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recommended boston area events

thursday, july 2nd

the church

adam franklin (swervedriver)

@ showcase live, foxborough


sunday, july 5th

city breathing

deep sea diver

adam rich

steve pardo & lindley cameron

@ the middle east upstairs


saturday, july 11th

the luxury

the click five

midatlantic

aloud

@ the paradise


sunday, july 12th

the dead weather

screaming females

@ the house of blues


saturday, july 18th

butterflies

travels

@ pa's lounge


sunday, july 19th

grand duchy (w/frank black)

the bunnies

van elk (w/valerie mistle thrush)

@ the middle east downstairs


sunday, july 19th

lymbyc systym

coralcola

the cush

the pandas

@ the middle east upstairs


monday, july 20th

you can be a wesley (cd release!)

casper & the cookies

everything, now!

magic magic

@ the middle east upstairs


monday, july 20th

green day

the bravery

@ the garden


tuesday, july 21st

mark eitzel & marc capelle

performing american music club songs

@ the lizard lounge


friday, july 24th

varsity drag (cd release!)

the grownup noise

winterpills

brendan boogie & the best intentions

@ the middle east upstairs


sunday, july 26th

pete yorn

@ the house of blues


tuesday, july 28th

cass mccombs

jennifer o'connor & band

mike bones

@ tt the bears


wednesday, july 29th

foreign born

the veils

faces on film

@ tt the bears


thursday, july 30th

justin ripley & his band

@ pa's lounge


friday, july 31st

destroyer (dan bejar)

iran

wooden wand

@ the paradise


friday, july 31st

depeche mode

peter bjorn & john

@ great woods


saturday, august 1st

alasdair roberts

@ lorem ipsum books, inman square


saturday, august 1st

wheat (cd release show!)

the xyz affair

@ great scott


sunday, august 2nd

soft power (featuring mary timony)

gramercy arms (featuring dave derby)

@ tt the bears


monday, august 3rd

billy bragg

@ the berklee performance center


monday, august 3rd

tinted windows

(james iha, adam schlesinger,

taylor hanson, & bun e. carlos)

@ the paradise


monday, august 3rd

coldplay

elbow

kitty daisy & lewis

@ the comcast center


wednesday, august 5th

the rural alberta advantage

joshua english (ex-six going on seven)

with lisa molinaro

baby teeth

@ the middle east upstairs


wednesday, august 5th

arctic monkeys

modey lemon

@ the paradise


wednesday, august 5th

joe pernice (solo show & book tour)

@ the brattle theatre (2 shows)


wednesday and thursday

august 5th and 6th

paul mccartney

@ fenway park


friday, august 7th

the electric prunes

love

sky saxon (of the seeds)

@ the middle east downstairs


saturday, august 8th

blondie

pat benatar

@ the b.o.a. pavilion


wednesday, august 12th

the warlocks

@ great scott


wednesday, august 12th

the pretenders

cat power

juliette lewis

@ the bank of american pavilion


thursday, august 13th

bat for lashes

@ the paradise


friday, august 14th

six finger satellite

@ tt the bears


sunday, august 16th

the decemberists

heartless bastards

@ mountain park, holyoke


sunday, august 16th

trashcan sinatras

@ tt the bears


monday, august 17th

the breeders

@ the paradise


friday, august 21st

choo choo la rouge (cd release!)

the big disappointments

impossible hair

the operators

@ pa's lounge


saturday & sunday

august 22nd & 23rd

bruce springsteen & the e street band

@ the comcast center / great woods


saturday, august 29th

caspain

actors & actresses

irepress

arms & sleepers

@ tt the bears


sunday, august 30th

the flaming lips

explosions in the sky

stardeath and white dwarfs

@ the boa pavilion


thursday, september 3rd

kay hanley (letters to cleo)

antisocialites

ingenue

@ tt the bears


saturday, september 5th

the pains of being pure at heart

cymbals eat guitars

depreciation guild

@ the middle east downstairs


saturday, september 5th

pet shop boys

@ the house of blues


thursday, september 10th

autolux

sleepy sun

@ the paradise


thursday, september 10th

dirty three

@ the i.c.a. boston


friday, september 11th

kings of leon

glasvegas

@ the comcast center / great woods


saturday, september 12th

the cult

performing 'love' in its entirety

@ the house of blues


sunday, september 13th

down

melvins

@ the house of blues


tuesday, september 15th

the horrors

@ the paradise


saturday & sunday

september 19th & 20th

boston lebowski fest

with movie screening & bowling

@ the house of blues & kings


sunday, september 20th

u2

snow patrol

@ gillette stadium


tuesday, september 22nd

son volt

@ the paradise


friday, september 25th

township

the lights out (cd release!)

reverse

gravehaven

@ tt the bears


friday, september 25th

charlatans uk

hatcham social

@ the paradise


saturday, september 26th

kmfdm

@ the house of blues


sunday, september 20th

maximo park

@ the paradise


monday, september 28th

sunny day real estate

@ the house of blues


wednesday, september 30th

mono

maserati

@ the middle east downstairs


sunday, october 4th

the "loud & rich" tour

richard thompson &

loudon wainwright iii

performing solo & together

@ the sanders theatre, harvard


wednesday, october 7th

bob mould

@ the paradise


saturday, october 10th

the psychedelic furs

happy monday

@ the house of blues


wednesday, october 14th

loney dear

asobi seksu

@ great scott


wednesday, october 21st

mum

@ the somerville theatre


saturday, october 31st

pinback

@ the paradise


friday, november 13th

janeane garofalo

rob riggle

two shows @ the wilbur theatre


visit tourfilter for more shows



Thursday, September 04, 2008

Mp3s: The National live in Mansfield, MA

In interviews since their opening slot on REM's North American tour over the summer, the National have unsurprisingly had nothing but good things to say about their treatment by the headliners, and having spotted Mike Mills at stage left, enthusiastically bobbing his head to the band's late-evening set at the Great ComTweetWoods Center in June, it looks like they weren't just hosts, but real fans. And what a treat it must have been to see Matt Berninger & co. night after night. This was my third time seeing them in four years, and it was in sun-showered contrast to the previous small-club shows (TT the Bears in 2005 and Paddy O's last fall) -- even though many seats remained empty while REM fans streamed in, it was still a larger crowd in total than both of those previous area shows combined. You could spot us punctual National fans easily, and so could the band, dedicating one of the late-set songs to an enthusiastic girl near the front.

While the large venue promised the opposite of intimacy, my choice seat, the setting sun, and the band's flawless performances of songs I hold dear ended up impressing me even more than I'd expect. I didn't assume their set would measure up to those other sweaty, shoulder-to-shoulder shows I'd seen, but it did. They'd made efforts to mix things up for the tour, both obvious (adding two horns and a bassoon player) and subtle (new drum hits during the "Mistaken for Strangers" intro), and didn't let the cavernous environs dull their energy -- Violinist/keyboardist Padme Newsome was absolutely on fire, the build-up of "Brainy" was more frenetic than ever, and Berninger powerfully bellowed "I WON'T FUCK US OVER!" through the massive sound system during "Mr. November". I especially appreciated the set selection, which included moodier pieces that lured the audience in, bringing up the energy occasionally, then easing us back with "Fake Empire" just before pummeling us on the way out. Glorious.

Here's my recording of their set, with some noteworthy links below...


Some National links...
  • Info: Their official site, MySpace page, Wikipedia entry, and their Beggars label page.

  • Additional Audio: Sadly the band has removed the three older Mp3s they had shared at their own site, and Beggars doesn't have any available either, but you can still stream songs at MySpace, of course. The 2007 DC show that NPR shared is also still available to stream here.

  • Video: There's a YouTube clip of the band performing what may be their first new post-Boxer song, "A Thousand Black Cities", in Copenhagen last month. Links to all of their "proper" vids can be found here, as well as through a National YouTube search.

  • Photos: My Flickr-hosted shots are here, or have a look through a full National Flickr tag search.

  • Hope: An edited, instrumental version of "Fake Empire" has been used in a new Barack Obama campaign ad, which you can watch while sporting your Obama-fundraising "Mr. November" t-shirt.

  • Upcoming live dates: The band is taking it (relatively) easy this fall after a road-heavy summer, with just a handful of scattered shows, including two west coast stops later this month, an NY show in October, and a trio of dates in Brazil before they hit the November 8th Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin. And here's hoping that fest is extra fun-fun-fun because Obama wins on November 4th. Celebration over commiseration.

  • Easily stream to any and all 'Nac-hosted Mp3s at the Hype Machine.

  • the fine print... If anyone has an issue with these Mp3s being made available, just let me know (my contact info in the 'nac faq). Live sets recorded with a Sony ECM-719 mic and a Sony MZ-RH10 minidisc, converted to .wav and then edited to 192kbps Mp3s. Files are made available for a limited time, and are not reposted once removed.

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