THE NATIONAL (Olympia Theatre, Dublin)

Talk about making it in the nick of time! The National arrived at the Olympia last night five minutes before going on due to their London-Dublin flight becoming a London-Shannon flight. They got to the Midlands in one car, and then transferred to another for the totally within the speed limit, honestly Guard, dash to Dame Street.
That didn’t stop the Cincinnati by way of Brooklyn seven-piece – they brought a lean, mean brass section with them – from turning in a Gig of the Year performance that was even more life-affirming than their Electric Picnic set.
No offence to the rest of the chaps who also played their socks off, but it was Matt Berninger as usual who stole the show with both his baritone and the intensity of his performance, which was downright scary at times.
Despite arriving on stage half-an-hour late and having a curfew to keep to, they still managed to rattle out 19 songs starting with High Violet’s achingly beautiful ‘Runaway’ and ending with a mass singalong rendition of the same album’s ‘Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks’, which was performed acoustically sans P.A.
Inbetween, we got a celebratory ‘Bloodbuzz Ohio’; the joy of hearing 1,600 people shouting out the “I was afraid I’d eat your brains ‘cause I’m evil” refrain from ‘Conversation 16’; the full-frontal punk rock assault of ‘Abel’; a deliciously melancholic rendition of Alligator’s ‘Daughters Of The Soho Riots’; Berninger going walkabout in the crowd during ‘Mr. November’; and half-a-dozen other magic moments that are now indelibly stamped on the Clarkian brain.
If they’re half as good on Friday and Saturday as they were tonight, you’ll spend the whole of tomorrow gushing about The National too!
STUART CLARK

See the gallery at [link]www.hotpress.com/photos/photo_st.php?id=7340024[/link]

If you are off to the Olympia this weekend to see The National, get there early to check out support band Phosphorescent, the Athens, Georgia natives now based in Brooklyn (where else?) and currently touting their Here's To Taking It Easy album. There's also a four album back catalogue to feast on, so enjoy!