The Orpheum Theatre
Vancouver, British Columbia
The National have been one of my absolute favourite bands for at least the past four years - my second favourite band lyrically, behind the Mountain Goats. After having swooned over live National video after live National video, needless to say, I had pretty damned high expectations of them. Although my expectations weren't impossibly high, the National, as good as they were that late-November night at their first of two sold-out shows in a row at the immaculate Orpheum Theatre, still unfortunately fell short of them.
I always thought the National were one of the tightest bands today. However, there were a few moments when the band seemed completely out of sync: a missed drum-kick on "Secret Meeting," a mistimed lyric here or a completely missed lyric there.
Far more glaring - distracting and even unbearable - was some of Matt Berninger's vocal performance. Matt possesses one of my favourite voices ever: a velvet-smooth baritone so soothing and soft yet aggressive when it needs to be. However, he should NOT yell. EVER. I love well-executed yelling, but Matt's yelling was strictly piercing and very nearly ruined many of my favourite National songs including "Abel," "Mr. November" and "Secret Meeting." Matt's "intense" vocal performance also seemed to have gassed him quite a bit, as he kept running out of breath and thereby missing lyrics.
I admit I actually nodded off during some of the National's more sombre songs. I mainly attribute that to having been seated in the middle of the upper balcony. Not being immediately immersed in the band's and floor-level crowd's energy definitely doesn't help bring up my energy. When I'm so far removed from the action, I don't feel very motivated to do anything but pretty much stand still and keep my mouth shut: no dancing, no singing, not even mouthing along with lyrics. I'm sure I would have felt more alive if I was on the floor near the stage when Matt went into the crowd, but I could hardly even enjoy the moment vicariously, as I could only see Matt suddenly disappear and the distant crowd erupt. I'm sure the audience around me felt the same way which was why they were so still and silent as well.
Even some of the good aspects of the show were not perfect. Almost every song (if not every song) got the brass treatment. Being a huge brass fan, I was overjoyed, except the horns periodically drowned out the rest of the band.
Despite all of my complaints, the National did put on quite a good show. They played a generous four-song encore which included "Mr. November," "Terrible Love," "Lucky You" and an entirely acoustic version of "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks" which closed the show. In fact, the only songs I wanted to hear that the National didn't play were "Karen," "Lit Up," "Start A War," "Wasp Nest" and "Apartment Story."
Furthermore, my less-than-favourable seat in the upper balcony wasn't all bad. It did provide a great cinematic, panoramic view of the show which allowed me to simultaneously watch the slowly swirling patterned lights cascade across the large chandelier that hung from the painted domed ceiling and look down, down, down upon the band as it and the rows of audience members' heads in front of me were silhouetted by those same blue and white lights.
Finally, I have to hand it to the National for their visuals. A gigantic screen onstage provided a live feed of the band members backstage minutes before the show, up to and including the moment they came out. The screen also displayed shots of the audience from various angles throughout the night including the band's perspective. It sure beat every other "artistic" visual I've seen on screens or projected otherwise at shows (ahem, Feist).
So, a good show overall, despite technical problems and my physical and emotional distances from, well, the show. I'm going to give the National the benefit of a doubt and say perhaps they were just warming up/saving their A-game for their next night's performance. After all, the second show of back-to-back performances is usually the one to catch.
Click here for more photos of the National's first night at the Orpheum Theatre.
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