A very intimate show with The National offered me a chance to hear some new songs from this already established New York favorite. I’ve seen this band play all sized venues and I must say they truly shine when they captivate smaller audiences into their songs. Not as many new songs as I’d hope, but the first ones I heard were really solid. Later in the set the songs tended to get muddy and a bit boring. I was hoping that the new material would offer them a chance to be a bit more daring, but it just sounds like the Boxer part2, not that it’s a bad thing. They have a great fan base and they are in a position to do new things. They sprinkled the set with some oldies including an always emotional “Abel”. Excited to hear the rest of the album when it drops in May.