The National - Main Stage
Evening drama as the sun sets
With clouds making an unwelcome return to the skies, there was an air of pathetic fallacy in the air as The National hit the Leeds Main Stage with their brand of brooding Americana.
Playing to a crowd fast filling up in anticipation of The Strokes and Pulp later on, the Cincinnati group were revelling in their highly placed billing, though they weren’t so impressed with the wind that had whipped up around the stage. At one point lead singer Matt Behringer quipped it was ruining the smoke from the smoke machine they’d “spent their whole tour budget on,” while at another he remarked he was glad of the windswept look it had given his hair.
The set itself was a slow burning triumph, the group’s brass section bolstering their sound as they included a number of tracks from ‘High Violet,’ before bringing in favourites from 2007’s ‘The Boxer’ and its predecessor ‘Alligator’ – the highlight of which was a full-throated version of ‘Mr November. The National left the stage ensuring that a high benchmark had been set.