Sitting At The Rock Show

Sitting at a rock show is weird. How can the band feed off of their fans energy, if there’s no energy to be had? Sitting at BAM, watching The National, I realized how much the mood is transformed when the band is performing in front of a seated crowd at a fancy music hall. Where energy is lost, prestige is gained.

The huge success of The National over the last few years is a little baffling. Not that they don’t make good music, but because they are far from groundbreaking, and do not have any strange quirks. Their albums never came across as the type that hit instantly, but rather as the type that grow and grow on you until it’s all you listen to. It seems that their success is a direct product of critical praise and touring with the right bands at the right time.

On Friday night, with the help of some orchestral accompaniment, they stated their case to the crowd at BAM. The sound was great, and the additional instruments added a little something, but for the most part it was nothing special. The was little extra there to make the experience any more rewarding than on record. The occasional great moment came when the band hit the crowd with their most explosive songs like “Abel,” “Mr November,” and “Apartment Story,” but their odd sequencing of songs often counteracted the affects of them. Even when Sufjan Stevens accompanied the band on piano for “Ada,” there was a feeling that it should have been better.

Former Sufjan Stevens collaborator My Brightest Diamond opened and was considerably more entertaining. Her mix is classical, opera, and rock elements felt like a better fit for the venue. Wearing a unique and brightly-colored dress, she confessed to the crowd that her hairstyle was inspired by Roy Orbison, before launching into his classic “It’s Over.” As good as her performance was, I never did understand why there was an arrangement of ladders on the stage.