The National is a five piece band who were formed nine years ago in Brooklyn. American Mary is the former name of the band and they remain it as their official web site. After signing a record label Beggar`s Banquet in 2005 and they released the album called `Aligator`, which was critically acclaimed among music press modestly around the world. The following-up called `Boxer` was given birth in May 2007 and now they are here to say hi to people who are looking forward to seeing them in Shepherd`s Bush Empire. The both two night were a sell-out despite the fact that this band do not appear in public often and promote themselves.

The Jim Reid from the Jesus And Mary Chain look-like frontman Matt looks fairly a difficult person by those closed eyes which reflect his deep concentration and a brief glance given into the audience from time to time. The audience whom more than half of them are boys about their 30's seem to enjoy the National's intensive and melancholic sounds and these remind us of U2's Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby-era. The dynamic scale of the sound and Matt's persuasive baritone voices like Aidan's from ex Arab Strap reach our heart warmly.

Each part of the band join the chorus and none of them try to show themselves off. On stage, they are just five different musicians with support player to make great chemistry as a band and let us enjoy it in a natural way.One significant thing during the performance is that this support violin player was exceptionally stunning and his way of bringing fluent sound of strings perfectly effectively brought gorgeousness into the band. Yet the National themselves are not that gorgeous, but they know how to make them look attractive with their own music.