If you’re a fan of The National and happen to live in the Bay Area, you probably made it to one of their two shows at the Fox in Oakland. If you’re a fan, and you didn’t make it out, I feel bad for you. After nearly a month of obsessing over High Violet, the band’s April release, it was a pure pleasure to find that these guys aren’t a bunch of sad, depressed, alcoholics. They just play the part well enough in song to fool you. While they succeeded in covering the greatness of High Violet, they even dug back into their catalog to include crowd favorites off 2007′s Boxer and 2005 hit, Alligator.

As was Caribou earlier in the week, The National rocked two consecutive nights to sold-out crowds. I imagine that they can’t possibly get too tired from a national tour (which just got extended), since the band really isn’t that active on stage. That is, all but lead singer Matt Berninger. He waltzes around the stage in a false drunkenness while he croons. It’s almost heartbreaking to hear such sad lyrics on top of beautiful droning guitars sung by such a rugged individual.

With performances like these, The  National seals their place in any music lovers heart, leaving them a long career to come. It just keeps getting better and better.

Check out the rest of The National live photos and right-click to save free mp3 ‘Bloodbuzz Ohio.’

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