Bank Of America Pavillion

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The National needs to own its depression.

The band’s albums are damn-near brilliant at capturing upper-middle class suburban ennui (only Arcade Fire does it better today). But live, frontman Matt Berninger undercuts the glorious loneliness by stepping out of character. You never see Robert Smith or Morrissey joking about “doing another depressing song.” It’s a minor quibble with a mostly great show, but it’s still a legitimate complaint. You can’t have it both ways, either write some happy songs to play when you’re happy or commit to selling the sublime soul-crushing lassitude.

A few misplaced smiles and jokes aside, the National killed it last night at the Bank of America Pavilion.

The Strokes and Interpol re-booted modern disaffection in pop music. The National are perfecting it — they don’t complain vaguely about being bored and isolated, they drop targeted attacks on the agents of deep, deep world-weariness.

It gave me shivers to hear Berninger, in that perfect baritone (a voice which has it’s own Facebook page ), sing ”You say you stayed home alone with the flu/Find out from friends that wasn’t true/Go out at night with your headphones on again/And walk through the Manhattan valleys of the dead.” And then “Didn’t anybody tell you how to gracefully disappear in a room?” And then “I don’t have the drugs to soar/I don’t have the drugs to sort it out, sort it out.”

These words, these bits of poetry somewhere between Fitzgerald and Julian Casablancas, were framed perfectly by a wall of noise. Adding a two-man brass section, the band surround the lyrics with this huge, shaky sound. No heroic guitar solos or long keyboard intros, the band was almost a single instrument pushing each song to its natural crescendo.

It’s the type of music that can crush you psychically . Maybe that’s why Berninger breaks from character, to give us a break from the weight. Personally, I’d rather he keep smothering me for two hours and leave me to ponder my meaningless existence under the silvery, silvery Citibank lights.

State Radio “Man in the Hall” @ Bank of America Pavilion | Citizen ...

The members of state radio are american…they are humane and loving americans who do service projects with their fans at pretty much every town they stop in with a non profit organization called calling all crows. second. THEY ARE AN INDEPENDENT GROUP! these guys could get a label and record deal in two seconds if they wanted money. the band is just three great guys making music, supporting peace and civil rights and have done so much more good in there lives than you.

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