The recent trend of rockers hosting their own music festivals has led to a lot of fun moments. Dave Grohl’s Cal Jam is coming up this weekend and it has a pretty killer lineup, and this past weekend, The National hosted the inaugural edition of There’s No Leaving New York at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens. Naturally, the band’s fingerprints were all over the fest, which resulted in plenty of highlights.
The National performed on both days of the event, and during the encore of their Sunday set, they covered festival performer Cat Power’s “Maybe Not.” This isn’t the first time fans have heard Matt Berninger and company’s spin on the song, since the group previously released a studio version for their Spotify Singles session last year.
During the set, the band also performed “About Today” and dedicated it to Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison, who died in May. On Saturday, they brought out Phoebe Bridgers, who joined the group in performing “I Need My Girl” from Trouble Will Find Me and High Violet highlight “Sorrow.” Elsewhere during the weekend, There’s No Leaving New York also features performances from Jason Isbell, Future Islands, U.S. Girls, and others.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHlComQJ7mw
Find the full setlist for their Saturday performance here, check out Sunday’s setlist here, and watch clips from both performances above.