Damn. I’m still reeling from what went down at Radio City Music Hall this past Sunday night (5/3).  But before I dive into the juicy details, let me set the scene for you Trainiacs. Red Hot released an indie-music fan magnum opus earlier this year with the Dark Was The Night compilation; fast forward a few months later and I’m sitting in Radio City on a rainy Sunday night about to watch a one-off show featuring many of the artists from the album ready to get their jam on for charity.

The night began with Dirty Projectors who busted out a few choice cuts from their upcoming album Bitte Orca.  This might have been the biggest show DP has played so far but it definitely didn’t show as singer Amber Coffman belted out ‘Stillness Was The Move’ along with a serving of complimentary interpretive dance moves (which I think she stole from me).  David Byrne soon joined for some collabos, including ‘Knotty Pine’ from DWTN, and with that we were at our first set break.

Dirty Projectors - Stillness Is The Move

Next up was My Brightest Diamond accompanied by The National for a kickass little Nina Simone cover followed by a four song set by just The National. Actually I take that back, it wasn’t “just” The National. As I was taking a sip of my beverage I noticed a scraggly looking gent to the side of the stage singing along to ‘So Far Around The Bend’ - none other than my fellow ‘Sconnie, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver!  Quick song by David Sitek followed by the return of David Byrne who was led out to the stage by a percussion line for a rowdy rendition of ‘Don’t Fence Me In’ from the very first Red Hot compilation.  I blinked and there was Feist getting her duet on with Byrne followed by a Byrne-Bon Iver combo.

The National - Slow Show

Intermission and holy shit I have never seen such a large group of smokers in my entire life at a show. Note to the squares - smoking’s back in.

The second half opened with the soothing sounds of Bon Iver.  I have to note at this point that, although every act was warmly received throughout the night, nobody got as many cheers as Bon Iver.  Such cheers may also have included a Bud Light-fueled “Wisconsin!” rally cry from yours truly - what can I say, I have some home state pride so why don’t you just settle down Judge Reinhold. Bon started with ‘Brackett, WI’ from DWTN followed by jams accompanied by Matt from The National and closed out with a beautiful version of ‘Flume’ with My Brightest Diamond.

Bon Iver - Flume

Oh snaps Feist was back on stage.  ‘The Wagoner’s Lad’ followed by a phenomenal cover of ‘Look At What The Light Did Now’ and into my theme song(!), ‘Train Song’, with Bon Iver.  And then, just in case the house had been brought down enough times during the night, Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings came out and f-in MURDERED it.  Channeling her inner James Brown at times, Ms. Jones danced/screamed/sang the crowd to its feet to close out the night.

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights

But of course that’s not all folks.  The whole crew was back on the stage for the encore (including a was-just-hanging-out-at-the-bar-but-now-I’m-on-stage St. Vincent) for a tribute to Pete Seeger who was celebrating his 90th birthday across town at Madison Square Garden.  What started off as a campfire rendition of ‘This Land Is Your Land’ quickly escalated in a shitshow of funk courtesy of Ms. Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings.  And just like that it was all over, an unbelievable night for an equally unbelievable album and charity.  Thanks for your time, you’ve been great.

Buy Dark Was The Night from Amazon here!

NPR will have a podcast of the show ready to go soon - check back here or on iTunes in about a week.