I’ve never been a huge fan of Elvis Costello. But on the other hand, I don’t particularly dislike him either. So, when a friend offered me a pair of tickets to see Costello live at the Mann Music Center, I jumped on them. The idea of just about any pop/rock star backed by a full orchestra is enough to pique my interest. Plus, the Mann – with its open-air seating – is the perfect venue for a late summer concert.

Unfortunately, this was not the perfect late summer concert. It was a snooze-fest.

From the opening “arrangement” of “All This Useless Beauty,” the entire show felt like musical theatre… marred by indulgent intros, long schmaltzy interludes, and missed opportunities. I guess what I was expecting was some really original and robust orchestral accompaniment to Costello’s eclectic brand of rock. Instead, the show was all orchestral “arrangements” of Costello’s song – some written by other musicians, some by Costello himself. Despite the fact that there seemed to be an anecdote to introduce each arrangement, suggesting that great care and thought went into them, every song felt like it had been shoe-horned into its new format. The musical choices were predictable and disappointing, such as the Perry Mason-esque intro to “Watching the Detectives.”

And then there was “Veronica.” Since (yes, I’ll own it) this is the Elvis Costello song that I know best, I was really looking forward to hearing what he and the orchestra were going to do with it. The answer: not a damn thing. Costello plaid acoustic guitar and Steve Nieve played the piano. That was about it. No drums. No horns. The orchestra joined them for a few bars toward the end of the song, but otherwise sat there looking hamstrung and restless. I wondered if they just didn’t even have sheet music for it. And then, when Costello was done singing the orchestra opened up with what sounded like an overture of “Veronica” but felt like an afterthought.

The only song that didn’t disappoint was “She,” the song Costello wrote for Notting Hill and which I’m pretty sure was originally written for an orchestra. It was beautiful. But not beautiful enough to keep me in my seat… as soon as that song was finished I bolted. Unfortunately, the highlight of this show for me was getting out ahead of the traffic.

Cross posted from 52 Shows, a live music blog for regular folks.

The National are well on their way to mainstream rock star status.

Back in June, the Brooklyn based indie rockers played to a small crowd of 300 at Johnny Brenda’s, a small bar venue in Philly. Monday night they packed the house at the 1,000 person capacity Fillmore at the TLA in Philly. The show kicked off the US leg of a new world tour that runs through the end of the year.

They opened up the set with the slow build up of Start a War. By the end of the song, everyone in the band was ripping on something furiously including singer Matt Berninger who was bashing a cymbal on the drum kit with his back to the crowd. It took Berninger a few songs to warm up to the crowd. He was suffering from a nagging cough that had him cringing away from the mic between songs.

The National @ the Fillmore at the TLA

But even if Berninger was in a Robitussin haze, it didn’t draw down his energy during songs. He jumped around in fits, eyes closed, squeezing out every lyric with his entire body. The crowd ate it up and cheered him on throughout their set of the band’s songs from their latest album, Boxer, and some from their previous, mostly Alligator. The band sounded great, anchored firmly by the understated but driving drumming of Bryan Devendorf.

The sight to be seen though was Padma Newsome, who is touring with the band on violin and keyboards. He looks a little bit like Gary Oldman playing the role of crazed indie rocker. Every time Newsome picked up the violin he played it as if he was just dosed with a large amount of amphetamines. I found myself staring at him for fear that I would miss seeing him spontaneously combust.

Check out some tracks by The National, and the rest of their tour schedule over at 52 Shows.