The National return to Milwaukee’s Riverside Theater on Tuesday, April 26th with The Pains of Being Pure At Heart and Twin Shadow (who join the bill from the previously announced show at Turner Hall Ballroom). General admission tickets are $29.50 and go on sale Friday, March 4th.

Last year, the National’s High Violet was one of our favorite albums of the year. The band also played two of our favorite concerts from last year as well.

MP3: The National – “Bloodbuzz Ohio”
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Buy: The National – High Violet

By Tyler Fassnacht

After getting to the venue fifteen minutes before doors officially opened, I realized how much I really overestimated the popularity of this show. I was the first person in line and along with some friends of mine we were the only ones for a while. Also the doors were opening thirty minutes late due to some bands being late for sound check. All that being said, for all of those people who didn’t come, they missed out on a really great show.

First on the bill was Cymbals Eat Guitars, a band that I was almost as excited to see as the Pains. I had seen them previously in July when they played the Madison pre-pitchfork show with Ponytail and Yeasayer and they impressed me back then and now they just blew me away. The guys were more energetic and they really took advantage of all the colored lights against the movie screen backdrop of the Orpheum. The Cymbal’s melodic guitar jams seemed to impress the majority of the people around me, even if there weren’t many people there in the first place, so again, to those of you who didn’t come, your loss.

After a quick stage change the Depreciation Guild came out and were a slight disappointment coming off of my Cymbals Eat Guitars high. The band specialized in loud, noisy, shoegazy, My Bloody Valentine-ish songs, but the songs weren’t very dynamic and their sound couldn’t keep my interest past the first couple songs. Oh yeah, and did I mention they were loud? There have not been many concerts I’ve seen where the opener was louder than the headliner and I think it should be rule that they can’t.

All was not lost however; after the Pains of Being Pure at Heart came out (with 2/3 of the Depreciation Guild in their band) I was quickly launched back up on a music high. There isn’t much to say other than, they were poppy, they were fun and they were great. It was just a really enjoyable concert. Along with the catchy songs off of their self-titled album, they threw in two new songs and some nice stage banter; such as how lead singer Kip was born in Madison. Who knew! Much to my disappoint, it still was not a full house by the time the Pains started playing, something they really deserved. At least the crowd really started moving when they played “Everything With You”. With only one album, that is less than forty minutes, there wasn’t much hope that the band would be playing far into the night, and so I wasn’t surprised when they ended. I would have been sad because the fun was over, but after that concert I don’t think I will stop smiling for a week.

MP3: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – “Everything With You”
MP3: The Depreciation Guild – “Darklooming”

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart will play the Orpheum Stage Door in Madison on Wednesday, September 9th.

Support: The Depreciation Guild + Cymbals Eat Guitars
Tickets: $10 Advance / $12 Day of Show / All Ages

Myspace: Pains of Being Pure at Heart
MP3: Pains of Being Pure at Heart – “Everything With You”

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