The National played an Opera House last night, and brought along their own orchestra. At one point during the show there were 15 musicians on stage, and yet The National retained the intimate “chamber pop” at which they have excelled. The sound quality and acoustics in this classic venue were superb and complimented the performance. The setting also offered a stark contrast during moments when the rock and roll side of this band came through — in particular the surreal moment when Matt left the stage and screamed the profane chorus of “Mr. November” while standing in the lap of some elderly BAM patrons.
When we recorded The National in a rainy outdoor Pier 17 in August, the band’s excellent performance was marred by a terrible sound system with static and crackling throughout. Last night the classic opera house acoustics and fine system favored the band and our recording reflects the quality of the sound. We were positioned in the second row of the mezzanine with a direct line to both PA stacks, and we are extremely pleased with the results. Enjoy!
This recording is now available to Download in FLAC and MP3 at Archive.org [HERE].
The National
2008-02-22
Gilman Opera House
BAM Brooklyn Next Festival
Brooklyn, NY USA
Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Mezzanine Row B
Left Center Seating Area
DPA 4021’s > Marantz PMD-660 (Oade BCM) > 16bit 44.1 wav > Soundforge (set fades, level adjustment, slight eq) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac
Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper 2008-02-23
Setlist:
[total time 1:33:52]
01 Start A War
02 Brainy
03 Baby We’ll Be Fine
04 Slow Show
05 Secret Meeting
06 Mistaken For Strangers
07 Squalor Victoria
08 Abel
09 Wasp’s Nest
10 [band introductions]
11 Racing Like A Pro
12 Ada **
13 Apartment Story
14 [new song – no title given]
15 Karen
16 Fake Empire
17 [encore break]
18 City Middle
19 Mr. November
20 About Today
21 [second encore break]
22 Gospel
**Sufjan Stevens on piano
If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The National, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from them directly.
I should mention that Sufjan Stevens was a guest on the piano for Ada.
looks like quite a show!
does ANYONE know what the music walked onto the stage to was? so gorgeous….
email me: [email protected]
This is funny. Ironically, the music playing when they came out on stage on Friday was in fact Bon Iver, “Flume”, an artist and song that I would record live the very next night, as you can see above!
wow! thank you so much
Thanks so much for this. This was the best National show I have ever seen, and the recording is really fantastic!
Thank you for this great recording.
Gospel is absolutely beautiful.
Hi! I’m a Portuguese fan and i would like to have and listen that recording before the concert in Lisbon (12 May – i already have tickets!!!)
Thank You
NS
thanks for this – sounds great!
Great show that sounds excellent as always. Thanks!
thanks for the recording – it sounds fantastic. these guys are great!
Hi nyctaper…are there mp3s available for this show? Thanks in advance!
[new song – no title given] = So Far Around the Bend