The National came to Chicago on Thursday night to perform before a sold out audience at The Metro. I’ve seen The National before and I have to admit that this performance was ‘underwhelming’. Most of the material of the night came from their new album Boxer which I haven’t completely bought into and doubt I’ll ever view it with the same reverence as I do Alligator, their previous release.

The setlist went something like this (although I know I’m missing a song or two):

• Start a War
• Slow Show
• Secret Meeting
• Brainy
• Baby, We’ll Be Fine
• Squalor Victoria
• Lit Up
• Apartment Story
• Daughters of the Soho Riots
• Mistaken for Strangers
• Racing Like a Pro
• Ada
• Fake Empire
• Mr. November

Encore:

• Gospel
• Abel
• Green Gloves About Today (props)

I dig The National for among other reasons their ability to successfully vary the structure of their material. They have soft songs, melodic songs and even a few “yellers” all on an album (another band I would put in this category would be Modest Mouse). Unfortunately Boxer didn’t quite live up to this standard and contains mostly soft songs – pretty ones mind you – I love “Fake Empire”, “Start a War”, “Green Gloves” and “Apartment Story” – but similar in tempo and structure.

Had this performance been at the Old Town School or Lakeshore Theater I would’ve been all about it, but The Metro lacks a certain intimacy. A venue like the Old Town School affords the audience an ability to hear all the nuances of the material, but alas The Metro noticeably lacks this feature. Oh well, it’ll never be my favorite venue in Chicago.

Ten things I learned at The Hold Steady show last night:

1. Need to arrive earlier – missed most of the Catfish Haven set. Saw the last song and from what little I heard they’re solid.
2. Nerds can rock (actually, I realized this a few years ago when I saw Ween but The Hold Steady were a reconfirmation)
3. Sean Na Na is possibly the worst band I’ve ever paid to see in my life. They actually asked the crowd to hold up cell phones like lighters – and it wasn’t even the encore… lame.
4. The Hold Steady is one of the one few bands around that sound better live than on record.
5. The Metro is a terrible place to try and get photos – sorry.
6. Baseball talk and rock ‘n roll just don’t mix.
7. My favorite Hold Steady lyric is from the song ‘First Night’ and goes: “Polly’s not invincible / In fact she’s in the hospital” – they opened the encore the with it.
8. Saw John Stirrat (bass player for Wilco) at the show – apparently he’s a Hold Steady fan.
9. Buy your drinks at the Smart Bar downstairs and bring them up – way cheaper than buying at the Metro itself.
10. Minneapolis has a pretty solid music scene: Tapes ‘n Tapes, The Hold Steady, Prince, Atmosphere, Fog…