When I entered the SummerStage grounds on Monday night - during the very last song of Plants & Animals, unfortunately - it was a frightening sight. Most of the audience was sitting down. At a rock show! Sitting down for folk or a singer-songwriter showcase or jazz is one thing. But sitting down at a rock concert? SCREW. THAT. YUPPIE. SHIT. At that instant I knew this was going to be a long show for Yeasayer (above) and The National.

When the line-up was first announced, it seemed like it was indie-rocker heaven. Not one, but TWO bands with albums from lots of Top 10 lists last year. But then, as I turned my head to see frat-rockers and people who brought their parents, I remembered that hipsters are broke, and $40 is a pretty steep ticket price for bands that aren’t major leaguers like Sonic Youth or something (and even they did a free show). Not that the denizens of Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick and South Park Slope were absent, just not out in full force. Silly me, this isn’t McCarren Park Pool!

Though Yeasayer has been nothing but stellar when I’ve seen them thus far this year - once at Bowery, once at the Masonic Temple - I was a little apprehensive about how their sound would translate outdoors. Much like a dream pop band, I imagined, they would sound best when they had walls and ceilings to push noises around in. This ended up being true to some extent. The layers and textures didn’t sound as overwhelming and intricate as they had indoors. The band held it together, though, and managed to still sound complete.

Even just frontman Chris Keating (above) is fun to watch because he’s so spastic. Contorting his face into painful expressions and twisting his fingers and hands in this or that way, one would guess he was high on something or simply losing his mind. But when they took to the mic between songs, the men of Yeasayer spoke like any other guys from Brooklyn, chill and down to earth. After they busted out a slightly remixed version of “2080,” the song that helped them break ground on blogwaves, bassist Ira Wolf Tuton said with a jester’s smirk, “That’s a popular song.”

What set this show apart from their others this year was the inclusion of several unreleased tracks into the playlist. One was a new song they didn’t reveal the title of, an almost poppy track (well, for them) with a chorus along the lines of “stick up for yourself son / nevermind what anybody else does.” The empowering theme is an interesting change from the doomsdayesque feel of a lot of the lyrics on All Hour Cymbals. Others were popular live cuts they haven’t released yet - “Tight Rope,” which they performed during one of La Blogotheque’s Take Away shows, and “Final Path,” which was included on their Daytrotter session. If these new jams are any indication, Yeasayer just gets better and better.

Despite the band’s vivacity, the crowd was still rather lukewarm (though I think they did finally all stand by the end of Yeasayer’s set), and Keating even pointed to and thanked the more vocal fans in the audience. It hadn’t occurred to me that maybe Yeasayer wouldn’t be the thing for people who are into The National, but I’m not sure why, because I’m fond of Yeasayer, and not so into The National (below).

Yes, yes, that is my dirty secret going into this. National albums, thus far, have just not been my thing. Matt Berninger is a poet, I give him that. His words are beautiful. But it’s the moping, it’s the dryness, it’s the chugging, repetitive nature the music takes on after I listen to a lot of it in a row. I know that’s their thing, and that’s why they’re not mine. My attitude towards The National is sort of like my attitude towards the stereotypical old men in bars who are always whining about something or other. When you’re sad or upset, they seem like geniuses who really know how life is. But when things are going fine, you kind of want to tell them to just get over it. None-the-less, many trusted tastemakers are fond of The National (this blog included), so I decided this was do or die time. Either I walk away a National fan, or I walk away.

That said, I don’t know that I’d feel it fair to judge The National on this show. You’d think the crowd would have been responsive to the band they paid to see. Oh but no. It only took until after the second song for someone to shout out a request for “Freebird.” That’s right. This was a “Freebird” crowd. Had they played to a real New York crowd, a hyperactive one, the outcome might have been different.

As it was, however, it was just okay. The sound was excellent, and for people who love the records, this performance was stellar. But for someone not yet sold on the band, it needed something more than just sounding like the records. They weren’t particularly charismatic. Berninger (below) curled into his mic, looking like he’d lean over and fall on it at any second. A couple of times, he’d break into a screaming outburst or run around the stage and pull the mic out of its socket (Ed. note: listen to the song posted below). His activity level was basically a barometer for my interest, since the music felt like such a close interpretation of the albums - or at least it did to someone who hasn’t dissected their every nuance. If the sound of their show hadn’t converted me, then an inspired performance would have to, and since the music isn’t exactly energetic and the crowd was dull…

But there is plenty to be said for good sound, and there were moments that grabbed me. “Mistaken for Strangers” still slays, and my note during “Ada” reads, “Hey, I like this one.” “Fake Empire” might have had a decent chance of perking me up if I hadn’t turned to move closer to the entrance and seen every drunken man closing his eyes and singing along. But, hey, that’s what albums are for. The National might not have turned me into a complete fan, but they breathed a little life back into their chances.

Listen: “Mr. November” by The National (live from this show, courtesy of nyctaper)

***Download the ENTIRE SHOW as MP3s or FLACs over at nyctaper’s site HERE***

The National Setlist:
“Brainy”
“Secret Meeting”
“Baby We’ll Be Fine”
“Slow Show”
“Squalor Victoria”
“You’ve Done It Again, Virginia”
“Abel”
“The Geese Of Beverly Road”
“Ada”
“All The Wine”
“Daughters Of The SoHo Riots”
“Apartment Story”
“Green Gloves”
“Mistaken For Strangers”
“Fake Empire”
–ENCORE–
“Start A War”
“Karen”
“Mr. November”
“About Today”

See more pictures from this show HERE.

Visit the bands on MySpace: Yeasayer / The National