i love the national, and i had been mildly disappointed when i saw them play back in june, they just didn't seem to be feeling it. i knew i would give them another shot, (especially since their new album "alligator" keeps getting better and better with each listen, those guitars, ahhh, and man, they are artists with the lyrics; melancholy, thoughtful, truthful, mildly nonsensical in a poetic way, and perfectly delivered with matt beringer's soothing growl) and boy am i glad i did. they fed off the crowd and the crowd played off them, girls throwing themselves at the band were only superceded by guy fans yelling in man crushes for them. but i swear part of their charm was the fact that *they* were enjoying playing at Maxwell's...
yeh, that was my view of the stage, this picture is taken with a crappy "objects appear much farther away then they actually are" camera phone, my view was that good, about two feet away on a riser so i could actually watch the harmonic guitar playing of bryan devendorf and the dessner brothers, not to mention catalog matt beringer's every move, it was something to feed off of, and i loved it...
and what's not to love, i've been enjoying shows at Maxwell's since i first moved to hoboken in 1994. at the time i lived across the street from sonic youth's drummer, steve shelly and when we had approached him to tell him how much we enjoyed his appearance on The Simpsons he asked if we had made it there yet. he told us it was the best part about living in hoboken, he was right.
i saw rocket from the crypt there on new years eve, easily one of my favorite shows of all time. i saw the shins there four years ago and had the "life-changing experience" discussed in garden state *in* the garden state (way before zach braft popularized them). the boys in american standard played there numerous times. ted leo has never rocked harder then when playing so close to his hometown. earimart was at their most lyric. every time i've ever trekked from manhatten to "joisey" it has been worth the trip... well, almost ever time. the one exception being when we went to see hot hot heat two years ago (when i was obsessed with makeup the breakdown) and after suffering through a generic punk band for what seems like hours, hot hot heat took the stage and played eight songs. EIGHT! they were just warming up for bowery the next day, fuckers didn't know this was the real deal... it still pisses me off.
although, the opening band were these kids called washington social club, and they were incredible, a chick bassist, which is always cool, a lead singer wailing away like iggy pop. they were powerful and great, we hung out with them afterwards and they gave us a cd, which i still listen too. the opening bands are always good at Maxwell's; midnight movies, longwave, john vanderslice, beachwood sparks, i discovered all of them opening up for other bands there.
and it isn't only the opening bands that hang out, there is something about the atmosphere at Maxwell's that encourages every band to chill. james mercer patiently waited for a beer at the bar right next to my friend kat. ted leo sat around drinking with his friends before ducking in to see the bands opening up for *him*. just thursday night we were sitting on a couch across from matt beringer (in the front room which once held copper kettles in Maxwell's failed, brief foray into microbrewing), and were able to stop by the bar after the show tell bryce dessner how much we enjoyed it.
that 300 square foot room is a blessing to that abjectly commercial town built on the ruins of brando's "on the waterfront." the sound is always great, the levels are always perfect, you can smoke cigarettes and someone in the band inevitably asks someone in the audience to grab them a drink from the inside bar. next time you see a band you really want to check out live, don't perfunctorily buy a ticket for the venue in the city, take a chance on Maxwell's, the personal, play-in-your-living-room experience and $2.50 16oz yinglings will lubricate you enough for the long path/subway ride home.
in fact, ba and myself going there to see elfpower on november 20th in lieu of their show at knitting factory, yay!
(** The National, Alligator, "Mr. November" read all the serious great lyrics at http://www.americanmary.com/music/)
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