This date was somewhat of a major step up in terms of venue size and profile, but over the past 20 years The National have quietly and with dignity, grown exponentially in their reach, influence and fanbase to the extent that the “Hydro” (as most Glaswegians still call it) looked pretty full, at least in the standing/floor area but there must have been a good 10,000 people there.
Support was from Soccer Mommy – a five-piece outfit from Nashville fronted by Sophie Allison (vocals/guitar) and backed by bass, drums and more guitars, they played a selection of tracks from the three album releases there have been since 2018, as well as an interesting cover version.
Coming across as quite shy on the massive stage, Sophie sang with intensity and passion – a strong voice, styled somewhere between country and shoegaze, if that is actually a feasible description. With guitar lines alternately spindly and strummy, there’s a lot going on underneath what can seem quite deceptively simple sounding tunes. ‘Circle The Drain’ actually reminded BM a bit of The Sundays, then later on Sophie introduced the Slowdive song ‘Dagger’ as “one of my favourites”. Lyrical content was thoughtful and introspective in general. Last track ‘Yellow Is The Colour Of Her Eyes’ saw a certain amount of guitar abuse and marked the end of the seven-song set – very satisfying for a support act and a good choice by the headliners.
And so to The National. BM caught them for the first time for their two sets at Connect last year, knew they had a long touring history but didn’t actually realise how often they had played in Glasgow over the years – starting at Nice N Sleazy and, via the late lamented ABC, working up to, most recently, two nights at Kelvingrove Bandstand. BM knew that the set would be lengthy and it certainly was – a total of 27 songs spanning almost two and a half hours and much of their 20 year musical output.
This is a band with a huge back catalogue to draw from and their “surprise” second album release in one year just gave them more material to choose from. The five core members (Matt and the two pairs of brothers) have been a stable unit for quite some while and tonight were supplemented by two further multi-instrumentalists who double on brass and keyboards/percussion.
Vocalist Matt Berninger, looking both eruditely dapper but slightly dishevelled (as he is wont to do) led the band through a succession of musical and lyrical ups and downs, often within the same songs. Deep emotions were evoked in the combination of lyrical content its delivery and the accompanying playing, often of desperation, half-memories and regrets. This is also combined with a world-weariness on Matt’s part but also a recognition that things could always be worse, and a sense of the ridiculousness at times.
It can seem almost like catharsis or therapy, certainly on some tracks, and BM notes that his wife has often contributed to the lyrics over the years – is that maybe why they have such a wide appeal. A case in point is ‘Tropic Morning News’, an everyday tale of struggle and breakdown (“I didn’t have my face on yet”) set to a relatively jaunty beat and chiming guitar – what could possibly go wrong? A lot of people can relate to this combination – “I would like have nothing to do with it, I’d like to move on and be through with it… let me know if you can come over and work the controls for a while… I was suffering more than I let on…”
This use of language, putting disastrous emotions into short couplets and giving the audience space for dignified grieving is what he is really best at – and the tunes help as well of course. And over the 10 or so full releases each one has got just a little bit closer to being a fully-rounded album – there may not be one that stands out as their “classic”, BM suspects more people in the audience have “the one” which may relate more to a period or stage of experience, but looking at the hundreds of songs there are few bands who have done such consistently good work over a couple of decades.
The music and delivery at times evokes Springsteen in its combination of bluster and sensitivity, and some other more Americana-orientated artists such as Lambchop and Drive-by Truckers, but The National have their own sound, very much driven by the two sets of brothers and the mannered Berninger vocal delivery, his voice somewhere between Leonard Cohen and Michael Stipe. The use of electronic percussion, odd time signatures and a stab of brass on some tracks marks them out musically as just not your average outfit.
While Matt mainly confined himself to telling the audience how much fun he was having, guitarist Aaron Dessner introduced a number of the songs and made some jokes about the different periods of the band’s development. He also gave a heartfelt tribute to Scott Hutchison, wished his friends the remaining Frabbits well and introduced the next song ‘Mistaken For Strangers’ as “one that Scott used to like playing himself” – (Frightened Rabbit toured with The National in America and by all accounts the two bands saw themselves as spiritual comrades).
Also as he is wont to do, Matt increased the tension and interaction with the audience with several forays off the stage (there was a special ladder at the front to avoid the common situation where an artist jumps off and then can’t get back on) along the barrier, touching skin as he went, still singing. There was also an extended walkabout round the side of the barrier and into the crowd during ‘Graceless’ – it really looked at one point like he was heading out of the arena to the bar, and the longest mic cable in the world was fed out in yards from the stage (he’s not a climber like Bono but does like to keep the tech staff and security busy).
Highlights – where to start – new single ‘Laugh Track’ was mordantly self-mocking, ‘Mistaken For Strangers’ was emotional and there were several wigouts nearer the end including a lengthy “Space Invader” before the band downed the loud instruments down to a single acoustic and maybe a tambourine and Matt wordlessly conducted the entire audience in a (certainly for some) tearful rendition of ‘Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks’ – the fact that almost everyone in the room knew all the words tells you pretty much all you need to know about the status of The National.
Tracks from pretty much every album got an airing although it was notable that the only one played from ‘I Am Easy To Find’ was ‘Light Years’ and likewise from ‘Sleep Well Beast’ only ‘The System…’ while older albums ‘High Violet’ and ‘Boxer’ got more coverage. There was reference to them tinkering with the setlist on tour and given the previously reference massive choice of tracks BM would not be surprised if a lot of tracks moved in and out of the set – a rarity tonight for example was ‘The Geese of Beverly Road’ from ‘Alligator’ which hadn’t been in the live set for several years.
Musical trends ebb and flow, and such music journalists who still have jobs are forever positing about who’s the “biggest cult band in the world – since the demise of REM and with Arcade Fire having lost their way a bit musically there is certainly some argument for saying that The National are contenders, certainly in terms of acts of their generation and leaving veterans like The Cure and DM aside here… On tonight’s showing this is a band at the very height of their powers, producing better music than ever with plenty of gas in the tank for touring, and still enjoying it – and Glasgow absolutely adored them!
Photos by Catching Light Photography