Review of The National at The Olympia Theatre on December 3rd
Review by Ian Maleney
Photos by Moselle Foley
They’ve finally done it. After half a decade of being ‘on the cusp’ of greatness, The National have finally crossed a line and become the band they’ve been destined to be since the first chords of ‘Secret Meeting’ rang out way back in 2004. No longer indie-rock’s best kept secret, The National have become something far more important than music for ‘bedroom kids’. With ‘High Violet’, their fifth album, five men from Ohio have accomplished something rare; achieving critical and commercial success without compromising for a second on their unique musical vision. Winding up a eight-month tour with three, sold-out nights in snowy Dublin, the band are at the peak of their abilities.
Judging by the palpable excitement in the grand, old Olympia tonight, the band need only show up to make a lot of people extremely happy. Thankfully they do much more than simply punch in a shift. Opening with the grandiose strains of ‘Runaway’, the startlingly bare voice of Matt Berninger rings out with all the heartbroken melancholy he is famous for. The song sets a tone of a certain understated confidence that pervades the night until the closing notes.
By turns intense, wry, uplifting and unhinged, tonight’s set cherry picks song after song from the band’s last three, nigh-on flawless, albums. They range from new anthems like ‘England’ or ‘Conversation 16’ back to Alligator-era stunners like ‘Abel’ or ‘All the Wine’, both of which prove their pedigree by having not lost a drop of their power in the intervening years. There’s even a surprise for long-time fans with the inclusion of ‘Lucky You’, the haunting closer from ‘Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers’.
One of the oft-underrated aspects of the National’s particular sound is the sheer quality of musicianship on show, from the subtly complex beats of Bryan Devendorf to the dual-guitar interplay of the brothers Dessner. The twins in particular have grown into their roles of late, no longer hiding behind their walls of sound. Tonight they are up-front and energetic, with every foot placed nonchalantly atop a monitor sending the crowd into raptures, one more sign of their growing stature as outright rockstars. Highlights come thick and fast, each song reminding you why these five unassuming looking men, fast approaching middle-age, are some of the most vitally important musicians on the planet. ‘Lit Up’ gets a roaring rendition, ‘Squalor Victoria’ is intensified to breaking point and ‘Afraid of Everyone’ brings it’s inherent sense of weakness and paranoia to new highs (or lows, depending on how you look at it).
As ever, there was one man in the audience who insisted upon calling for ‘Mr. November’ no less than five times during the set and he could not have been disappointed with the experience when they dropped it, two songs into the encore. Berninger went for his now customary walk in the crowd, mic lead stretched around pillars before eventually being thrown around the crowd. After playing out on the saddest song ever written, the desperate tale of romantic failure, distance and futility that is ‘About Today’, the band unplug for a wholly acoustic version of ‘Vanderlylle Crybaby Geeks’. The crowd know every word and the elegiac, harrowing words ring out loud with the audience downing out the band in a beautiful merging of performer and spectator. No longer the “great white hopes” of ‘Mr November’, The National are the pinnacle of modern rock music and a beacon for all those who want to affect without affectation.
