The National at The Greek Theater and Hollywood Forever Cemetery–Review and Photos

Aug 13th, 2013 in Music

It was quite a California weekend for The National. After the band regaled the Outside Lands crowd on Friday in San Francisco (with the Kronos Quartet and Bob Weir invited on stage to assist), The National made their way down the coast to LA’s Greek Theater on Saturday, and then played the best show of the weekend Sunday night at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. We weren’t about to miss ’em and caught both fantastic shows in LA. Ultimately, California got Nationalized again.

The National have been on tour since early June in support of their Best-0f-2013 album Trouble Will Find Me so naturally there were those voicing concern that the band would be a bit stale and going through the motions. Those are the preposterous thoughts of un-believers! Singer Matt Berninger (with his ubiquitous glass of wine), the Dessner glimmer twins, and the Devendorf rhythm brothers (perfectly augmented by horns/keys/vocals/utility players Ben Lanz and Kyle Resnick) together co-mingled with and gathered energy from the crowds, ultimately playing each night as if it might be their last. This felt especially the case on Sunday given the grave(yard) environs and the perfect audience.

Having seen the band in concert beginning in 2007, they have never (that we know of) failed to capture the audience with their superb musicianship (it has to be said: Bryan Devendorf rules the world on drums), Berninger’s darkly evocative lyrics and commanding delivery, and the band’s crowd-cavorting, all of which enables them to connect at a deeper level. What this weekend reminded us is that this National rapture might first occur on Bloodbuzz Ohio one night, Squalor Victoria another night, or still another night on Humiliation. But it WILL occur. Each audience member will hear a self-deprecating line that resonates deep within or a venomous line that will cause them to scream into the sky. Or all of the above. And in this that person will know they’re a regular and will be lifted up.

On Saturday at the pastoral and placid Greek Theater, the band strolled into a setlist dominated by songs off the new album (beginning with I Should Live In Salt and Don’t Swallow The Cap), but also filled out with plenty of older favorites. Given that Trouble Will Find Me is their “quietest” album yet, there was some concern that the band would sleepwalk through the songs. But from the start the band played with an energy and verve that soundly enlivened the new songs. Still it was on the older Bloodbuzz Ohio that the band first enraptured the older Greek crowd, and thereafter The National had them in the palms of their hands. Highlights of the main set at the Greek included an anger-fueled Squalor Victoria (with Berninger’s first signature knee-buckling) balanced by forlorn horns, I Need My Girl with Bryce Dessner’s adroit headstock-smashing of his (extra) guitar, Slipped (with its stripped-down, drum-less arrangement), Pink Rabbits (our favorite song off the new album), and (of course) England and Fake Empire. Along the way, Berninger endeared himself further to the crowd by expressing his absolute love for his new hometown (LA) and how the show was a homecoming for him. Throughout the set we marveled at all of Berninger’s old and new Los Angeles song-references (no matter how disparaging) and how the move might have been foreshadowed thereby.

And then, as with every National show, it was encore-time and the now-expected quantum leap. Humiliation was revelatory and proved it is encore-worthy. Next up was the one-two punch of Mr. November and Terrible Love. Berninger couldn’t help himself and came out into the crowd not only on Mr. November (as he always does), but also on Terrible Love, each time surrounded by fans screaming along in glee with him. As they have done each night on the tour, the band closed with an acoustic, sans-microphone sing-a-long of Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks. It’s a perfect way to end their show (though at the Greek a good part of the crowd seemed not to know the lyrics or to be able/willing to sing along–that issue would be soundly rectified the next night).

Sunday’s Hollywood Forever Cemetery setting and audience stood in stark contrast to Saturday night’s. Gone were the plastic seats, order and somewhat-sedate crowd. In were the blankets, picnics, a more ardent, grassroots crowd, and (surprisingly) a far superior sound mix. Though the setlist wasn’t much different from the night before, the comfortable (not comforting) surroundings and engaged crowd made the night particularly special. You could sense the band being swept up in the HFC sense-surround. It could not have hurt that the Dessners’ mother was in attendance. And so The National were particularly on their game this night, vacillating comfortably between bathos and banter (“It’s a pretty dead crowd out there,” Berninger remarked as he gazed out over the tombstones, before breaking out the penis and zipper commentary) and pathos (the much-loved relationship song About Today hit deep). In between were sweet songs for his wife (I Need My Girl), less-than-sweet songs for his wife (Conversation 16 with its “I was afraid I’d eat your brains”), Anyone’s Ghost, This is the Last Time, and stalwarts Mistaken For Strangers (also the title of a not-to-be-missed new documentary by Berninger’s brother Tom), All The Wine (we had not heard since 2007), Abel (which was redeemed after a somewhat perfunctory performance the night before) and signature song Slow Show. And then it was on to the superb encore. When Berninger came out into the crowd on Mr. November at the Cemetery there was no hesitation as the crowd rushed to rally around the singer. For a brief moment it was like being back with The Clash in 1979 at the Santa Monica Civic. After a tremendous, crowd-raging Terrible Love, the boys (backed by fine openers Daughter) sent the audience off into the night again with Vanderlyle. But this time the crowd knew every word of the song and sang along with gleeful abandon. And all was again right with the world.

See the setlists and more photos below.

The Greek Setlist:

“I Should Live in Salt”
“Don’t Swallow the Cap”
“Anyone’s Ghost”
“Mistaken for Strangers”
“Sea of Love”
“Demons”
“Afraid of Everyone”
“Conversation 16”
“Squalor Victoria”
“I Need My Girl”
“This Is the Last Time”
“Heavenfaced”
“All the Wine”
“Abel”
“Bloodbuzz Ohio”
“Slow Show”
“Pink Rabbits”
“Graceless”
“England”
“Humiliation”
“Fake Empire”