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The National Rumbles And Roars At The Greek Theatre

Lilian Min |
August 11, 2013 | 2:15 a.m. PDT

Music Editor

Several years ago, this writer found herself in the enviable position of choosing between two very different festival sets. On one stage: Beyoncé herself. On the other stage, a moody indie rock band to whom she casually listened. 

Naturally, this writer chose to go to Queen Bey's set, but only one or two songs in, her friend dragged her to the other band's set because they were "supposed to be really good live" and it wouldn't hurt to "check them out."

This writer never went back to Beyoncé.

.

It's easy to write off The National as a moody, pretentious group, because frankly, most of their recorded music sounds so very, very sad and so very, very strange. Lead singer Matt Berninger and his band of brothers (Aaron and Bryce Dessner, Bryan and Scott Devendorf) have, over the course of six studio albums, established a darkly absurd, mournful musical rep for themselves, built around Berninger's weeping baritone.

His is a voice that lends itself to a certain kind of cinematic bent, and the world of pop culture has taken notice: The National's provided music for the game "Portal 2," the Tom Hardy film "Warrior," and memorably, for everybody's favorite salacious fantasy TV drama "Game of Thrones" -- the unforgettable "The Rains of Castamere."

But there's something inexplicably moving about the way Berninger and his bandmates carry themselves around each other and with a live audience. Before their two-hour set began, a trailer for The National documentary, "Mistaken for Strangers" (named after a song from their album "Boxer") played, and it set the tone for the rest of the evening.

The film is directed by Berninger's brother Tom, and in it are features and tics of the band's dynamic that could never come across just in recordings. Matt is a focused but hazily so frontman, fond of alcohol and haphazardly throwing around things in his surrounding (apparently, the band has been banned from the Hollywood Bowl because the last time they were there, they destroyed $10,000 worth of stuff).

That destructive bent translates into an intensity coiled in Berninger's figure, and as he stepped onto the stage with the rest of the band, wine glass and bottle in hand, something between the figures on stage and the Greek Theatre's audience clicked, and from then on out, it was impossible not to be mesmerized by the stumbling, mumbling, pleading man on stage.

Most of the songs from the night's set, which was beautifully choreographed to stunning visual setpieces, were from The National's sixth and latest album "Trouble Will Find Me." Tunes like "Don't Swallow the Cap" and "Graceless" had the audience chanting along, while after performing "Slipped," Berninger riffed on the technical difficulty of the song, joking, "It's hard to count and sing and cry at the same time."

The National went pretty deep (although not self-titled album deep) into their discography for the night's set, playing tunes like "Baby, We'll Be Fine" and "Abel" off of "Alligator" and "Squalor Victoria" and "Slow Show" off of "Boxer."

However, the biggest hits of the night were off of fifth album "High Violet." "Bloodbuzz Ohio" sent the croud into a frenzy early on in the set; later during "Conversation 16," during the chorus, the crowd erupted into long cheers of "Cause I'm evil."

Though the show's setlist was pretty bulletproof from start to finish, the wrap up of the main set was just about flawless. "England" sounded completely epic, and the crowd lost their shit over the line "I'm in a Los Angeles cathedral." During "About Today," there was a moment when the band brought the volume down to a bare minimum, and you could hear only murmurs in the crowd as Berninger cooed, "Can I ask you... about today?" And with set closer "Fake Empire," the band's minimal 2-man brass section sounded like a full on brass band, so expansive and rousing was their sound.

But of course, there was more, and it was during the band's encore that it became obvious why The National's live act is so goddamn strong.

"Trouble" tune "Humiliation" sounded absolutely brutal, as Berninger snarled through the lyrics "Tunnel vision lights my way / Lead a little life today" with a tragicomic bent. And the band went into full on audio assault mode for "Mr. November," the fan favorite "Alligator" closer -- Berninger himself climbed his way through some of the audience, surrounding himself with the local listeners as he belted lyrics like "I won't f*ck us over!"

Berninger returned to the audience again for "High Violet" opener "Terrible Love," but his interactions seemed gentler, and he seemed more relaxed as the set wound down from its frenzied peak.

At last, The National settled down, and the band ended the evening by playing a stunning acoustic rendition of "Violet" closer "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks." Though the band noted that they'd never tried that before in a setting as large as the Greek, thanks to the theatre's fabulous acoustics and the audience's compliance to quiet, soon the entire venue could be heard singing along to the melancholy lyrical loops -- "All the very best of us / string ourselves up for love."

Shortly after Berninger and co. shuffled off, bottle depleted, the stage lights went up and the filler music started blasting again. But for two hours, the Greek was less a stage and more an actual theatre, and what we'd just seen was a soliloquy by a man haunted by his demons, chasing joy with a ragged, jagged breath.

Setlist:

"I Should Live In Salt"
"Don't Swallow the Cap"
"Bloodbuzz Ohio"
"Sorrow"
"Sea of Love"
"Demons"
"Afraid Of Everyone"
"Conversation 16"
"Squalor Victoria"
"I Need My Girl"
"This Is The Last Time"
"Slipped"
"Baby, We'll Be Fine"
"Abel"
"Slow Show"
"Pink Rabbits"
"Graceless"
"England"
"About Today"
"Fake Empire"

ENCORE
"Humiliation"
"Mr. November"
"Terrible Love"
"Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks" (Acoustic)

Read more of NT's show reviews here.

Reach Music Editor Lilian Min here; follow her on Twitter here and on Google+ here.



 

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