THE NATIONAL - A live band (final post)

The National's annoying refusal to release many official live recordings means that last year's Rome is the first traditional "live album" from them, taken from, as the title suggests, a portion of a 2024 gig in Genoa.*  Obviously YouTube and the like exist, but sticking with official releases, it's been slim pickings until now.

The National did do an NPR "Tiny Desk Concert" in 2013 - not on-brand for them at all, right? - playing acoustic versions of a few songs from the then newly-released Trouble Will Find Me.

Setlist

1)  This Is The Last Time

2)  I Need My Girl

3)  Pink Rabbits

4)  Sea Of Love

This format is a good showcase for Matt leaning into the role as frontman because so much of what they can do comes down to the volume and inflection of the singer; his range goes from wispy whimsical indie stuff to a gritty, bluesy delivery that reminds me a little of Ben Ottewell.**  Without meticulous studio editing, how do the National sound as just a bunch of dudes playing music?  Well, a song that was already stripped down and, uh, limited, like "I Need My Girl" sounds reasonably good this way, and can bring in the trumpet for emphasis as needed.  Whereas Benjamin favorite "This Is The Last Time" is lacking something without the studio magic.  Best embodying the dichotomy, the straightforward early part of "Pink Rabbits" gets a great rendition, whereas the more involved latter half becomes a mess.  I think acoustic gigs highlight one lane that the National sometimes drive in... that isn't my particular preference for what I want to hear from them.  In fact, what I want from the National is the fact that they weave back and forth between their different lanes; if they didn't wear their various hats at the same time, they'd be a much less interesting band that wouldn't be the National.

I get the whole cramming people into a small room thing, but would it have killed them to give Bryce (I assume) enough room for a little chair so he didn't have to stand and lean over the piano like a doofus?  If he has back problems later in life, blame the music career.

Taking a rare break from chronological order... it's in the spirit of seeking sonic variety that I got to really appreciate the iTunes Festival sampler (technically the title is: iTunes Festival: London 2010).  I did already mention listening to that one in the last post about High Violet, but re-listened to here, for context.  

Track listing

1)  Anyone's Ghost

2)  Mistaken For Strangers

3)  Bloodbuzz Ohio

4)  Brainy

5)  Afraid Of Everyone

6)  Conversation 16

7)  England

8)  Available

With Bryan driving the ship, the straight ahead rockers easily cover for Matt not always hitting the notes quite perfectly with, well, energy.  So those sound good.  ("Brainy" is still a pretty worthless song, but the performance makes a game attempt to salvage it.)  The real revelation comes from the three-song punch that begins with "Afraid Of Everyone," still built around a low hum, still atmospheric, and pulled off, clearly a version of itself.  I cannot imagine what feat of engineering goes into translating something like "England" to a live setting without either simplifying it or turning it into a wall of noise.  Credit to the band, credit to the sound engineers, credit to the operation that turns the National into a good live band.

With that preamble (no, I didn't relisten to Boxer: Live In Brussels) out of the way, on to Rome.

Track Listing

1)  Runaway

2)  Eucalyptus

3)  Tropic Morning News

4)  New Order T-Shirt

5)  Don't Swallow The Cap

6)  Bloodbuzz Ohio

7)  The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness

8)  I Need My Girl

9)  Lemonworld

10)  The Geese Of Beverly Road

11)  Lit Up

12)  Alien

13)  Humiliation

14)  Murder Me Rachael

15)  England

16)  Graceless

17)  Fake Empire

18)  Smoke Detector

19)  Mr. November

20)  Terrible Love

21)  Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks

So, nice career-spanning batch of songs, hitting some of the essentials with a good dose of Frankenstein but some legit oldies too.  I'd forgotten all about "Lit Up."  One could complain about the fact that their two best records, Sleep Well and Boxer, are each only represented by one song apiece.  Okay, I guess I am complaining about that.  Can't please everyone.

It should be noted that this is not a complete show.  My limited time with the National has led me to highly doubt that they're all song-song-song without a lot of chatter along with it.  I get the desire to cut out the fluff and make a more manageable 1.5-ish hour collection that's more music and less talk... still kinda hate it.  Especially for a group that has some rotation of songs between gigs, each show has its own character; the stage banter is part of the character.  I always want a complete show.  

And, oh yeah, a complete rendition of the Rome show would also have included the other five songs they performed that night: "Conversation 16," "Deep End," "Day I Die," "Space Invader," and "About Today."  Cutting out two thirds of the songs from your newest record, including your main-set closer, is certainly a choice.  Omitting the penultimate song of the night that's also your deepest deep cut of the night is similarly a choice. 

In any event, as a not complete show but taste of live National music, Rome makes a strong case for the National as a live act.  The big hazards with this sort of music would be lack of energy or lack of nuance.  Neither in evidence here.  Same thing I praised the iTunes thing for: the songs sound like themselves, the soundscapes are still big.  They manage to sound polished enough that they can cut loose, e.g. they're so comfortable with these songs that even when fucking around it's going to sound nice.  I'm sure money helps with that; I'm sure having played together in a band with a stable lineup for over two decades helps even more.  What you're left with is a strong collection of tunes that'd keep most any listener engaged.  

Biggest wide-grin moments came early, middle, and late.  Early was hearing how much Matt was hamming it up during "Eucalyptus" - he even starts laughing at one point - all captured as part of the spontaneity that makes this gig a particular gig that's not one of the others.  (Plenty of other examples, like the "happy birthday" part dropped into "Smoke Detector.")  Middle, since I didn't look at the song list, was the wonderful unexpected transition from "Humiliation" into a bouncy "Murder Me Rachael," fuzzy guitars and neatly placed keyboard and horns leading the way to make them sound like kindred tunes.  Last big happy moment was recognizing just how punchy they were going to be able to make the outro to "Terrible Love," Bryan just flat out going crazy.

My vote for the best three-song run would be "Humiliation" -> "Murder Me Rachael" -> "England."  Lack of ability to track vocals hurt "Don't Swallow The Cap" a little earlier in the show, but on "Humiliation" Matt uses sheer vocal will power to make it sing; even when he doesn't hit the "right" notes, they're the right ones for the occasion.  That as mentioned above flows so nicely into a real unsung classic that's one of their best rockers.  Then that is followed by an incredible reproduction of "England," showing how the brass chords connect the bulk of the song with the National's best late-song shift ever.***  I was kinda tempted to scream along with the "afraid of the house" part.  Overall, I was mostly tempted to listen to a lot more National music.  I think I leave this record as a slightly more serious and less casual fan of this band, and one who'd get excited by the chance to see them live. 

A few last random complaints and such:  

- "The Geese Of Beverly Road" sounds more strident than the studio version.  That at least matches Bryan's drumming better that the sort of mismatch I complained about on Alligator, so I think it's a reasonable take on the song.

-Is that bullshit "I still owe money to the money, to the money I owe" line (from "Bloodbuzz") Matt's worst lyric ever?  It's so annoying to me on a visceral level.  Fingernails-on-chalkboard stuff, every time I hear the song.  I don't even particularly dislike anything else about BbO, although not a favorite, but ye gods do I ever hate that lyric.

- I know sounds can easily be sweetened, but that's a really enthusiastic reaction to "Graceless."  Is that one a big fan favorite?  If so... not totally sure why.  It's solid, but they've done better.****

- Speaking of fan favorites, although I'm not sure I really understand***** the tradition of the big all-audience singalong of "Crybaby Geeks," I guess I'm glad it made it onto a record; it's a part of the band's mythology.

And that's that.  Done.  I feel like I ought to say something for the occasion since this blog wouldn't exist if not for J continually encouraging me to check out the National mixing with my desire to make it into a big structured writing project.  I came in a bit skeptical, a bit curious, having fun with the whole thing, and leave a slightly skeptical fan, having fun with the whole thing.  Maybe not a die-hard.  A fan, nonetheless.  That sounds about right.

On some level this isn't quite the end, because there's a catalog to dive back through.  One of the drawbacks of really digesting something is that my listening to the earlier records and the later ones happened well over a year apart.  I remember that I got a kick out of Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers, but I'd be a liar if I claimed I remember how most of the tracks go exactly, or how exactly it fits into the evolution of the National's sound.  Would I still rank it above Alligator today?  I dunno, I'd have to listen to both records a bunch more.  I'm sure I will.  Maybe I'll write more about it sometime.  But maybe not.  I've probably already said anything interesting I'll ever be capable of saying about the National, honestly.  It's about time to be done with them.  And for the short term, to be done with writing about indie-rock.  It's time for the blog to have one fewer active "project."  I do have a few ideas for future blogging, but they will lay fallow until if and when I get around to them.  

 

'Till then, serve me the sky with a big slice of lemon.

*I am making a deeply hilarious joke, see, because we are all aware that the record is called Rome.

  

**best known for his work with Gomez, a longtime Benjamin favorite that currently exists in a longstanding Schrödinger's state of being neither an active band in the standard sense nor truly inactive.  I wish Gomez had put out like five more records.  Maybe I'd write a series on them.

***Yeah, best ever.  They do a lot of mid-song shifts where they throw in a second chorus at the end.  "England" is the best example.  Sorry, "Conversation 16," "This Is The Last Time," "Smoke Detector," etc.

****My last gasp of being a contrarian is that my own favorite National songs seem to only be the generally accepted favorite songs about half the time.

*****Understand on an emotional level, I mean.  I understand the concept that Matt steps backward from the mic and "conducts" the crowd in singing the song.  I don't get it.