crazybobbles

The National live at Royal Festival Hall, I was recommended to see them by John back in the days when we were talking about Arcade Fire and other bands to see live at an Okkervil River gig, now that they were playing I managed to book myself tickets to see them, though per usual there was a presale going on and by the time I actually got to book the tickets, most of the good seats were gone, I was stuck with some crumby rear seats at the back.

Dilemma alert! So I just sneaked my way into the front area and thought "why not?" and just smuggled my way in the photo pit as well, shooting with everyone . I miss the life of crime haha, though at the same time I was supposed to actually have a photopass but things did get a bit messy that I had to go on a solo mission. Matthew kept having his hands on the mic but there were some golden moments where he was very photogenic, the show was really nice and lasted a good 2 hours of nonstop violins, brass, guitars and grand pianos (well one grand piano).

We were stuck at our seats for a couple of songs until people started shouting "TELL US TO STAND UP" to Matthew, he refused to tell us to stand up and told us we need to fight amongst ourselves, after that comment we all braved it out and marched to the front to enjoy the gig how it was supposed to be seen, standing up. It was ace because security guards tend to shuffle you off when you and a few friends are at the front, but when everyone starts moving, it’s something no team of venue security can manage.

The rest of the gig was spent standing up right next to the stage and taking ninja photos of the band (it was a pretty ninja evening). The highlight was most likely when Matthew slipped up from the ice he threw all over the floor, it was funny how he was down for a few seconds before guitarist Bryce Dessner starts kicking him up hehe. All in all it was an ace show
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