Dark Was The Night @ Radio City Music Hall

Cereal and I were sitting together, juiced on a few cold ones, when all of a sudden an idea to fly away to New York popped into our heads. All we needed was a reason to go. We browsed NY's music listings and came upon one show that stood above the rest. Radio City Music Hall was set to host the Dark Was The Night benefit concert, featuring a jaw-dropping line-up of current indie acts, including David Byrne, Bon Iver, Feist, The National, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, My Brightest Diamond, The Dirty Projectors, Dave Sitek and a group of other supporting musicians. With a list of artists that great, we immediately picked up some tickets and booked our flights to The Big Apple.

Read about the show, and check out a bunch of our videos from the night after the jump.

Opening up the night was an awkward-but-interesting set by buzz band The Dirty Projectors, which soon found David Byrne joining them onstage for a pair of songs they recorded together for the DWTN album. Leaving the room awestruck with a cover of the Nina Simone-popularized "Feeling Good," My Brightest Diamond used the song to show off her outstanding vocal range. Next up was the show's hosts, The National, whose brother combo of Aaron and Bryce Dessner put the whole shebang together, including both the compilation and the concert. Their set was a bit slow, but did feature two brand new songs they chose to break in for us. A quick, synth-heavy song from TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek, who won the prize for most dapper musician of the evening, led into what a good sized chunk of the audience had been waiting for. David Byrne entered, following a quartet of drummers banging out some extra-funky Stomp-like beats, starting right into a version of Cole Porter's "Don't Fence Me In." Using the National as his back-up band and Bon Iver as his extra vocalists, Byrne played three songs from past Red Hot compilations that he'd never before performed live. The second of three songs had Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon showing off his guitar chops, while the third song found Feist onstage for the first time to sing a duet with Byrne.

Bon Iver

After a brief set break, Bon Iver took the stage to the largest round of applause of the evening. Four choice songs were performed, sticking with the collaborative spirit of things by inviting National frontman Matt Berninger on stage for "Big Red Machine," and My Brightest Diamond for "Flume," which was easily the most stunning performance of the night. Feist was next, offering a stripped down set of four different covers, bringing out "the ghosts of Bon Iver" (they were dimly lit) to back her on Vashti Bunyan's "Train Song." While Sharon Jones doesn't typically fit the indie-rock scene, she had no problems bringing the seated Radio City audience to its feet. Her funk and soul set saw some people leave, but most remained glued to the stage waiting to see how she would close out the show. She's a true performer, and one of the best at what she does. Her dance-inducing set finished with her hit "100 Days, 100 Nights," which brought an ovation from the standing crowd. Coming back for an encore of the Pete Seeger-dedicated Woodie Guthrie tune "This Land Is Your Land" was the entire ensemble of characters from the night's cast (minus David Byrne), even featuring a cameo from Brooklynite-via-Dallas St. Vincent. It started as a quiet folk sing-a-long, but was soon hijacked by Jones and her Dap Kings to end the show with a bang.

Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings

It was the perfect way to end an amazing show. Each performer showed off their talents, but the show MVP without a doubt belonged to Justin Vernon. Adding his vocal or guitar work to almost every set, Vernon stole the show each time it was his turn to shine. I'm so glad that we had the opportunity to be in attendance for Dark Was The Night, as most of these songs and collaborations will never again be performed, especially in such a format. Radio City Music Hall was the perfect venue for a concert of such caliber, and I'm honored to have finally witnessed a performance in the historic building.

Dark Was The Night Set-List

1. Dirty Projectors - (two new album songs?)
2. Dirty Projectors - "Stillness Is the Move"
3. Dirty Projectors - "Ambulance Man" w/ David Byrne
4. Dirty Projectors - "Knotty Pine" w/ David Byrne
5. My Brightest Diamond - "Feeling Good"
6. The National - "Slow Show"
7. The National - "England"
8. The National - "So Far Around The Bend"
9. The National - "Vanderlaw Crybaby" w/ My Brightest Diamond
10. Dave Sitek - "With A Girl Like You"
11. David Byrne - "Don't Fence Me In" w/ Bon Iver, Dave Sitek & The National
12. David Byrne - "Dreamworld: Marco de Canavezes" w/ Justin Vernon
13. David Byrne - "Waters Of March" w/ Leslie Feist
Setbreak
14. Bon Iver - "Brackett, WI"
15. Bon Iver - "Blood Bank"
16. Bon Iver - "Big Red Machine" w/ The National
17. Bon Iver - "Flume" w/ My Brightest Diamond & The National
18. Feist - "The Wagoner's Lad"
19. Feist - "Look At What the Light Did Now"
20. Feist - "Train Song" w/ Bon Iver
21. Feist - "Someday Baby"
22. Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings - "Not Gonna Cry"
23. Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings - "When I Come Home"
24. Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings - "Inspiration Information"
25. Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings - "100 Days, 100 Nights"
Encore
26. Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings w/ Bon Iver, Feist, The National, Dirty Projectors, My Brightest Diamond, Dave Sitek, St. Vincent and more - "This Land Is Our Land"

-Eggs