The National – Spark Arena, 24 February 2024: Review

Remember back in 2020 when the pandemic cancelled all the concerts? For this reviewer, it was the cancellation of The National’s two-night stand at Aotea Centre (with Pheobe Bridgers opening!) on the I Am Easy to Find tour that brought the heaviest blow of music related Covid-19 disappointment.

First playing in Aotearoa at Tāmaki Makaurau’s Kings Arms in 2007 on the Boxer tour, and playing in Aotearoa for every album cycle since, we lost the opportunity to see the band in a theatre setting during a disparate and collaborative period of the band that situated singer Matt Berninger’s voice amongst a chorus of female dominated vocalists.

Fast-forward to the present in 2024. Tāmaki Makaurau is presented with a single show in the more clinical environment of Spark Arena.

The location has changed since 2020, but so has The National. On the back of sibling albums, The First Two Pages of Frankenstein and Laugh Track the band’s live show has evolved into a leaner and meaner version of prior tours.

2023 saw the band shed their group backing vocal additions and blow the gates wide on the setlist front. Often favouring guitar driven deep cuts over the expected crowd pleasers or the more textured atmospheric tracks.

On paper, it looked as though the live show was increasingly unpredictable and that they were trading polished perfection for spontaneity and alacrity.

Tāmaki Makaurau marks the first live show from the band in 2024, and anticipation from punters was high.

Chatting to the folks who had lined up hours before doors opened, they spoke of the long-haul buses or flights they had willingly endured to be in attendance, their highly specific setlist hopes and the other shows in Wellington or across the Tasman they were also holding tickets for.

One kind soul had even spent several weeks mindfully making a bum bag worth of Taylor Swift style fan bracelets to give away, each adorned with The National lyrics, references and album artwork colour schemes. They were impressive, sentimental, and happily adorned across the wrists of the front rows.

Fazerdaze

Amelia Murray, better known as the central force of Fazerdaze opened the evening.

The songs were often presented in encompassing, vibe heavy guitar tones and layers of keyboard textures.

Three of her four-piece band also frequently singing their backup vocals in unison, providing an ethereal and ghostly atmosphere.

The sharply crafted ear worm hooks wriggled their way through the wall of sound as I found myself singing along to songs by the second chorus that I wasn’t previously familiar with.

This included the new song So Easy, a soulful midtempo pop song that she debuted mid set.

Fazerdaze brought a feminine balance to the evening’s line up, yet also felt aligned with the main act in their textured sound lyrical themes about feeling a little uncomfortable in your own skin.

The National

The National took to the stage with the white and pink tinged Hi I’m Paul mannequin head.

True to the album cover reference, they opened with 4 consecutive songs from The First Two Pages of Frankenstein.

You got the sense that they were pacing themselves during this section, gradually easing themselves into the evening and drawing the audience in for a marathon rather than a sprint. This sequence made for effective pacing, but it was also a quietly defiant move, dishing up such a large slice of songs from an album that is considered by many to be the band’s first musical misstep.

Once Upon a Poolside was the most effective of this run, centred around Aaron Dessner’s contemplative piano chords and Matt Berninger’s mournful baritone delivery.

The depth and quality of Matt’s voice here actually took me by surprise and connected emotionally with me in a way the studio recording hadn’t. In part due to an expert sound mix, Matt delivered his words with intensity and clarity that frequently gave rise to pictures and imagery in my own mind. For a front man sometimes characterised by his mumble or a tendency to shout his voice ragged, he was a remarkably good singer last night.

Next came some widely known guitar driven rockers including Don’t Swallow the Cap, Bloodbuzz Ohio, and The System Dreams in Total Darkness. The energy onstage and in the audience ratcheted up a few notches. The hairlines of ageing musicians showing as they started to sweat while Matt Berninger paced in increasingly wide ruminative circles.

The Dessner twins frequently faced off in frenetic lead guitar outro duels. Both highly accomplished players that sidestep the ego in their approach to the instrument, favouring texture and dynamics. The audience is putty in the National’s hands at this point.

Conversation 16 saw Matt Berninger climb into the front row for the first time of many during the night. Grabbing audience members by the back of their head, pressing his forehead hard into theirs and sharing the mic to sing the song’s crescendo moments I was afraid, I’d eat your brains, cause I’m evil!

My personal highlight from the night was Smoke Detector, the final track on the Laugh Track album.

The band introduced the song and gave it context, highlighting that it was largely written during an improvised jam during rehearsals. Their sound technician happened to press record, and that there is still a whole lot of improvising about to occur to pull it off on the stage.

The song follows a simple jittering guitar riff that increases in fierceness across several minutes. The riff’s consistent drive allowed the other members to weave in and out with seamless, yet busy drum fills and angular stabs of post punk guitars. It was electrifying.

Many of the National’s most exciting live moments are when the band homes in on an outro, swelling in volume with a pummelling drum pattern from Bryan Devondorf.

But it’s like they only started Smoke Detector at that climax point. The performance was a relentless 8 minutes of vehement alternative rock noise.

Graceless saw Matt Berninger spend the entirety of the song in the audience. He made his way across what looked to be the entirety of the general admission floor. Side to side, front to back, wired microphone in hand, without missing a line.

Two stocky and committed crew members with flashing red bracelets to be easily sighted, comically attempting to keep one hundred meters worth of microphone cable from getting tangled or hitched on audience members.

The main set ended with the arena ready Space Invader. Starting sparsely and gently before evolving into another arena sized song. It made use of a tense descending chord progression beneath Matt Berringer hitting his forehead against his palm while repeating an anxiety loop of lyrics. Quarter after four in the morning/ My heart’s software gore, why did I leave like that?

They returned to the stage for a balanced 5 song encore.

A track from the latest album, Weird Goodbyes.

The crowd-pleasing hits Terrible Love and Mr November and a deep cut from the Cherry Tree EP named About Today.

Finally, the fan favourite way to end a concert by The National.

Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks performed entirely acoustic with only Aaron and Bryce Dessner’s guitars being amplified by a stage mic. The rest of the band standing on the stage taking in the sight of their audience singing every word themselves, with only the visual prompt of Matt Berringer conducting the scene with his hands.

The National played an impressive 2 hours and 20 minutes’ worth of music last night. The calibre of the musicianship and performance was impeccable.

The setlist took risks mostly in the form of choosing 9 songs from their 2023 studio output, the songs from Laugh Track in particular proving this was a calculated risk that absolutely paid off.

My lasting impressions from this show are that The National can play a better outro than any other rock band, and that Matt Berninger can hold down an impressive vocal delivery while simultaneously moving around the stage like a drunken sailor stumbling the deck of his ship whilst enduring the waves of a storm.

Chris Warne review and photography

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