Austin Music Hall

words & photos by Tim Griffin

Matt Berninger of The National @ Austin Music Hall 12/04
The National - Austin Music Hall - 12/04/2011

Last night (12/4), The National and Local Natives continued their current tour visiting a cold and rainy Texas to play Austin Music Hall. Pictures are in this post

The venue was sold-out, and some attendees tweeted that the balcony area had been oversold - leaving many to stand in the aisles and walkways (if they could make it up there at all). While it looked very crowded up top, the floor section below seemed to have plenty of open space (probably not helpful to those with balcony tickets).

Local Natives opened, offering apologies for not having a new album yet since back at their Stubb's show in March, they said they wouldn't tour through Austin without a new one. Being asked to tour with The National was the exception. They did play two new songs as part of their nine-song set, "Black Balloons" and "Elephant".

Matt Berninger was first out, leading The National onstage and opening with "Runaway". The set list drew a little more than half its songs from Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers, Alligator, and Boxer. The balance of the list came from High Violet, including "Terrible Love" where Matt took about 150ft of mic cable with him as he jumped the barricade and walked throughout the audience. The final song was an accoustic performance of "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks", bringing all the band members front and center to wrap the show.

On Tuesday The National will be in Chicago, then head off for two shows in Canada (Toronto and Montreal). They'll be back in New York on the 12th for 6 (4 original, with 2 more added) shows at the Beacon Theatre. As you know, each night will have a different opening act.