Well, There Goes My Evening
I am slightly bummed that I did not get to see The National when they performed in Philadelphia this week. But given that it’s the first week of school and we’ve had some wacky weather here in the city, I’d probably be re-enacting the song “Conversation 16” if I had tried to go to an evening concert during the work week. (The song is about someone concerned that he would eat someone else’s brain. I am implying that I would be a zombie if I went to the concert. I don’t know why Pattie says this band is depressing. End of digression.)
Anyway, I went to the band’s website and found that they had a link to the setlist for each show, which took me to a site called sitelist.fm that I had not previously known about. (Here’s Wednesday night’s set. Looks like a solid list.) The site is sort of a wiki dedicated to tracking concerts, and the setlists include links to YouTube videos of the songs. In this case they included a note that the Thursday concert had started late, so I’m really glad I took a pass on that one. I also went and looked up the last R.E.M. show I saw in Philly. (The National was the opening act that night, which is how I discovered the band. One more thing I owe R.E.M.) One of the things I really liked about that show was that Eddie Vedder came out and sang with the band on “Begin the Begin,” but Setlist.fm linked to a YouTube video from the band’s 2003 concert film Perfect Square. The sound quality was better on the DVD, of course, but this was a really cool moment to see live.
At any rate, I constantly manage to forget exactly which songs I’ve heard at concerts I’ve been to, so Setlist looks like a good site to keep in mind.
And while I’m embedding YouTube videos, check out The National playing “Afraid of Everyone” on Letterman. Awesome song.
About Dave Thomer
Born and raised in Philadelphia. Studied philosophy at Fordham University in the Bronx, where I made many great friends and met my wonderful wife. We moved back to Philadelphia, where I studied philosophy some more and became a teacher. Online and off, I'm looking for ways that we can be better citizens and build stronger communities.