The National @ Bowery: Heirs To The Glimmering World

Last night marked the third of a five-night residency for local heroes, The National, at Bowery Ballroom. Since their much-hyped tour with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah a few years back (for the record, I was one of the few who came out for The National on that trek), The National has gone on to become a household name with the back-to-back releases of the brilliant, Alligator, and this year's equally impressive, Boxer (our review here).

Though The National has a handful of albums under their belt, last night's setlist (see below) focused mostly on these latter two releases. The 85-minute set was near perfect - its only flaw being a multitude of unfortunate mic problems. While The National did a fine job opening for The Arcade Fire earlier this month, that evening was all about the Canadian conglomerate; last night was The National's time to shine and that they surely did with great ease.

Highlights of the evening included the always explosive Alligator staples, 'Mr. November' + 'Abel' as well as Boxer crowd faves such as 'Mistaken For Strangers', 'Ada' and of course, the album-opening 'Fake Empire'. For 'Abel', frontman Matt Berninger crawled atop the Bowery speaker system and leaped into the crowd shouting the song's refrain of 'my mind's not right/my mind's not right'. Spectacular.



The National will perform tonight and tomorrow to more sold-out crowds at the Bowery. Missed your chance to see them this go 'round? The band will be back in NYC on August 17th with Takka Takka at South Street Seaport. The show is free to the public, but The Music Slut recommends getting there hours early if you plan to be anywhere close to the stage. For a full list of tour dates outside of The Big Apple, hop over to The National's MySpace page here.



Setlist: Start A War/Brainy/Secret Meeting/Slow Show/Lit Up/Squalor Victoria/Baby, We'll Be Fine/90-Mile Water Wall/Apartment Story/Geese Of Beverly Road/Ada/Mistaken For Strangers/Daughters Of The Soho Riots/Mr. November/Fake Empire//Gospel/Abel/About Today

MP3: The National - Start A War