The National at Prospect Park (June 17, 2014)

Last Tuesday I saw The National play the first of a sold out three-night-run at Prospect Park. Each show got a different opener; we were lucky enough to get an opening set from Phosphorescent.

The last time I saw Phosphorescent was when they opened for The Walkmen around this time last year during Northside Festival. It’s amazing how many musicians that they’re able to pack on stage. Kyle Resnick and Ben Lanz, who play with The National, also joined Phosphorescent and added another element to their live arsenal. They sounded sharp as usual, with “Song For Zula” being an obvious highlight.

If it wasn’t for Arctic Monkeys, I’m pretty sure The National would be my favorite band (it’s closer than you’d think). They’re just so consistently good, and they bring a whole new element to their live show each and every night. It’s hard to believe that I haven’t seen them live since Lollapalooza, only cause they’ve seemingly been touring non-stop since then. Even so, the mini-gap was enough to make me remember why I love this band so much so.

Alligator is still my favorite album, so it was amazing to hear “The Geese of Beverly Road” played at all – and so early (third). They mixed in a lot of classic cuts “Santa Clara” (!), “Abel”, “About Today” along with the Trouble Will Find Me tracks, which somehow sound even better than they did when I heard them play them last year. “Graceless” has emerged as one of my favorite tracks of the album, which it certainly wasn’t when the album initially came out.

During the encore, Matt came through the crowd as he always does, but somewhere during his trip during “Terrible Love” (where Phosphorescent’s Matthew Houck joined them on vocals) he hit his head and started bleeding. He ran close by me but it wasn’t until I looked on the screen during their acoustic show-closing rendition of “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks” that I noticed the left side of his head was dripping with blood. It was a shocking moment, but Matt powered through “Geeks” paying no mind to his wound (not sure if he even noticed). With everyone in the crowd singing along with the band, it’s an always touching moment that somehow has found a way to replace both “Mr. November” and “Terrible Love” as the closer. That’s saying something.

The National delivered yet again, to the surprise of no one. If I hadn’t been going to Firefly, I may have found a way to the other two shows. Time to watch Mistaken For Strangers again.

More photos and the setlist, posted below.

Setlist:

1. Don’t Swallow The Cap
2. I Should Live in Salt
3. The Geese of Beverly Road
4. Bloodbuzz Ohio
5. Demons
6. Sea of Love
7. Hard To Find
8. Afraid of Everyone
9. Conversation 16
10. Squalor Victoria
11. I Need My Girl
12. This Is The Last Time
13. Green Gloves
14. Abel
15. Slow Show
16. Pink Rabbits
17. England
18. Graceless
19. About Today
20. Fake Empire