The National And Patti Smith Deliver Incendiary Rock And Roll At Madison Square Garden Show

The National has come a long way from the New York City post-punk revival scene when they first emerged along with their contemporaries Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol, LCD Soundsystem and the Strokes. Since the band’s formation in the Big Apple in 1999, the National—whose members Matt Berninger, guitarists/keyboardists Aaron and Bryce Dessner, drummer Bryan Devendorf and bassist Scott Devendorf all hail from Cincinnati—has drawn both a highly loyal following and critical acclaim with each successive album release.

And while certainly, the National’s audience is more in line with older, indie music fans who came of age in the early to mid-2000s, the group’s profile has heightened of late, most likely due to Taylor Swift’s guest appearance on the National’s most recent album, the excellent First Two Pages of Frankenstein (And Aaron Dessner previously collaborated with Swift as co-producer on the pop star’s Folkore and Evermore albums).

Prior to their Madison Square Garden show Friday evening, one wondered if the National’s thoughtful yet brooding, melancholic music would successfully translate inside the “World’s Greatest Arena”—a much bigger stage compared to the previous ones that they had been accustomed to. It turned out not to be a concern during their two-and-a-half-hour set—in fact, the group’s electrifying performance perfectly suited the venue’s cavernous environs, especially from the charismatic Berninger, who roamed the stage and at least one point went into the pit area within reach of the audience upfront. The guitar work of the Dessner brothers and the rhythm playing of the Devendorf brothers further added to the pathos and explosiveness of the music.

A sizable portion of the set was devoted to tracks from Frankenstein, including “Once Upon a Poolside,” which opened the show, “Alien,” “Grease In Your Hair,” “Tropical Morning News” and “New Order T-Shirt.” The rest of the show covered most of the band’s consistent and breathtaking discography, including “Bloodbuzz Ohio,” “Fake Empire,” “The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness,” “Day I Die” and “Graceless.” The encore included the evening’s finale, “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks,” in which the audience practically took over the singing away from Berninger. It brought a gentle end to what was an emotional yet cathartic event.

Not surprisingly, the legendary Patti Smith was equally impressive with her performance as the National’s opening act; one can trace the influence of the Godmother of Punk on the National and numerous other artists (That was evident with both acts throwing verbal bouquets at each other during their sets). Even though their appearance lasted only an hour, Smith and her band – guitarists Lenny Kaye and Jackson Smith, bassist/keyboardist Tony Shanahan and drummer Jay Dee Daugherty—made the most of that time with a set devoted to perennial Smith classics such as “People Have the Power,” “Dancing Barefoot” and her most famous hit “Because the Night” as well as poignant tributes to Neil Young (a cover of “After the Gold Rush”) and the late Tom Verlaine (a cover of Television’s “Guiding Light”). Quite appropriately, Smith brought down the house with “Gloria,” off her iconic 1975 album debut Horses, which still mesmerized and further proved the healing power and ecstatic freedom of rock and roll.

The National

Set List

Once Upon a Poolside

Eucalyptus

Tropic Morning News

New Order T-Shirt

Demons

Don’t Swallow the Cap

Bloodbuzz Ohio

The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness

I Need My Girl

Apartment Story

Conversation 16

Cherry Tree

Abel

Alien

Grease in Your Hair

Day I Die

Smoke Detector

Pink Rabbits

England

Graceless

Fake Empire

About Today

Encore:

Light Years

Mr. November

Terrible Love

Space Invader

Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks

Patti Smith and Her Band

Set List

People Have the Power

Footnote to Howl

Waiting Underground

Guiding Light

Because the Night

Nine

Dancing Barefoot

Beneath the Southern Cross

Pissing in a River

After the Gold Rush

Gloria