We last saw The National three summers ago at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. Back then they were previewing songs from 2017's "Sleep Well Beast." This time, at the Santa Fe Opera, the boys gave a classic jolt to "Mr. November" toward the end of the show. But the bulk of the show was devoted to numbers from this year's release, "I Am Easy to Find."
Matt Berninger was joined on most songs by Kate Stables, filling in for the other women who helped her dominate the newest album. On disc, the songs can come off as inscrutable and dense. Live, the melodies of the Dessner brothers gained muscle and felt more pop and less art-show arch. Berninger did his crowd shtick, and "Fake Empire" never sounded so bitter. When they played the title track, with a couplet clipped from Robert Pollard and Guided by Voices ("Tower to the skies / An academy of lies"), a lot of things came full circle.
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Kristin Hersh is a rock star set off in the corner. She played on a Monday night to a small crowd at a downtown Albuquerque dive, and her power trio powered through new material. She was unapologetic about not playing tunes from her old band, Throwing Muses (and probably for the best, without essential drummer David Narcizo). This was more a mix of 50 Foot Wave punk and Hersh's mood solo work.
Hersh's guitar work was powerful, mixing in distortion and psychedelic solos. Her voice is as immaculate as ever. Her thousand-mile stare just above our heads seemed like a plea for a private right of action -- to play the songs she wanted to and not the songs we might have craved out of nostalgia for the Heyday of the Planet of Sound.
She did not disappoint. Nor does her latest album, "Possible Dust Clouds."
BONUS TRACKS
The National made an art film with Mike Mills, starring Alicia Vikander:
Hersh did not play any old songs, but YouTube cannot be denied. Here is one of the gems from "The Real Ramona," "Him Dancing":
Hersh's "LAX" from her latest disc:
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