The Capitol Theatre, affectionately known as “The Cap,” lies in the center of the Westchester County village of Port Chester. The historic venue constructed in 1926 has hosted thousands of legendary musical acts (The Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead, David Bowie, Bob Dylan and Pink Floyd to name only a few), but never The National, until Friday, September 23rd.
The National are winding down a 12-date tour of North America that commenced at the Moon River Music Festival in Chattanooga, Tennessee on September 10 and concluded at the inaugural Sound on Sound Festival on September 25. The Port Chester show was added to their tour schedule back in June as a special companion performance to their festival appearance at Seaside Park in nearby Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Supporting The National was Indigo Sparke, a singer-songwriter from Sydney, Australia named by her parents after the Duke Ellington song “Mood Indigo.” In the summer of last year, Sparke moved to the United States to work on her sophomore studio album, Hysteria, produced by The National’s very own Aaron Dessner. Performing for nearly 40 minutes, Sparke and her soaring vocals were accompanied by Jeremy Gustin (drums), Adam Brisbin (guitar), back-up singer Jackie West and later in her set, by Dessner himself.
At the conclusion of Sparke’s set, a brief ceremony followed in celebration of The Cap’s 10-year anniversary of its reopening under Peter Shapiro’s ownership, one of the most successful independent concert promoters in the country. Shapiro’s $2 million plus in renovations has restored “the original rock palace,” with its 65-foot domed ceiling, to its former glory, featuring top of the line acoustics and a state-of-the-art lighting and projection system.
With Port Chester Mayor Luis Marino on hand, September 23rd was also officially proclaimed “The Capitol Theatre Day,” commemorating what The Cap stands for: live music, community and spreading joy into the world through concerts. Shapiro addressed the 2,000-capacity sold out audience, “It ain’t easy to do this, but this is why we do it, for a night like tonight. We are going to do another 10 [years] and hopefully we’ll get The National back if you give it up for them.”
As Leonard Cohen’s “I Can’t Forget” played over the house PA, the quintet from Cincinnati, Ohio comprised of Matt Berninger (vocals), twin brothers Aaron Dessner (guitar, piano) and Bryce Dessner (guitar, piano), and brothers Scott Devendorf (bass) and Bryan Devendorf (drums) took the stage to thunderous applause. Accompanied by Ben Lanz (trombone, synthesizers) and Kyle Resnick (trumpet, keyboards), The National’s opening number was “Don’t Swallow the Cap,” taken from 2013’s Trouble Will Find Me.
The indie rock veterans who formed in Brooklyn in 1999 would go on to play for two solid hours, bestowing to their fans a 24-song set that would include a representative sampling of their impressive music catalog, including “Bloodbuzz Ohio” (High Violet, 2010), “The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness” (Sleep Well Beast, 2017) and “Light Years” (I Am Easy to Find, 2019). Berninger and his bandmates also treated us to four new songs, including “Moon Drop Light” which was written only the day before, “This Isn’t Helping,” “Tropic Morning News (Haversham)” and “Weird Goodbyes,” the lead single from their forthcoming album featuring their friend Bon Iver.
Berninger exuded frontman charm throughout the entire evening, shining the spotlight back on Sparke as she reappeared onstage for “Rylan,” another offering from I Am Easy to Find. “Graceless,” from The National’s aforementioned sixth studio album Trouble Will Find Me, was proceeded by “Fake Empire” (Boxer, 2008), widely considered to be one of their best songs. A five song encore followed as Berninger, in typical fashion, thrilled fans as he left the stage during “Mr. November” (Alligator, 2005) and waded through the entire floor crowd, reappearing momentarily at the opposite end of the venue, before trekking back to the stage. The epic evening unfortunately came to a close at 11:15 pm, but not before a goosebump-inducing, crowd sing-along of “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks,” a second contribution from High Violet.
The National Setlist: Don’t Swallow the Cap > I Should Live in Salt > Bloodbuzz Ohio > The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness > I Need My Girl > This Is the Last Time > Slow Show > This Isn’t Helping > Wasp Nest > Moon Drop Light > Conversation 16 > Tropic Morning News (Haversham) > Day I Die > Rylan (with Indigo Sparke) > Light Years > Pink Rabbits > England > Graceless > Fake Empire > Encore: Weird Goodbyes > Mr. November > Terrible Love > About Today > Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks
Indigo Sparke
The National
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