I meant the joke, don't get me wrong, Rosemary: I love Queen. I'm so sorry I never got to see them live.

I was just joking, myself! I realize my love for Queen is highly unfashionable (no offense intended!)

None taken! : )
Hell, I'd join a Queen Forum anytime! Love them, honest. : )

I won't get to see The National this summer, but at least I can console myself that I did see Queen live in 1978.

hello all-
new to the board and excited to see so much National-related stuff in one place. i will be headed to my first show in Cambridge tonight and figured this would be as good a time as any to pop on. thanks for all of the shows and info that you provide.
-doug

Carl, from Sunny Middlesbrough.

Boxer came in the post a couple of days ago and I thought I'd look up the lyrics and read some reviews, I can't ever remember there being a forum on this website.
I've liked the National for yonks but Alligator turned me in to a fanboi.

Hello fellow fans and addicts,

I'm Brandon, I live in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I stumbled upon Alligator a little over a year ago on some blogs and have been addicted since. I immediately got a hold of their older releases and have been listening non-stop since. Their S/T release is probably my favorite, but thus far these guys can do no wrong. Loving Boxer and still love Alligator.

I got to see them play in March '06 at The Intersection in Grand Rapids, MI. I think there were maybe 20-30 people there tops, but I loved it. Nice seeing they are selling out big venues now, they deserve it. Hope they come to Michigan sometime or that I can venture out and see them somewhere.

Hi, Parker from Louisiana.

I had heard of the National via the Ryan Adams message board and decided to check out Boxer. It immediately struck me, and it's been a daily listen for the past couple weeks or so.

Love the board, very informative and helpful for finding rarites and such.

Hi to all, from Oakland, CA!

Have not been this infatuated with a band in a LONG time. Last crushes THIS big were probably Neutral Milk Hotel and Nick Cave, eons ago.

I randomly discovered Alligator on iTunes last year, and immediately liked it (unusual in itself). But by the 3rd play, I was pretty much obsessed, literally even having the songs running through my head in my SLEEP. Waking up, realizing they were playing in my mind, going back to sleep, and waking up to them again. I'd kind of serially get hooked on different songs, eventually even the ones I wasn't that wild about at first. (Like "Lit Up"--not my favorite at all, but eventually even became hooked on it.) We just barely managed to get tix for their SF Noise Pop show last year on Craigslist (it had sold out) just in time--the week before I hadn't even heard of them. Matt had a bad cold, but the band STILL sounded great.

Have to say, I was almost afraid to listen to Boxer, because I mean how could it POSSIBLY be as good as Alligator. But same thing: liked it pretty well at once, but by the 3rd listen, I was nuts about it. Not positive I'd love Boxer so much without knowing Alligator first, but at any rate, it's fantastic. It sounds a lot like Tindersticks I think (esp. Slow Show for ex.), and that's only a plus in my book.

Just saw their June 27 show in San Francisco and it was unbelievable and wonderful. Great energy in the place and LOVED that they opened with Start a War, followed by Secret Meeting.

Thanks for this very fun board!

Welcome - I was one of those 30 people at the Intersection.

That's awesome!

My name is Rob. I might be one of the older folks here at 38. Most of the music I listen to is in the broadly progressive mode. I tend to like some complexity and put a lot of value in virtuosic musicianship, although I listen to other kinds of things, too.

Last year, I subscribed to eMusic.com and started using it to explore new music. Boxer was 3 items down on my list, and I dumped it into the new music playlist on my iPod after "Neon Bible" by Arcade Fire. The AF was okay, but Boxer was unexpected. I was hearing a band loaded with musical talent but that also had poignant and literate lyrics. I liked it and moved it the top of the playlist. At this point, it had a similar status as the Andrew Bird album, which I had recently listened to alot.

Well, then I got an illness that required me to spend a lot of time lying still. So I listened to the album and Alligator over and over again, every day for two weeks, so I knew I was a fan. The last band I listened to so compulsively was The Weakerthans. This is an amazing band. I've always thought that the drummer is the heart of a rock band, and Bryan Devendorf manages to synthesize the straight ahead rock sound with moments of brilliance, occasionally throwing in some polyrythms to spice things up and help make the music absorbing.

It's a weird comparison, but it some ways, The National remind me of Marillion, who had an amazing but troubled singer and hyper-literate lyrics. There was a similar marriage of musical pyrotechnics with emotional lyrics.

Anyway, happy to have discovered this band, however late.

Hi all,

I'm Deexan, been a fan of the national since a tv-based music magazine in the UK (Planet Sound) awarded Alligator the coveted prize of Album of the Year 2005. Ive listened to it pretty much every week since and am happy to say that Boxer is growing on me in much the same way as it did.

Finally got to see them live in my home town of Stoke on Trent this evening and was in complete awe of their performance, it was everything i had hoped for and more; im in the lucky position of getting to see them again this weekend at the Latitude festival and i cannot wait.

Look forward to meeting some people of a like mind on here!

I love Planet Sound! I try to read it every day while having breakfast....eh, anyway - welcome to the board.

God, I don't know anyone else that reads Planet Sound, but it's ace. I read it over breakfast too - it's the only way. So looking forward to Nottingham tonight.