The National is not cowardly. They won’t cave to thuggery and brutish demands to do this and do that, or else. They do respect the art and act of the petition. Much like the Live Earth pledge and petition that Rosario Dawson and Al Gore are working for, fans of the New York-by-way-of-Ohio band have already taken the time to mount a partially effective petition to get some of their favorite, less visible album tracks into the live set. This mysterious petition, which The National did not elaborate extensively upon when they visited, was likely an act of the Internet, because pens and paper and the bricks and mortar are dying a slow death. The fans demanded these songs that, for reasons of time constraining and not being able to always get what you want, could not fit into the band’s regular set. They like their set the way it is right now too, so there wasn’t much this petition could do. There’s not too far that it could really be taken. The guys took the opportunity to use the Daytrotter forum to formally answer this plea, this begging, the petition once and for all. The fans cried for these songs in a live setting and this is the closest that they’re going to come to getting them that way. From the sound of things at the conclusion of the session, this could be the only live version that you’ll ever hear of these songs. They were recorded June 10, the day following a sold out show in Madison. They were here a few hours after The Maccabees, a lovely English pop band that left The National a love note as they left. The band had pizza before the session and then promptly taught themselves how to play the Psychedelic Furs classic song five minutes before it was recorded. Enjoy the rareness petitioners! – Sean Moeller

Listen to the full Daytrotter Session with The National.