The National have utterly ruined their new album for me.

I can’t think of a higher compliment for a live show; the National were so great last night, so powerful and overwhelming, that the superb High Violet now sounds like a pale imitation of itself. It was, of course, a set heavy on songs from High Violet — they played everything except “Little Faith” and “Lemonworld” — but it was also a set heavy on the emotionally complex and sometimes scary songs from Boxer, which was a pleasant surprise.

The National make such dense, sonically fascinating music; a 20 mile water wall of guitars, if you would, and last night they were helped by a pair of horn players who simply confirmed my theory that every set would be improved by a horn section. Horn sections for everyone! There’s something slippery and shining just underneath the surface of all the National’s songs, mostly thanks to Matt Berninger’s odd, off-kilter, not quite sensical lyrics, and the shimmer and shout of the trumpet over top of Bryce and Aaron Dessner’s guitars really focuses you on the parts of their music that can almost get away from you.

And Berninger, who is always a great, strange performer, was in fine form last night; drinking whiskey from a plastic cup, wandering off-stage between songs, throwing his microphone to the floor, stacking up monitors to block out obnoxious jerks in the front row. He and the band were chatty and gregarious, telling stories on each other and talking to the audience. The Dessners described the awkwardness of sitting in a restaurant prior to the show, and hearing your own song come over the stereo, and picked on Berninger for dictating the band’s clothing prior to photo shoots — “Don’t wear suits! Don’t wear a giant hot dog costume!” — and then showing up in exactly what he said not to wear. They shouted out Raleigh Denim, who gifted the band with new jeans prior to the show. And they told us how much they loved Raleigh, and how we have one of the best music scenes in the country, how lucky we were to have it (yay).

When other people can see how lucky we are, I think we’re really fucking lucky.

They powered through the main set — did you know that “Conversation 16” was about cannibalism? THE MORE YOU KNOW, Y’ALL — and came back out for a torrential, fierce four song encore, and if the main set was amazing, the encore was incapacitating in its gorgeous power. “Runaway” was heartbreakingly earnest, “Mr. November” sent Berninger screaming and flailing across the stage, and then, shortly into “Terrible Love”, he crawled off the stage and headed for the top of Memorial Auditorium, one of the biggest rooms in the Triangle, almost entirely full. The audience hoisted his mic cable over their heads while he crawled through the seats and howled, and it was a live music moment that gives you the shivers — the kind of moment that you remember for years afterwards.

Unless a band can manage to top it, which the National proceeded to do, when Berninger was safely ensconced back on stage. With all five band members plus their three extra friends at the front of the stage, they proceeded to absolutely destroy an entirely unplugged, mostly a cappella sing-along version of the stunning “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks”, Berninger’s voice rising up un-micced over the crowd’s reverent accompaniment on the chorus. It was the most powerful moment in live music I’ve seen this year, and I’ve seen hometown crowds go nuts for Superchunk doing “Slack Motherfucker” and Brian Fallon and Dave Hause cover Social Distortion’s “Ball And Chain”. This topped everything I’ve seen.

Just writing about that puts goosebumps on my arms.

I do love a good pro lighting rig, I tell you what.

It’s funny to think about, but venue trajectory in the Triangle is a pretty good estimate of a band’s rising star: before Alligator, the National played Local 506 (capacity 250) to 18 people; touring for Boxer, Frank scooped Glenn and they sold the Cradle (475) out; they made a pit-stop as first opener for R.E.M. at Walnut Creek in 2008; last year between albums they sold out the Lincoln Theater (about 600, I think?); and this year, they very nearly filled Memorial Auditorium, which holds several thousand people.

And in that huge room, only four or five years removed from 18 people in a dive bar (albeit a dive bar with great booking), they were absolutely otherworldly. And so was Owen Pallett, the prettiest Canadian fairy princess violinist out there, and I remain amazed that he can make the music he does with just a keyboard, his violin, his voice, and about 14 loop pedals. Crazy.

Setlist: Start A War/Anyone’s Ghost/Mistaken For Strangers/Bloodbuzz Ohio/Slow Show/Squalor Victoria/Afraid of Everyone/Available/Conversation 16/Apartment Story/Sorrow/Abel/Green Gloves/England/Fake Empire
Encore: Runaway/Mr. November/Terrible Love/Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks