... The National, The Bell House, Brooklyn, March 12

The wifey and I had been planning a little mini break to New York City for about a month. It was the Monday before we left when the post came across my twitter - The National were to play two shows in Brooklyn at The Bell House featuring songs from their upcoming album High Violet. The next best part: the tickets were going on sale that day. The next next best part: $20. I won't tell you how much we're paying to see their two Massey Hall shows later this year, but it's more than $20.

So, yeah, we got tickets. And on Friday, during one of the fiercest rain and wind storms New York City has ever seen, we get on the F train and head into deepest, darkest, hippest Brooklyn.

The Bell House, well, let's just say that chances are that if you didn't know where it was you wouldn't actually find it by accident. It's location is quite similar to Kool Haus in Toronto in that it's in a waterfront industrial area where there isn't a lot of foot traffic. The club itself is made up of two rooms, one of which is a bar and the other is a concert hall. It's not terribly large and was a perfect setting for The National, whose songs fall into a a little sub genre I call "Night Music" - songs that feel immediate and personal but also sound better in the dark when you can really concentrate on and connect with them.

Yeah, we got a setlist

A good half of the show was made up of songs from High Violet , which was played in its entirety and almost in the same running order (if Wikipedia is to be believed). The songs follow the template set by Alligator and Boxer, melancholy but romantic songs where lead singer Matt Berninger's baritone rides along the band's solid rhythm.

The band itself was augmented by a series of sidemen so that at times the smallish stage seemed overloaded with 12 people (including a keyboardist, violin player, two horn players, and an extra percussionist). To top it off, guitarist Aaron Dessner and bass player Scott Devendorf would swap instruments from time to time (and let's not even count the track that featured both of them playing bass!)

This shifting and expanding line-ups on songs is one of the interesting things about seeing The National live. Aaron and Scott (the band features two pairs of brothers, so referring to members by last names can get confusing) swap instruments regularly. Sideman Padma Newsome seems to be able to play any instrument thrown at him and also provides backing vocals. Watch closely and you'll notice that it's not always the same members singing backup - Drummer Bryan Devendorf might provide backup on one song, his brother on another, Aaron and Scott on a third. These are all excellent musicians who take their sound seriously - if a voice, instrument, or playing style does not fit into a song it's not shoehorned in for the sake of being there.

And since they all play so well together you don't really notice these shifts and flourishes. It's the same when you see a band like the Rolling Stones or Bruce Spingsteen. All of them have honed their craft and talent so well that it seems natural and easy. It reminds me of when Pete Townsend wrote in a letter regarding a young Eddie Van Halen that while he was a great technical guitar player, there was little substance there. The letter ended with "When you have a smile that good, who cares?" (I'm paraphrasing here, I'll look it back up the next time I'm at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame).

Of the new songs played there were some standouts. "Bloodbuzz Ohio" has been staple for some time in their live set, and they've refined it very nicely. "England" moved over the stage and the crowd in ever increasing waves of sound. But the standout was "Terrible Love", which builds into the sound of a beautiful apocalypse like Arcade Fire's "No Cars Go". The older songs in the set were well represented also. "Mistaken for Strangers" had the same steady rhythm for most of the song, but went into a much jazzier ending, as did "Fake Empire". "Secret Meeting" seemed almost cathartic, but the standout was "Mr November".

It's a show stopper on the best of nights, but with Berninger climbing over the crowd to the back of the room and then back again as he sung the defiant chorus "I won't fuck us over/I'm Mr November" it was hard not to believe that this wasn't just boasting, but a statement to its fans from a band ready to make the leap.