The latest disc from the National, the boozy, sparkling Boxer, is already shaping up to be one of the most critically lauded albums of the year, and has catapulted the Cincinnati-via-Brooklyn band from well-liked to must-listen. It’s also enabled the five-piece to accomplish the previously unthinkable: sell out five straight nights at New York’s Bowery Ballroom.

Last night was the second in the band’s five-night stand and the crowd was happy to see their boys doing well. For ninety mostly-rollicking minutes, the band focused on material from its most recent albums – Boxer and 2005’s equally excellent Alligator. The set opener — a medley of “Fake Empire” and “Mistaken for Strangers” — pitted drizzly keyboards against taut, eerie refrains. “Secret Meeting,” performed several songs into the show, contained that same prickly balance: In this case, an inviting melody belying the song’s haunted — and haunting — lyrics: “This room is full of spies / I think they’re on to me,” singer Matt Berninger crooned.

The audience was rapt, despite the fact that Berninger –- whose frayed baritone lends the songs a desperate quality — is not a traditionally engaging frontman. Lanky and lean and dressed in all black, he said little between songs and hardly roamed the stage. He was loosest during the sonic explosion that was “Abel” which he delivered with reckless abandon, nearly shouting himself hoarse. The same was true for “Mr. November,” another rambunctious crowd-pleaser that levels President Bush with several witty turns of phrase.

One drawback for the band’s serious fans: The quieter moments that feel so essential and intimate on the band’s records were in short supply. Moving forward, the National can focus on those. But the mission tonight was to celebrate.