It’s not like we were actually
expecting them to creep out of shadows, lit up alright with flickering candlelight
capturing the outline of their hardened features (which reminded us of Bruce Springsteen
with Leonard Cohen’s wise old eyes) chain pipe-smoking, sipping a rough malt,
the walls draped in velvet, the world slipping slowly out of sync in the background.
This is the 100 Club after all, the overrated 100 Club, the lighting’s rubbish
and the walls certainly aren’t covered in expensive fabric. But it’s kind of how
we visualized them, and though we were inevitably primed for disappointment on
that front there’s still surprise at how regular and unsettled they appear. The
National are responsible for one of the year’s most sumptuous records, in
‘Alligator’, and two notable albums before that. It is dusky American songwriting
at its most toiled and tailored. The songs conjure up awkward situations, difficult
loves, perfect moments, in grand expansive settings. They are widescreen filmmakers
without the luxury of pictures. But here before us they are something altogether
different. They’re dressed in t-shirts and jeans, or look like they’ve come in
from cutting wood in the forest outside (again, of course, we know this to be
wrong – there is only pollution and brick-built high-rise the other side of this
front door), there are distant, vacant and bemused gazes, and lead man Matt Berniger
is awkward and wiry with distracted facial hair, possessed by peculiar flinches
that the music seems to drive out of him off the beat. At one point he stumbles
off the stage, lights up a cigarette and watches his own band, swaying like an
anonymous observer, caught up. He appears drunk, but we don’t think he is. He
appears a little like he’s just fallen in off the street, but we don’t think he
has. But after some time it becomes clear that this is exactly right. In
spite of their appearance they have the drive, and we already know they have the
creativity, the imagination, to play themselves above reality. Though this live
show dips in and out and is more often than not a little ragged around the edges,
one hint of reality that the recorded versions of these songs smudge out. Some
songs, ‘Lit Up’, ‘Karen’, ‘Cherry Tree’ and ‘Driver, Surprise Me’, appear perfectly
formed, precisely played, deeply emoted. Some, like ‘Secret Meeting’, ‘Astronauts’
and ‘Slipping Husband’, are pencil sketches rather than the familiar fusion of
dark colours. Some, like ‘Friend Of Mine’, ‘Abel’, ‘Mr November’ and ‘Available’
are so tearaway rampant that bits are falling off them in the resulting whirlwind,
the latter seeing Berniger collapsing into and over the drum kit. Some, like the
awesome ‘The Geese Of Beverley Road’, flit between the three and many head places
they don’t on record. There is an air of weariness pervading the performance,
perhaps down to this being the last night of a five week European run, which may
have blurred the image slightly. But even though what we see tonight is scuffed,
there is a recognisable craft underneath and they do one of the year’s finest
albums justice. And besides, it can make for a fine gig when you can’t fathom
quite how they held together for the duration. Relevant sites:
http://www.americanmary.com
James Berry for Crud Magazine 2004©
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|
| 04/05 British Sea Power - Live - Scala, London
04/05 Eels - Live - Royal Festival Hall, London
04/05 Doves, Elbow, Longview - Carling 24 , Manchester
04/05 Joy Zipper, ICA London
04/05 The National - 100 Club, London
04/05 Redjetson / Liberez / Twentysixfeet - Marquee, London
04/05 The Warlocks - Bethnal Green Working Men's Club
12/04 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - ULU, London
12/04 Elbow - Live -Brixton Academy, London
12/04 Franz Ferdinand - Live - Alexandra Palace, London
12/04 Morning Runner - Kings College London
12/04 Carling Weekend Reading Festival 2005
12/04 Sigur Rós - Brixton Academy, London
12/04 Crud Top 20 Albums 2005 |  |
January 2001
July - August 2001
September - October 2001
November - December 2001
January - March 2002
April - July 2002
August - December 2002
January - March 2003
May - August 2003
November 2003
January - March 2004
April - September 2004
October - December 2004
January - March 2005
April - December 2005
January - August 2006
September - December 2006
January - September 2007
October - December 2007
January - May 2008
June-December 2008
| | |
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