The National @ Beacon Theatre - New York, NY - December 16, 2011 - Photos and review by Jane Hu
As long-time fans of the Brooklyn-based five-piece are well aware,
The National has more than earned this past week's six-night residency at the
Beacon Theatre in New York. The sold-out Beacon shows mark the final dates in support of
High Violet, the May 2010 album whose growing success has seen the band touring nonstop for the past year and a half. Add to that the nine years, four albums, and two EPs before this, and it becomes slightly easier to spot the tireless footsteps that trail the band's patient but steady rise.
As someone who has seen six (!)
High Violet shows (and I won't even give the number of National shows in total), I'll spare you all the effusive and difficult task of trying to describe their music and instead take the liberty of listing The Good and The Bad of the last two nights' shows.
THE GOOD:
The Visuals. Michael Brown's visuals were by far my favorite addition to the production, a subtle repetition of images and colors designed to evoke the exact mood(iness) of The National's music, whether that's a lazy evening floating on a rowboat in the swamp or looking out at the bokeh kaleidoscope of lights from the back of a New York taxi at 4am.
The rest of the time, the projection didn't consist of pre-recorded images but rather a visually-filtered livestream of the concert itself from the perspective of the band members. Three minutes before they came on, there was the feed of the band getting ready in the green room and walking down the flights of stairs to the stage level. Towards the end of the show, there was the b&w almost-UV-like mirror projection of how the audience would look from the stage's perspective - kind of trippy. But the highlight for me was the superimposed closeup livestreams of each of the many talented musicians on that stage, a visual representation of the layers that make up The National's complex music. That and the Bryan Devendorf-cam -- that man sure can drum.
The Changing Setlist. The good thing about playing the same venue for six nights in a row is that you get the time and stability to change up your setlist. And when you have a back catalog as strong as The National's, that's the least you can do for your fans. IMHO, Saturday's setlist was significantly stronger than Friday's, with both of
Alligator's beautiful
"Geese of Beverly Road" and
"Daughters of the Soho Riots".
The Guests. Friday's show got Saturday's beat here. Trey Anastasio (
Phish), Richard Perry (
Arcade Fire), opener Shara Worden (
My Brightest Diamond), and others shared the stage at various points Friday. Not to mention an entire brass and string section. As much as I love horns, the brass was - at times - a little distracting. The strings were generally gorgeous, especially the guest violinist on new song
"I Need My Girl". You'd have a cold heart not to swoon a little during that.
The Encore. Definitely a few songs longer than the encores in past shows, the band peppered these with crowd favorites
"Terrible Love" and
"Mr. November" (though Berninger skipped the crowd jumping on Friday, presumably to save energy for Saturday). Final surprise and highlight was an acoustic free-for-all version of
"Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks", which hadn't been a notable track for me before hearing it just belted from the lungs of 3,000 adoring fans, accompanied by some solo horns and light acoustic instrumentation.
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