2654 search results for ""The National""

The National: December 12, 2011 Beacon Theatre – FLAC and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Songs

December 15, 2011
By

[Photos courtesy of Pete Matthews for Feast of Music]

The National are closing out a massive two years of recording and near-constant touring in style here in New York, with a run of sold-out shows at the Beacon Theatre that have featured many of our favorite bands (The War on Drugs, on this night) as openers. Not many years ago, I could not have conceived of a band that makes moody, melodramatic indie rock of their particular variety selling out large NYC venues like the Beacon and Terminal 5; look what else is playing in those spots these days, and it ain’t much like The National.

Indeed, with their style of music – which feels intimate and personal by definition – it has to be a challenge to play a somewhat impersonal big venue, even one as gorgeous as the Beacon. Singer Matt Berninger made a number of self-deprecating references to that during the show – mocking his awkward stage banter, and the band’s lack of “sexy” songs – but all joking aside, he and his bandmates proved every bit that they belonged on that stage. The band also debuted two new songs, “Rylan” (streaming below) and “I Need My Girl”, which we hope will appear on their next record (whenever that is).

But the show’s true story was the encore. While encores many can feel perfunctory, The National turned theirs into a true highlight, upping the intensity and even sending Berninger crowdsurfing through the first several rows at the Beacon during “Terrible Love”. The band closed out the show with an unamplified “Venderlyle Crybaby Geeks” with the members of War on Drugs – a unique way to end night one of what should be one of the most compelling runs for them yet.

I recorded this set with DPA 4021 microphones in a mobile configuration. Recording in a boomy theater without a mic stand is a bit tricky, and there is some analog hiss in quiet parts due to having to boost the levels significantly, but overall I am pleased with this. Enjoy!

Download the MP3 and FLAC files and stream the entire show at the Live Music Archive [HERE]

Stream the entire show

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Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. This set will appear on the Live Music Archive after it has been hosted here for a couple of weeks. Please do not upload it to the LMA “for us”. Please respect our requests.  Thanks!

The National
2011-12-12
Beacon Theater
New York, NY USA

Recorded by acidjack
for ncytaper.com

DPA 4021 (FOB, DFC)>Denecke PS/2>Sony PCM-M10 (24/44.1)>24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, EQ, amplify and balance, downsample to 16bit)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Runaway
02 Anyone’s Ghost
03 Mistaken For Strangers
04 Secret Meeting
05 Bloodbuzz Ohio
06 Slow Show
07 Squalor Victoria
08 Afraid of Everyone
09 Conversation 16
10 Rylan
11 [banter]
12 Son
13 Available
14 Cardinal Song
15 Sorrow
16 [banter]
17 Lucky You
18 England
19 Fake Empire
20 [encore break]
21 I Need My Girl
22 Mr. November
23 Terrible Love
24 [banter]
25 Venderlyle Crybaby Geeks [unamplified]

If you enjoyed this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The National, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from The National’s Shop [HERE].

The National at Webster Hall Studio (MTV Taping) – Setlist and Review

February 9, 2011
By


[photo courtesy of Mina K]

I spoke to The National’s excellent engineer Brendan last night after their show at The Studio at Webster Hall. The band flew back recently from an Australia tour and forwarded all of their equipment to Brussels, where they will begin a tour of Europe in a few days. The band had to rent equipment for last night’s MTV taping, but the performance didn’t suffer at all. The set time of 9 p.m. was strict, as the band began only a few minutes after the hour with “Runaway”. Matt was in a playful mood, with abundant joking banter in between songs. Highlighted songs on the written setlist translated into songs contemplated for airing on MTV.com, which provided Matt with a punch line — “this next song is not highlighted, so its ok if we f* it up”. Despite persistent shouts of requests (including one fan who screamed for Ada after every song), the band stuck to the list which included much of the latest album High Violet, a few standard older choices and one semi-rare song (“Lucky You”). The National completed the set with a rousing “Terrible Love”, which featured Matt stalking through the entire audience straight to the back of the floor where he climbed the cage around a video camera and then crowd surfed until the end of the song. The set concluded at 10:20pm, and despite some calls for an encore, the house lights and music came up and the set was over.

This show will be available for viewing at MTV’s “Live In NYC” site on February 21.

We didn’t record this show, but The National have been on nyctaper plenty of times [search here] or [here].

The National
2011-02-08
The Studio at Webster Hall
New York NY
MTV Taping

Setlist
[approximate time 1:15]
01 Runaway
02 Anyone’s Ghost
03 Bloodbuzz Ohio
04 Slow Show
05 Squalor Victoria
06 Afraid of Everyone
07 Conversation 16
08 Lucky You
09 Abel
10 England
11 Fake Empire
12 Mr. November
13 Terrible Love

The National at Maxwell’s Revisited – Flac and MP3 Downloads (Two Sources) + Streaming Songs

December 21, 2010
By


[photo by mysticchildz]

We believe we over-extended ourselves on the recording of The National at Maxwell’s that appeared on the site last week [here]. Acidjack and I both recorded four tracks at the show, and we combined the eight tracks for that recording. The sound has been equally described as “amazing” and as “compressed”, but ultimately to me it sounds “too busy”. So we’ve decided to simplify the recording, split our sources and offer two separate recordings of the set.

There is a complete review of this show at the original post [here].

What appears below for download are these two recordings, nyctaper: Neumann microphones mixed with a soundboard feed, and acidjack: DPA and Schoeps microphones, four channel audience mix.

Stream “Apartment Story” (nyctaper source):

[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/N0207National2223/Apartment%20Story.mp3]

Stream “Bloodbuzz Ohio” (acidjack source):

[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/N0207National2223/national2010-12-08maxwells_acidjack-04.mp3]

These Recordings are now both available to Download in FLAC and MP3 and to Stream at Archive.org
nyctaper version [HERE]
acidjack version [HERE]

The National
2010-12-08
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ USA

Digital Master Recording
Four Channel Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + Neumann KM-150s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundar ies) > flac

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper 2010-12-21

Setlist:
[Total Time 57:03]
01 [introduction]
02 Start a War
03 Slow Show
04 Bloodbuzz Ohio
05 [banter1]
06 Conversation 16
07 [banter2]
08 Apartment Story
09 [banter3]
10 Abel
11 Green Gloves
12 Fake Empire
13 Mr. November
14 Afraid of Everyone
15 [banter4]
16 Terrible Love

****************

The National
2010-12-08
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ USA

An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Equipment: DPA 4021+Schoeps CMC6/mk41>Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod] (24/48)
Position: LOC, at soundboard, mics at 7.5′, pointed at stacks
Mastering: 2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Audacity (mixdown, set fades, tracking, smooth peaks and claps, light EQ, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

01 [introduction]
02 Start a War
03 Slow Show
04 Bloodbuzz Ohio
05 [banter]
06 Conversation 16
07 [banter]
08 Apartment Story
09 [banter]
10 Abel
11 Green Gloves
12 Fake Empire
13 Mr. November
14 Afraid of Everyone
15 [banter]
16 Terrible Love

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 The National’s Shop [HERE].

The National: December 8, 2010 Maxwell’s – Flac and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Song

December 17, 2010
By

hanukkahextras-2
[photo from Ira’s Hanukkah Diary]

The National last played NYC at Terminal 5 in July, a concert we covered for the site. Its hard to imagine that we would next see a band of that stature in Maxwell’s, but the Yo La Tengo Hanukkah shows bring surprises of all sizes. Although we were clued into this appearance earlier in the week (and the Village Voice spread our tweet), it was still pretty surreal to see the National take the stage in front of a hundred or so people. The band and their mini horn section managed to fit pretty comfortably on the stage, and they worked through a shortened version of the standard set. In a brief conversation I had with Bryce before the show, he remembered that the band had played Maxwell’s several times early in their history, and there were references during the show to those times. Despite how far they’ve come, The National still retain their perspective and the material was as authentic and powerful up close in the intimate venue as it was in the large ones they play now. The National will spend much of the first half of 2011 on tour in Europe, but we expect to see them again in NYC this Summer, although never again at a venue this compact.

We recorded this set with all six of our high-end microphones mixed in eight channels with a slight board mix. We used the Neumann’s for clarity, the DPAs for warmth and the Schoeps for the low end. The results are pretty outstanding. Enjoy!

We are no longer offering this particular recording, as the sound quality did not meet our standards. We now offer two separate versions, taken from the two-four track recordings captured by acidjack and nyctaper. The new versions are [HERE].

The National
2010-12-08
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ USA

Digital Master Recording
Eight Channel Soundboard + Audience Matrix

Soundboard + DPA 4021s + Neumann KM-150s + Schoeps Schoeps MK-41s > 2x Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 4x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper and acidjack
2010-12-16

Setlist:
[Total Time 56:52]
01 [introduction]
02 Start a War
03 Slow Show
04 Bloodbuzz Ohio
05 [banter]
06 Conversation 16
07 [banter]
08 Apartment Story
09 [banter]
10 Abel
11 Green Gloves
12 Fake Empire
13 Mr. November
14 Afraid of Everyone
15 [banter]
16 Terrible Love

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 The National’s Shop [HERE].

The National: July 29, 2010 Terminal 5 – Flac and MP3 Downloads + Streaming Sample

July 30, 2010
By


[photo courtesy of Steve/hightea]

I’ll admit to some trepidation about The National‘s three-year break between albums. After 2005’s excellent Alligator, the band’s brilliant Boxer (2007) is perhaps the best album of the entire last decade. The National toured steadily throughout 2008, and played two of the best shows we saw that year, at BAM in February and Summerstage in August. A relatively quiet 2009 and news of the new album led to a significant amount of anticipation — could the band meet the expectations and reach the bar they had raised so high after Boxer. The day that High Violet was streamed on the New York Times website (!), I felt an almost palpable sense of relief as I listened to the album straight through. The National had produced another stunning achievement — an album with songcraft equal or better than the band’s best material but with more confidence and maturity. High Violet is the album that cements The National as one of those few bands that will provide consistent quality music for as long as they choose to make it. At Terminal 5 last night, the band’s live show complimented the triumph of the new album with a performance of sustained excellence. The newer material blended well with the classics and in some instances shown brighter — “Lemonworld” reached a crowd-pleasing crescendo, “Bloodbuzz Ohio” was a show-stopper, and “Terrible Love” was a powerful show-closer.

We recorded this set with the Neumanns and the Schoeps in a four-mic configuration from a 12 foot stand in front of the soundboard cage. The sound in the cavernous venue was not quite up to our expectations, and while the recording has a lot of character, it lacks the clarity we expect. With those caveats, enjoy!

This Recording is now available to Download in FLAC and MP3 and to Stream at Archive.org [HERE].

The National
2010-07-29
Terminal 5
New York, NY USA

Four-Track Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Front of Soundboard Booth

Neumann KM-150s + Schoeps MK-41s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, EQ, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper and acidjack
2010-07-30

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:23:21]
01 [introduction]
02 Start A War
03 Anyone’s Ghost
04 Bloodbuzz Ohio
05 Mistaken For Strangers
06 Brainy
07 Squalor Victoria
08 [banter]
09 Afraid Of Everyone
10 Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks
11 [banter]
12 Lemonworld
13 Conversation 16
14 Apartment Story
15 Abel
16 [banter]
17 England
18 Fake Empire
19 [encore break]
20 Runaway
21 Mr. November
22 [band introductions]
23 Terrible Love

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 The National’s Shop [HERE].

The National: May 3, 2009 Radio City – Flac and MP3 Download [Repost!]

May 10, 2009
By

The first thing that needs to be said about the entire National take-down from earlier this week is that the band themselves had nothing to do with the removal. In fact, in the discussions and negotiations to work out a solution to repost the recording, the support of The National and their representatives for the idea of a reposting of the recording was perhaps the tipping point in amicable solution of this entire situation. We are doubly indebted to this band for the initial performance and their openness and desire to allow the fans to hear the music.

Adam from Beggar’s Group ended up being a nice guy with a perfectly reasonable reason for the initial take-down — looking out for the band and the charity project. He was also reasonable enough to revisit the idea, discuss it with many people internally, and ultimately work out a solution.

The solution is simple — the desire of everyone involved to benefit the charity. In that regard, this recording is being offered for download with one very simple condition. If you download the recording, you contribute to the cause. If you email nyctaper for access to this recording (or if you downloaded from the original post), we expect that you will have either purchased the CD, contributed to the cause, or will contribute.

While we are relying on people’s goodwill in this endeavor and not strictly enforcing the condition of contribution, it would benefit all involved if readers would voluntarily email some proof of their contribution when requesting access to the files. On a selfish note, this kind of concrete proof of the positive contributions of nyctaper readers would also benefit the site in future situations of this nature — it would be great to have statistical evidence that nyctaper matters.

Read this very thorough review of the show.

DONATE TO RED HOT, THE ORGANIZATION BEHIND THE ENTIRE DARK WAS THE NIGHT PROJECT, HERE:
RED HOT STORE

-or-

OR CONTRIBUTE DIRECTLY TO ANY ONE OF THE RED HOT CHARITIES HERE:
RED HOT SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS

-or-

PURCHASE THE DARK WAS THE NIGHT BENEFIT CD HERE:
DARK WAS THE NIGHT

Email nyctaper with a request for the download location of the mp3 and/or FLAC files. Please include some indication of your support with the email request (voluntary).

The National
2009-05-03
Radio City Music Hall
Dark Was the Night Benefit Concert
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Row E, Center Orchestra

SP-CMC-8 (Audio Technica U853 Cardiod Capsules)> SP-SB-8 > Edirol R-09HR > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge (set fades, slight level adjustments, downsample > CD Wave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded by acidjack
Produced by nyctaper
2009-05-05

Setlist:
[Total Time 26:11]
01 Slow Show
02 England
03 So Far Around The Bend
04 Vanderlylle Cry Baby
Bonus:
05 Big Red Machine (Matt + Bon Iver)

Be extra charitable and purchase the official releases from The National’s Merch store directly.

The National Announce Spring Tour

February 11, 2009
By

The National posted a tour date bulletin exactly thirty minutes ago. The dates do not yet appear on their website’s tour page. Note, there is no NYC date posted yet, but expect one. Here are the dates:

21 May: Kool Haus, Toronto (on-sale Feb 14th @ 10:00 AM)
22 May: Metropolis, Montreal (on-sale Feb 13th @ Noon)
23 May: House of Blues, Boston (on-sale Feb 20th @ 10AM)
24 May: 9:30 Club, DC (on-sale Feb 14th @ 10AM)
25 May: 9:30 Club, DC (on-sale Feb 14th @ 10AM)
27 May: Variety Playhouse, Atlanta (on-sale Feb 13th @ NOON)
28 May: Lincoln Theater, Raleigh (on-sale Feb 13th @ Noon)
29 May: Electric Factory, Philadelphia (on-sale Feb 20th @ 10AM)

nyctaper recorded The National twice in 2008, at BAM in February and again at Summerstage in August.

At the BAM show, The National performed the live debut of a new song now called “So Far Around the Bend”. The studio version of that song will appear on the Dark Was The Night charity compilation CD, which will be released on February 17.

The National August 4, 2008 Summerstage – Flac and MP3 Downloads

August 5, 2008
By


[photo credit]

One night after their excellent gig at Lollapalooza in Chicago, and one day before they will fly to Norway to begin a tour of Europe, The National made a pit stop in the middle of New York City and performed an outstanding set at Central Park Summerstage tonight. Despite all the travel, the show was quite energetic from the start, as “Brainy” and “Secret Meeting” set the tone for a 90-minute set of The National at full power. The middle of the set featured some rare nuggets, including “The Geese Of Beverly Road”, and the set closing was top notch. Matt Berninger was so over the top during “Mr. November” that he pulled his microphone cord out of the jack more than once. The band seemed to be enjoying themselves and expressed disappointment that the set was over at the curfew.

We recorded from the perfect location at Summerstage with our best mobile rig. We thought we had captured an outstanding sound quality performance of The National at BAM in February, but frankly this recording is a significant improvement even over that excellent recording. We “nailed it” tonight. Enjoy!

This Recording is now available for Download in FLAC and MP3 at Archive.org [HERE].

The National
2008-08-04
Rumsey Playfield
Central Park
New York, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Front of Board Center
30 Feet From Stage (“Sweet Spot”)

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 2008-08-04

Setlist:
[total time 1:31:11]
01 [Flume introduction]
02 Brainy
03 Secret Meeting
04 Baby We’ll Be Fine
05 Slow Show
06 Squalor Victoria
07 You’ve Done It Again, Virginia
08 Abel
09 The Geese Of Beverly Road
10 Ada
11 All The Wine
12 Daughters Of The SoHo Riots
13 Apartment Story
14 Green Gloves
15 Mistaken For Strangers
16 Fake Empire
17 [encore break]
18 Start A War
19 Karen
20 Mr. November
21 [band introductions]
22 About Today

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 The National’s Merch store directly.

The National Added to Central Park Summerstage

May 21, 2008
By

The National will play Summerstage on Monday August 4, it was announced today. Tickets for this show go on sale on Friday May 30. Yeasayer is the opener.

This week The National released The Virginia, an EP of b-sides and outtakes from Boxer, their acclaimed 2007 release. They will also appear as the opening band for REM and Modest Mouse at Madison Square Garden in June.

We expect tickets to go quickly for this Central Park gig. Our recording of The National’s outstanding show at BAM in February is one of the most popular recordings ever featured on nyctaper.

The National February 22, 2008 BAM Opera House – Flac Download

February 23, 2008
By


[photo credit]

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.

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