The National Live — Sleep Well Beast Tour, Amsterdam

25 October 2017 · Amsterdam

Four performers spread across a wide stage, beam lighting raking down from the rig above and a large LED backdrop projecting abstract architectural visuals behind them. The geometry of the light does the structural work here — each beam lands with enough precision to carve the stage into distinct zones while the purple-magenta wash holds everything together. The National's Sleep Well Beast tour brought this kind of visual discipline to every indoor venue they played: the graphic intensity of the backdrop and the silhouetted figures against it made the concert as much a visual event as a musical one.