TORONTO - Halfway through their stellar and occasionally stunning two-hour set Tuesday night, The National's guitarist Aaron Dessner mentioned how intimidating it was to step on the hallowed stage of Toronto's Massey Hall for the first time mere weeks after doing the same thing at London's Royal Albert Hall.

But on night one of the Ohio-cum-Brooklyn rock band's two-night stand, they did themselves and the attentive, sold-out audience proud.

At times sounding powerful, other times pretty and with lyrics that are more often than not pensive, The National culled most of their 23-song set from their last three albums: 2005's Alligator, 2007's Boxer and this year's High Violet. And from the tender, slow show-starter Runaway, lead singer Matt Berninger and crew could do no wrong.

Perhaps the only thing that went wrong early on was the rather sullen nature of the crowd, seated during the fine Mistaken For Strangers and Anyone's Ghost. Sensing this would continue if something wasn't done, Berninger ventured onto the floor, politely encouraged a few people to stand and from there everyone followed suit prior to the guitar-driven Bloodbuzz Ohio.

"Go back and sit down, really, this is rude," Berninger joked following the song to the happy horde filling up the aisles and front of the stage.

Although far from an overnight success with five studio albums and an EP to their credit, The National's current critical darling status comes partially from the synergy in the band. Two brothers -- bassist Scott and drummer Bryan Devendorf - make up the rhythm section. Combine the fact the guitarists are twins (Bryce and Aaron Dessner) and you're definitely onto something.

What took many of these songs to an even higher plateau in concert were the addition of two horn players and the work of violinist/keyboardist Padma Newsome. This was particularly true on Little Faith and Secret Meeting, with each song's potential fully realized but yet not sounding too busy.

With the crowd definitely into the proceedings, The National nailed the tighter, galloping Squalor Victoria before the slow-starting Afraid Of Everyone had Berninger at times shrieking the lyrics like a tortured soul.

The baritone singer also had some lighter moments, thanking opening act The Antlers before Bryce Dessner corrected him on the number of shows both bands had left together. "Thank you! Forget what I just said about The Antlers," Berninger deadpanned. Later on the guitarists poked some fun at Berninger who briefly fumbled some lyrics to Conversation 16. "Let's see if he gets this one," Aaron Dessner said prior to the well-received crowd pleaser Apartment Song.

The second half featured a fine mix of the softer and harder material ranging from the frantic nuggets Mr. November and Abel - which had Berninger walking into the crowd glad-handing and hugging fans for both songs - to the softer gems like Fake Empire and especially the melancholic Daughters Of The Soho Riots.

After delivering 90-Mile Water Wall from 2003's Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers, The National plugged along well past the traditional 11 p.m. curfew for the venue with Lemonworld before the terrific Terrible Love and bombastic About Today concluded the pristine performance.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5