Consistency is an underrated skill. The world tends to focus largely on the Rembrandts, those who explode in a flash so brilliant it extinguishes the stars around them. In some regard destructive tendencies are romantic, they add a sense of drama that existence so often lacks, but down on earth it’s more important to be dependable than it is to be brilliant; true genius is where the two meet. The National is nothing short of genius. Each member is an absolute savant in their arena, and since 2005’s Alligator they have yet to release an album that shows even a modicum of weakness. As it turns out, the studio isn’t the only place where they achieve perfection.
Opening the show was recent indie darling Phoebe Bridgers. While the Palladium was a grade or two above what she would be expected to play, she handled herself expertly with exceptional performances and a darkly comic flair during her onstage banter. While her mellow tempo and songwriting was a bit of an oddity at such a notoriously rowdy venue, she was more than capable of holding the half-full venue in the palm of her hand. She mostly stuck to her crowd-pleasing songs for the short duration of her set, but she doubtlessly gained new fans with her glassy voice and slick lyricism and set the perfect tone to lead into The National.
As with all shows in Los Angeles, there was one extremely obnoxious out of towner whooping and hollering at inopportune times and claiming that “LA crowds suck because all they do is tweet” but there was nothing even remotely capable of ruining the excellent performance we would witness. As soon as Matt Berninger took the stage he oozed a casual, nonchalant cool. You’d be likely to compare him to a more musical Marc Maron, though that may be more due to physical appearance rather than personality. Yet even with that casual personality, he’s a man possessed when onstage. Each of his songs had a detailed improvisational choreography that helped bring the lyrics of the songs to life in greater detail than they ever could be felt on album. At more than one point he wandered out into the crowd to sing with various audience members. The most memorable of these excursions was during “Day I Die” where he grabbed a nearby concert-goer and pulled his face into the mic to sing with him for no less than three repetitions of the chorus.
At times Berninger’s theatrics threatened to overwhelm the rest of his band, but each time that threshold crept close both the Devendorf and Dessner brothers would remind you that they’re among the best instrumentalists in rock music today. The stage design was deceptively simple and utilized colored lights to add a splash of interest behind the main draw of the band, though the rainbow effects were exceptionally cool and made for great eye candy during the slow, emotional moments of the show. Each song felt carefully selected and placed in the setlist. They focused primarily on their latest record Sleep Well Beast though they clearly knew what hits to play from previous albums, and showed it with crowd-pleasers like “Graceless” and “Mr.November” populating the latter half of the track. Briefly, if only for a moment, the whole of the Palladium was transferred to a space of openness and vulnerability that in LA is all too rare.
So what else is left to say then? The National being one of rock’s best acts in the current era should come as a surprise to no one, and with nearly 20 years of touring under their belts, of course they’re good onstage. But there’s more to it than just that. The National is dependable where other bands are suspect, barring the addition of Bryce Dessner in ‘01 their lineup hasn’t changed since ’99, and their sound has only improved or shifted in small increments since Alligator. That’s the true strength of The National; their beauty is bare and naked for you, they will not blind you. Instead, they slowly care for you, day after day, with a level of dedication and excellence that exceeds all expectations and firmly plants them as the best rock band currently making music.
SETLIST:
Phoebe Bridgers:
Smoke Signals
Georgia
Killer
Me & My Dog
Motion Sickness
Scott Street
The National:
Nobody Else Will Be There
The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness
Walk it Back
Guilty Party
Swallow the Cap
Bloodbuzz Ohio
I Need My Girl
Green Gloves
Lemonworld
Born to Beg
I’ll Still Destroy You
Slow Show
Sorrow
Day I Die
Carin at the Liquor Store
Graceless
Rylan
Fake Empire
Encore:
Light Years
Mr.November
Terrible Love
Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks (Acoustic Audience Sing-Along)
Photo Credit: Sharon Alagna
Leave a Comment