The Upstate Life

Thursday, June 21, 2007

TUL's Take: The National @ 9:30 Club

Holy crap, I've never attended a show with so many obnoxious douche nozzles (this is my new favorite insult btw) packed so tightly in one room. Apparently some asshats thought Beach Week was taking place on the floor of the 9:30 Club instead of Dewey last night. Once again, we provided the asshole magnet and everyone flocked towards our direction. TUL would like to send an obligatory FU to the following people:

1) The not one but two individuals who stepped on Rachel's feet while on their way towards getting another drink at the bar
2) The two incredibly drunken dudes singing along to the harder songs while carrying a conversation during the slower ones
3) The people shouting mindless shit while Matt Berninger was bantering between songs
4) The couple who didn't decide to show up until midway through The National's set to join the previously mentioned drunken party and obstruct our view (mainly Rachel's since she's 5', but still)
5) The air guitar guy, which was just sad to watch

As for the show itself, it was pretty good but nothing exceptional. Their performance during the few songs I was able to catch when they opened for Arcade Fire seemed to be a little better than last night's show, but I still don't understand the fascination over Boxer. Yes, it's a solid album, but the tracks from Alligator are so much better, at least when performed live. I just don't get how all these people like the ones previously mentioned have listened to or heard about The National. It made me immediately regret missing their shows at the Black Cat (Alligator didn't win us over until much later; I really didn't care for it at first but slowly started to grow on me). This was one of the worst 9:30 Club shows I've attended where the audience detracted so much from the performance. At least I know for a fact that Wilco will be nothing like what we endured last night. Setlist via The National forum:

Start a War
Mistaken for Strangers
Slow Show
Secret Meeting
Brainy
Baby, We'll be Fine
Lit Up
Racing like a Pro
Squalor Victoria
Apartment Story
Daughters of the Soho Riots
Ada
Fake Empire
Mr. November

+++Encore+++

Green Glove
Abel
About Today

Posted by Brett at 4:03 PM |