Posts Tagged ‘ Pitchfork bands ’

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

Follow acidjack on Twitter

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].

SUPPORT NYCTaper




DISCLAIMER and LEGAL NOTICE

nyctaper.com is a live music blog that offers a new paradigm of music distribution on the web. The recordings are offered for free on this site as are the music posts, reviews and links to artist sites. All recordings are posted with artist permission or artists with an existing pro-taping policy.

All recordings and original content posted on this site are @nyctaper.com as live recordings pursuant to 17 U.S.C. Section 106, et. seq. Redistribution of nyctaper recordings without consent of nyctaper.com is strictly prohibited.

nyctaper.com hereby waives all copyright claims to any and all recordings posted on this site to THE PERFORMERS ONLY. If any artist posted on this site requests that recordings be removed, those recordings will be removed forthwith.