The National at the South Street Seaport

The rain stopped just in time tonight, because I'm not sure I could have convinced my lovely daughters to stay for The National's entire 15-song, 50-minute set had it been pouring. But I got lucky, Bo and Co had fun watching me have fun, and though it was by no means a perfect show, to hear so much good music for free on a breezy summer's night, I'm definitely not complaining.

As often seems to be the case with these free outdoor concerts, the band had a little trouble gaining momentum early, but around about the sixth or seventh song the crowd really started dancing and singing along, and the show's last half hour or so was excellent... especially, I would say, the back-to-back-to-back pre-encore trio of Daughters of the Soho Riots, Fake Empires, and Mr. November.

Anyway, here's the (nearly) complete set list (little help on song eight?):
1. Start a War
2. Mistaken For Strangers
3. Secret Meeting
4. Brainy
5. Baby We'll Be Fine
6. Slow Show
7. Abel
8. ? UPDATE: Squalor Victoria (thanks anon...)
9. Racing Like a Pro
10. Apartment Story
11. Daughters of the Soho Riots
12. Fake Empire
13. Mr. November
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14. Murder Me Rachel
15. About Today

There are two more free Seaport concerts this summer: Camera Obscura on August 24, and Battles (which could be amazing) on the 31st.