The National is my favorite band. As such, I bought tickets for this show as soon as they went on sale, and I was extremely lucky to be able to get third row seats. I could complain about seeing them in a seated venue when I’ve seen them tear down the Casbah twice, but I’m so, so happy that they’ve gotten too big for the Casbah. Their music is amazing complex and intricate, and they pour everything they have into it. This New York Times article about them explains in much better words why I love them so much.
Even luckier than snagging third row seats was snagging a photo pass to the show hours before it started (I have SoundDiego and Owl and Bear to thank for that).

Ramona Falls opened the show, and while their music is quite different from Menomena (Brent Knopf is a member of both bands), I really enjoyed their set and have been meaning to follow up on their music ever since.