I love The National. I’ve been listening to them for almost two solid years now, and each listen has only made me more obsessive. “Obsessive” might seem extreme, but anyone who knows me understands that this is pretty close to the truth. This is why, when they announced in February that they were going on tour, I decided to buy tickets to see them in Pittsburgh… and Columbus.
It doesn’t sound like a great economical decision, that’s for sure. The minute I announced that I was going to buy both sets on presale the first day I could, I had more than a few eyebrows raised at me. Wouldn’t Pittsburgh be enough? Or couldn’t I wait until the Columbus show?
The National performing “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks” in Pittsburgh.
No. I couldn’t. First, I had never had a chance to see The National before – I wanted to take every opportunity I was being given to see them. Second, the tickets were affordable (around $25 each), and I was making decent money. I knew I had enough money for four of them (two in each city). Finally, and most importantly, the two environments were going to be completely different – the two shows wouldn’t be the same. I was sure of that.
This is not the first time I’ve seen the “same show” twice. I actually went back through my concert list – an Excel document I have with every show I’ve been to and every band/artist/musician who has performed – and looked at how many shows I’ve seen twice. There were two I could think of off the top of my head: The National, obviously, and Watch the Throne.
To my surprise, though, of the 60-plus shows I’ve been to in the past six years, I had quite a few duplicates. I saw Watch the Throne first in Pittsburgh and again in London. One of my earliest concert experiences was Warped Tour 2007, and I went to that in Cleveland and then again in Pittsburgh. When Lady Gaga did the Monster Ball Tour, I saw both legs of that in Cleveland – once in the summer and once in the winter. I saw the Black Keys when they did their arena tour last spring, and then saw them as headliners at Catalpa in New York City.
I simply didn’t realize that I had seen so many artists and their tours multiple times, with both shows falling within a time period of about six months of each other. I didn’t realize it because, despite obvious similarities, every show is so different in my mind.
The best example I have of this is Watch the Throne, the Kanye West/Jay-Z behemoth that went through the United States and then traveled overseas through 2011 and 2012. I saw Watch the Throne in Pittsburgh the Sunday after Thanksgiving 2011. It was exactly the show you expect from Kanye West and Jay-Z performing together: all of the major cuts off of Watch the Throne, plus their respective major hits. The crowd in Pittsburgh was pretty enthusiastic, rapping along throughout most of the set and completely losing their minds during “In Paris” (which was played seven times for the encore).
When I decided to see Watch the Throne again in London, it was just one of those opportunities I couldn’t pass up. Kanye and Jay-Z in one of the most major cities in the world with one of the most vibrant music scenes? Sign me up. They were performing over five nights at London’s O2 Arena, starting on a Friday and going through Tuesday. We chose the Friday night show.
It was the exact same show as Pittsburgh. The same set with the same visuals, even the same banter. Nothing was different from Pittsburgh – the concert was almost formulaic.
Except it wasn’t.
The London crowd was wildly different from the Pittsburgh crowd. Where Pittsburgh was enthusiastic, the London audience was rabid. Pittsburgh had plenty of love for Kanye and Jay-Z; London overflowed with adoration for the two. And the thing is, the two rappers could feel it. They were great in Pittsburgh; they thrived in London. While the songs were the same, they had a completely different feel being performed to people who weren’t afraid to dance and shout and scream throughout. Pittsburgh was so reserved compared to London, and the London experience was ultimately better. The two shows were so different, and the experiences I had at both have further shaped my understanding of concert going.
The same is true of the other duplicate shows, although all for different reasons. I saw Lady Gaga in two different seasons after new singles had appeared; I saw the Black Keys in an arena in their hometown and then outside in the biggest city in the United States. The differences speak for themselves. The various meanings can be interpreted from there.
And this is why I wanted to see The National twice. Very little about the two shows, which I saw over the past week, was the same. While I saw the same band, who I love and whose catalog is an important part of my musical background, I had incredibly diverse experiences.
Tuesday’s (June 11) show in Pittsburgh was at Stage AE, just off of the river. Stage AE is a little indoor venue run by PromoWest Productions out of Columbus, OH. I fell in love with the venue while there, as it’s spacious but still intimate and has great sound. Dirty Projectors were the opener, and I was excited to see them in the wake of their critically acclaimed Swing Lo Magellan. They played for a solid hour, warming the surprisingly polite crowd up for the main event.
And the main event was everything I could’ve wanted. In the space of Stage AE, the National dominated. The experience verged on cathartic, with the whole audience singing along to every song, no matter how old or new. Lead singer Matt Berninger went from soft-spoken, almost shy, to wild and screaming in no time. The band played songs off of Trouble Will Find Me and High Violet, but also included tracks from Boxer, Alligator and Cherry Tree. They knew how to keep their dedicated fans happy, playing for an hour and a half before taking a quick break and doing a five-song encore.
The National perform “England” at Stage AE.
It’s probably the best show I’ve been to, at least for me personally.
Riding on that emotional wave of perfection, I saw The National again last night (June 15) at Columbus’s LC Pavilion. That venue is also run by PromoWest Productions, and I loved it for completely different reasons than I loved Stage AE. The LC is completely outdoors, with a lawn for those who want to sit and a pit for those who want to be close. Located in Columbus’s Arena District by Nationwide, it’s easy to find and is surrounded by plenty of (cheap!) parking.
So I went from seeing The National in a small, indoor venue to a pretty big outdoor one. That alone was enough to change so much of the experience, as last night was a beautiful night in Columbus and a great night for being outdoors. The sun setting was the perfect backdrop for Local Natives, the opener in Columbus, who won over more than a few fans.
Again, the crowd was ready for the main event.
Even better, The National didn’t play the exact same set as the one in Pittsburgh. Yes, plenty of similarities existed, especially when it came to tracks from Trouble Will Find Me and High Violet. However, beyond that, the older cuts were almost completely different – including “The Geese of Beverly Road” off of Alligator, a pleasant surprise for more than a few of us.
The National did play a slightly shorter set in Columbus, due to the fact that the LC is outdoors and noise violations are a thing past 11 PM. However, they still packed everything they could into an hour and twenty minute set with a four-song encore.
So why do I see the same show twice? Because the shows are never really the same. No amount of rehearsal, no amount of experience playing the songs or practicing the stage banter, will ever make two shows identical. The venues will be different, the crowd will be different, the feel will always be different. And sure, some people may not want to pay to experience a different “feel” from one night to another. But those of us who do are always rewarded accordingly.
