Following the success of High Violet and the extended tour that accompanied that album, The National hadn’t planned on recording so soon. High Violet brought a bigger audience from new corners wanting to experience the music live. Hence bigger crowds meant bigger venues and with that, bigger pressures to follow up that successful album with something as equally accomplished. Yet, despite the intensity The National have succeeded in recording an album of quality and accessibility whilst avoiding disappearing up their own backsides, particularly considering the weight of expectation bearing down on them. Trouble Will Find Me – their 6th studio album – has a coherency to it that many a band strive for. In Matt Berninger’s own words - ‘After touring High Violet, I think we felt like we’d finally gotten there. Now we could relax—not in terms of our own expectations, but we didn’t have to prove our identity any longer.’ There is an obvious confidence that has developed between them that brings a great chemistry to the music.
Despite Berninger’s baritone of oft fatalistic lyrics, I always associate The National with blue skies and sunshine. A little odd you might think, considering the (at times darkly humorous) maudlin subjects of love, loss and self-loathing. But the sun was shining when I first heard Boxer (my first introduction to the band) and then the day I eagerly slipped the CD of High Violet into the car stereo during the summer of 2010 my window was wound down and the temperature was hitting the 80’s. Hence, I was looking forward to catching them this coming November at Alexandra Palace, as it would bring a little ray of sunshine to a no doubt wet autumn evening in North London. So when it was announced at relatively short notice that they would be squeezing a London gig in at the Roundhouse, on a bright summers evening, the news came as a real treat.
Six albums in and The National couldn’t go wrong in delivering a strong set list. With a back drop of LED projections and a light show orchestrated to augment each song individually, add that to the creative energy of the music and you can feel the pull towards a stadium tour beckoning just around the corner.
They opened the show with a couple of tracks off the new album, ‘I Should Live in Salt’ and ‘Don’t Swallow the Cap’, with Berninger’s voice oozing honey. ‘Bloodbuzz Ohio’, from the widely acclaimed High Violet, brought the first big sing-along, whilst setting the vibe for the rest of the show. A spine tingling ‘Afraid of Everyone’ was one highlight, a portent of what the future may hold for this band - that has slowly and surely risen, almost without notice it seems – of even bigger shows yet to come. With the audience hollering the refrain ‘your voice is swallowing my soul, soul, soul…’ to an ethereal swirl of sound and light, the 5000 capacity Roundhouse was enraptured.
The last three albums are arguably their best, and the song writing seems to be improving still. But earlier tracks like ‘Abel’, with its’ punked up energy are important additions and work great live. ‘England’ inspired the next big sing-along (of course, a rather apt choice), whilst ‘Pink Rabbits’, with Berninger moving up a vocal register, swooning and beguiling, showcases their ability to write a classic tune. ‘About Today’ and ‘Fake Empire’ closed the first set, ushering in, as Berninger wittily remarked, ‘a most dramatic of pee breaks’, before the encore.
After two more sublime tracks off the new album, including a screamo alternative ending to ‘Humiliation’, Berninger disappeared into the audience, as he is oft to do during ‘Mr November’. His mic lead trailing over heads as he stumbled his way through a delighted crowd screaming the chorus and offering his mic to the audience to join in, clambering back on stage in time for the beginning chords of the opus ‘Terrible Love’, bringing the show to a thrilling end, but not before one final treat.
As the LED screens behind stage wound down and the lights faded, the band stepped out from behind their instruments and amplifiers and the Dessner brothers, Bryce and Aaron, begun strumming on two acoustic guitars the barely audible chords to ‘Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks’. Only Berninger’s mic was wired up and eventually a hush of sorts fell upon the audience and together we all shared an intimate – albeit bumbling – final sing-along … ‘I’ll explain everything to the geeks…’
A great gig at a great venue. And a fantastic opportunity to see The National, before they become just too big for a venue like the Roundhouse to hold.
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