixture of restrained beauty and bold ambitiousness, which was put into perspective by a 4-piece string ensemble that backed them up on the new songs, as they did on the album. The band noted how the venue looked like an old school wartime place (like something out of Captain America) which was fitting since one of the new songs (“Pink Rabbits”) sounded like a Civil War bar-room joint.
One top of the flurry of new material, they still made room for all of their MVP songs. “Bloodbuzz Ohio”, “Mistaken For Strangers”, “Fake Empire” and the duel finisher of “Mr. November”/”Terrible Love.” Early in the set a fan jokenly screamed for them to play “Sorrow.’ With other bands, this joke could have gone many ways. Matt just laughed while cooling saying “not cool.” It’s the little things like this, plus putting on a full set during a free show that make them one of my favorite bands.
Get ready, Trouble Will Find Me is going to blow your minds.
Find the setlist below:
1. I Should Live In Salt
2. Bloodbuzz Ohio
3. Demons
4. Don’t Swallow The Cap
5. Afraid Of Everyone
6. Heaven Faced
7. Sorrow
8. Squalor Victoria
9. Fireproof
10. This Is The Last Time
11. Mistaken For Strangers
12. Sorrow
13. I Need My Girl
14. Sea Of Love
15. England
16. Graceless
Encore:
17. Pink Rabbits
18. Fake Empire
19. Mr. November
20. Terrible Love
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