The National Battle Sobriety

To me, The National aren't a band that sell out the Kool Haus. They're the group you listen to while nursing a whiskey alone on a bar stool, thinking about friends you've loved and lost.

But between 2007's very successful Boxer, the amount of airplay the Obama campaign gave their music and Interpol's sudden suckiness, The National have become the quintessential "big" Brooklyn band.

The Kool Haus show was the opening date for a smattering of summer shows in North America and Europe. Besides a charity outing earlier this year, it was the first time the band had played in six months, since they've been holed up recording Boxer's follow-up, which will be released later this year.

Tour-opening gigs are generally fairly messy shows, full of mishaps, and this one didn't disappoint on that count. It certainly was memorable, but not necessarily for the reasons a band wants.

Saxophonist Colin Stetson opened the show and introduced many Torontonians to what I'm sure was their first free-form jazz show. The less I say about this set the better, but I owe it to the reader to provide a full, unbiased account of this performance. So I'll turn to the comments I overheard during Stetson's set.

Tall, red-headed dude: "I played sax in high school, and when I made noises like this, I was called a douche."

Pretty girl: "It sounds like a whale giving birth."

Awesome guy: "So that's what it sounds like when a man makes loves to an unwilling goose."*

It's also important to point out that after hundreds of shows in polite Toronto, this may have been the first time I heard significant booing after songs. Seriously, I wonder what The National were thinking. I don't mean to slight Stetson too much, as he's obviously a very talented musician, but he was a completely horrible choice for a quasi indie rock show.

The only explanation is that someone made this decision while under the influence of something, in that state of inebriation where anything can seem like a good idea. Either that or someone was pulling an Andy Kaufman on the audience.

About 30 minutes after The National were supposed to hit the stage, they finally made it up there, at which point most people forgot about the agonizing wait in a venue that passes for a warehouse or airplane hangar from hell.

The National's songs are generally a "loud intimate," if there's such a thing, and are best known for Matt Berninger's distinctive baritone and non-sequitur lyrics. But playing before a few thousand people requires some capital R rock, and The National didn't disappoint there. They were backed by a very Broken Social Scene-ish instrumental section with occasional piano and accordion, and many of their songs swelled with the appropriate crescendo needed for a big room.

The National drew mostly from Boxer and 2005's Alligator. They didn't sound out of practice and "Baby, We'll Be Fine" and "Slow Show" drew the right amount of swaying and singing from an enthusiastic crowd. A couple of new songs were thrown into the mix and didn't suggest much tinkering with The National's formula, although "Vanderlylle Cry Baby" closed with squalling guitars that suggested an almost Sigur Ros sensibility.

It was unnoticeable for the first half of the performance, but Berninger (dressed in a sweet suit worthy of Neil Patrick Harris) seemed to grow thirstier and thirstier as the show progressed. That was understandable, I thought, considering his baritone probably needs a lot of H20. But soon it became somewhat apparent that the water he was drinking was more likely vodka and soda.

During "Fake Empire" — the song they're probably best known for — Berninger forgot the words of the first verse, told the band to keep playing while he started over, and later dropped his microphone. Then, while introducing the back-up instrumentalists, he accidentally introduced Colin Stetson as Kyle Stetson.

Straddling the Paul Westerberg performance line by a hair (where alcohol enhances a show, before it turns it into a mess), this culminated in an appropriately raucous "Mr. November," where Berninger accidentally threw his mic into the first row of fans. He then started swinging his mic stand wildly, Steven Tyler-style, and left the Dessner brothers inching towards the sides of the stage for some safety. The mic stand eventually made its way into the crowd during a fantastic rendition of set closer "About Today" from 2004's Cherry Tree EP.

All told, National fans got their money's worth with a solid show of sad drinking songs that they somehow figured out how to dance to. It was a worthy capital 'R' rock show that will be remembered in a sea of bland live indie rock.

Here's what The National played:

"Start A War"
"Brainy"
"Secret Meeting"
"Baby, We'll Be Fine"
"Slow Show"
"Squalor Victoria"
"Vanderlylle Cry Baby"
"Abel"
"All The Wine"
"Mistaken For Strangers"
"Ada"
"Blood Buzz"
"Apartment Story"
"Fake Empire"

Encore:
"Runaway"
"Mr. November"
"About Today"

(*OK, this was me.)

Find photos from the show here.