So much for easing back into things. Performing the first of a sold-out four-night stand, the National kicked off its international tour Thursday at the Auditorium Theatre with an emotional concert that began with a devastating ballad about a fracturing relationship and ended more than two hours later with a gentle balm promising support. In between, the quintet confronted an array of weighty topics — loss, disillusionment, fear, isolation, regret, heartbreak, distance — with courage and personal conviction.
Nearly every song seemed packed with the drama of an entire miniseries in a few minutes. Telescoping the feelings, doubts and desires that comprise the human condition, the National hit on sensations deeper than clear-cut defeat, celebration or “sad dad” disappointment. The group’s music had eerie overtones that often dared make the audience uneasy, and its low-key atmospherics served as sleight of hand for the trauma underfoot. Its arrangements spoke loudest through minor gestures and implied violence, and through the words and body language of vocalist Matt Berninger.
Over the past few months, Berninger has candidly discussed his recent experiences with depression and exhaustion, with a prolonged bout preventing him from writing or singing for a year. Nothing he tried — therapy, exercise, antidepressants, sobriety — brought much relief, he has said. The problems spilled over into early sessions for what became the band’s new “First Two Pages of Frankenstein” LP. The National was uncertain it would stay together.
A dissolution would’ve marked a premature end to what arguably has been the most successful creative and commercial run by a 21st century band. After breaking out of the club scene in the mid-aughts, the National progressed into indie-rock luminaries. Festival-headlining slots, industry accolades and Top 5 albums soon followed. The group earned the respect of its peers — as well as President Barack Obama, whose campaign used a song in a 2008 video. Several members also garnered acclaim for outside collaborations.
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In the roles of producer and songwriter, guitarist Aaron Dessner worked with Taylor Swift, Bon Iver, Ed Sheeran and other contemporaries. His twin brother, guitarist Bryce Dessner, is an in-demand composer who has teamed with the likes of Philip Glass, Steve Reich and Kronos Quartet. Both siblings also co-curated a massive Grateful Dead charity tribute. Such cross-pollination has since seeped into the National; Swift, Phoebe Bridgers and Sufjan Stevens contribute to the group’s latest record.
Save for two accompanying multi-instrumentalists, nobody joined the National on Thursday. Not even for songs (“Once Upon a Poolside,” “Weird Goodbyes”) associated with guest vocalists. The group didn’t need assistance, though it would benefit from a cleaner house mix. Berninger’s singing on numerous numbers bordered on unintelligible, and it had nothing to do with enunciation.
Seizing the opportunity to go deep at the multi-show stand, the National drew from nearly all phases of its career and struck a fine balance between new, mid-period and older fare. The collective dug into singles (“The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness”), fan favorites (“Fake Empire”), deep cuts (“Green Gloves”), rarities (“Murder Me Rachael”) and, the biggest surprise, a brand-new unreleased song (possibly titled “Turn Off the House”). In broadcasting its gratitude at multiple points, the band underlined the spirit and sincerity with which it played.
For Berninger, that took the form of a recalibrated focus that bypassed former pursuits — downing a bottle of wine, wading through the crowd, slamming a microphone onto the floor — in favor of a more restrained, albeit still animated persona who seemed he might snap without warning. Dressed in a black suit, his hair and trimmed beard peppered with gray, the bespectacled 52-year-old singer looked like the band’s literary-minded music sounded. His spontaneity told a different story.
Inhabiting a headspace that seemed related to the songs’ protagonists, Berninger acted out frustrations, pressures and worries with abandon. His hands turned into shields to block his face from an invisible sun or weapons to smack his skull; his index fingers doubled as silent accusers. He angled his torso into awkward positions, knocked over microphone stands, yelled inaudible words.
And he sang with a rich, burnished, resonant baritone that split the difference between stately croon and conversational murmur. At moments the smoldering articulation erupted into a throat-reddening roar. Berninger’s detailed narratives, and the composure with which he delivered them, dovetailed with the band’s glassy shimmer, sensitive rumble and slow decay.
Guided by Bryan Devendorf’s jazz-based percussion, and bolstered by horns, the National’s ebb-and-flow dynamics and hushed textures were more dimensional, immediate and full than on the record — particularly in new tunes like “Eucalyptus” and “Grease in Your Hair.” For all the urgency brought on by the noise-spiked “Bloodbuzz Ohio” and soul-purging “Mr. November,” the band has transitioned into a unit that wrings just as many thrills from calm swells, chamber melodies and delicate tension.
“There’s nothing stopping me now / From saying all the painful parts out loud,” Berninger confessed during “Tropic Morning News.” The declaration functioned as a smart distillation of the points the National made poignantly, and beautifully, throughout the set: Communication guards against hurt, anxiety and confusion. And sometimes, identifying what truly matters means letting go of what we think we cherish most.
Bob Gendron is a freelance critic.
Setlist from the Auditorium Theatre May 18
“Once Upon a Poolside”
“Eucalyptus”
“Tropic Morning News”
“New Order T-Shirt”
“Mistaken for Strangers”
“Bloodbuzz Ohio”
“The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness”
“Green Gloves”
“Slow Show”
“Alien”
“Grease in Your Hair”
“Day I Die”
“Walk It Back”
“Humiliation”
“Murder Me Rachael”
“Turn Off the House”
“Pink Rabbits”
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“England”
“Graceless”
“Fake Empire”
Encore
“Weird Goodbyes”
“Mr. November”
“Terrible Love”
“About Today”
“Send for Me”