If there was ever a band who didn’t fit the festival mold, it’s the National. Their songs are late-night meditations on love, loss and regret — not exactly rousing sing-along material. However, that didn’t stop a passionate crowd from turning downtrodden tunes like “Baby, We’ll Be Fine” (with it’s refrain of “I’m so sorry for everything”) into unabashed anthem. The group’s stirring indie anthems were augmented by a horn section, which gave “Start a War” a little extra gravitas. Frontman Matthew Beringer didn’t seem fazed by the venue in the slightest — perhaps opening an arena tour for R.E.M. lent him some swagger — and he managed to whip the crowd into a frenzy while shredding his vocal cords during the set-closing “Mr. November,” which he dedicated to Barack Obama.

[Photograph by Rory O’Connor for Rolling Stone]

More Lollapalooza Coverage: Rock ‘N’ Roll Diary