The National wowed the sold-out hometown crowd at Radio City Music Hall in support of their brilliant new record, High Violet.
Photographer’s Notes
The National’s Radio City performance was the most anticipated show of the summer for this music photographer. High Violet is my favorite record of the year – up to this point – and I love 2006′s Alligator and 2007′s Boxer. Their records are full of idiosyncrasies that grow on you with each listen. Matt Berninger’s rumbling baritone and abstract poetry is addicting too.
Photographers were split into two groups, and each group shot the first three songs from one side of the stage – I ended up stage right. As Radio City is reserved seating, we all had to kneel while shooting so we didn’t block anybody’s view. Due to the restrictions, I stuck with my 70-200mm the whole time so I could reach all the guys in the band. It was an uneasy compromise because I missed out on some cool wide shots. My exposure hovered around 1/250 and f/2.8 at ISO 1600.
The real magic happened when Matt Berninger cavorted through the audience on more than one occasion. During “Abel,” a blazing, cathartic tune from Alligator, Berninger jumped off the stage, walked through the crowd, and climbed right through my row. The few frames I snapped turned out too dark and blurry (I’ll be eternally kicking my own ass for missing it). During encore song “Mr. November,” he ascended up the hall’s catwalk to the second-floor balcony, trailed by his endless mic cord, where he wandered through the frenzied audience.
Given Radio City’s prestigious, and somewhat stifling reputation, it was surreal and wild – pure rock’n'roll.
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