On September 11, 2013 at The Fillmore in Charlotte, NC, it was my second time seeing Frightened Rabbit and, once again, they didn’t disappoint. They were the opening act for The National (who I had never seen live).
Frightened Rabbit are out on tour supporting their new album Pedestrian Verse. When this album came out I didn’t warm up to it as much as I did to their previous two albums, The Winter of Mixed Drinks and The Midnight Organ Fight. After seeing the show, I now love this album. Being the opening act, they didn’t play very long (about 45 minutes) but they brought it. They mostly played mostly songs off Pedestrian Verse and sprinkled in about three or four songs from previous albums. The best track (in my opinion) on Pedestrian Verse, and the song that got the crowd going, was “The Woodpile.” This album is much more guitar driven then others and “The Woodpile” is a prime example. Scott Hutchinson’s Scottish accent make all their lyrics sound like fine poetry.
As for The National, they were on tour supporting their most recent album, Trouble Will Find Me. I do enjoy The National, but not as much as Frightened Rabbit. The lead singer (Matt Berninger’s ) baritone definitely adds to the mystique of the band. Their style is a little more subdued and mellow than Frightened Rabbit. They do have some up-tempo guitar driven tracks. One of which that got the crowd going was “Bloodbuzz Ohio,” off the album High Violet. If you had to make a comparison to The National, I would say maybe old school R.E.M. The National have been around since 2001 so they had enough material and spread it around sufficiently. One aspect that The National brought was a horn section, which lifted tracks to a higher level. The section consisted of a trumpet and a trombone.
The crowd for me at The Fillmore was a little all over the place. You had your yuppies, nerds, and an older crowd. There were a number of concert-goers that were definitely in their 60s. Overall the sold out show was excellent, I just wished that Frightened Rabbit was allowed more time to melt our faces.
– Submitted by Jonathan Wash, Audio Production