Concert Review: The National Live In Perth Australia
9 March 2024 at King Park Botanical Garden in Perth Western Australia
Review by Sheldon Ang
Photography by Sheldon Ang Photography
Five silhouettes emerge from the twilight zone, sparking a mild roar from the crowd. They took their positions on stage, as silence follows with anticipation. The piano intro triggers the haunting ballad as sadness brew and tingles. The bespectacled vocalist – donned in all black, expels his visceral state of mind under the soft light, contrasting against the moody ambience.
I can’t keep talking, I can’t stop shaking, I can’t keep track of everything I’m taking, everything is different, why do I feel the same? Am I asking for too much? Can’t hear what you’re saying.
The inexorable flow of tears streams across her face, as her guardian – assumingly, comforts with an embrace, kissing her cheek. It’s OK, I’m here for you. The disturbance anchored deep within the trenches of her battered spirit explode in a catalytic fusion of eclectic emotion, which has been percolating for some time. The fivesome that have shared the twilight and irrevocable sadness are manifesting before her eyes, as poignancy tingled by the haunting ebony and ivory, carrying the falsetto that drives deep into the roots;
This is closest we’ve ever been…don’t make this harder…I thought we could make it through anything.
After four minutes of soothingly painful expulsion, the silver lining slithers through a faster tempo as the electric guitars scintillate and raised, sparking the vocalist to move across the stage as he screams the crescendo into this photographer’s camera, before leap frogging onto the crowd barrier and expelling his tortured spirit, leaning onto the patrons as the drum pummels across the field of melancholy.
The duality between lyrical poet and unconventional rock star presence is locked in the first three tracks through Once Upon a Poolside, Eucalyptus and Tropic Morning News with the undulating rich vocal baritone of Matt Berninger, and the cataclysmic bridge propagated by the sonic muse of guitarist brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner, captained by rhythm of bass guitarist Scott and drummer Bryan Devendorf – also brothers of The National.
The evening sparked with Annie Hamilton and followed by Fleet Foxes in a double header, where the latter performed an almost a full set. Producing 4 albums over a decade and a half, the voice of the 7-piece were projected by lead vocalist Robin Pecknold. His rich baritone vocals are remarkable, using to great effect in a 16-track manifesto commencing with Sun Blind and finishing with Helplessness Blues. They’re more than a support act, rather as part of a double header.
The National (singular, so not to be confused by the Australian conservative party) have been producing melancholic, dark, depressing and thought evoking tracks across 10 studio albums over two decades, reflecting the mindsets of their fans as one would think; mid age men who are living though life’s crisis while bombarded by the dark thoughts of doomsday cult of divorces, fatigue and simply by just being f*cked up – as we’d say in Australia. That’s not necessarily the case – especially for those who had forked out $200 for the front deck, standing – comprising an array of young men and women in their 20s and 30s, and couples who looked as if they could be at a Taylor Swift or at a KISS concert. Tonight is also for the lyrics-intensive loving crowd, those that love to sip into their souls, and living at the present moment in time – as hardly any phones were on display (unlike we saw at Taylor Swift’s ERAS tour). Tonight is a place for solidarity and medicinal absorption.
Despite the night being sold out with two shows at Kings Park Botanical Garden in Perth, The Ohio originated band and 3-time Grammy Nominees formed in Brooklyn New York may not be as well-known as some of the recent visitors in the likes of Blink 182 and Matchbox Twenty. On radio, they may sound like Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen or even Radio Head in Creep – but more depressing. Their live version represents the contrasting duality between lyrical mood and stage presence as lead vocalist, the 53-year old Matt Berninger may appear like a charismatic but fatigue managing director of a Forbes 500 corporation. He resembles the likes of Eric Clapton and Stephen Bishop in their 50’s. But the band’s animation and stage presence are undoubtedly of a rockstar, bending his back, punching into the air, climbing onto the crowd barrier and leaning onto the fans. The guitarists rocked. The drummer was ferocious at times. It may be an alter ego with the unconventional projection, but the physical stance is fused with the complexity of human thoughts as presented in their lyrics, and the movements were manifestations of their sentiment. Think of the video in Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit.
Speaking of crowd engagement, the lead vocalist went deep into the crowd during The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness– not just a few rows back, but he ran for 50 metres into the General Admission area – bypassing the front deck – with his cord powered mic, forcing the stagehand to release the cord, and conversely retrieving as if he was fishing with a handline. The track encourages oneself to excel with an open mind, perhaps the shenanigans of Matt Berninger is a metaphor of the theme. And not just once, but twice, where he repeated this unorthodox engagement in Graceless.
Opening act Annie Hamilton returned to the stage to perform the duet Rylan, as if they were performing a duet of Highway to Hell. Such was the rock presence. Those who have not seen the setlist would’ve thought the obvious song(s) would be the ones where The National collaborated with Taylor Swift in Coney Island and The Alcott – alas – that wasn’t to be. After covering the ERAS Tour in Sydney, this photographer was hoping to sip into the nostalgia.
We also heard their latest release Space Invader, a track that slowly burns and builds to a hypnotic crescendo. I Need My Girl and Light Years are the better-known hits with slow moving interpretation of loss and death in the latter, about living now and not later and care for one. It’s no wonder hardly any mobile phones were present, and not single chatter was heard during the ballads of the broken souls.
The performance went for two hours, mainly under the cover of dark hues, with the occasional spurge of stadium rock spectrum hitting the audience. For those who assumed this would be a sedentary concert over a beer on a picnic rug – they would be pleasantly surprised. Indeed, the slow groove intends for the crowd to draw into the subdued emotion though his thick baritone, and like a calm before the storm, the fans would often be slammed with burst of appetite for destruction like a tropical summer storm through the addictive guitar riffs from brothers Scott and Bryan Devendorf, and in some of the most twisted bridge and rhythms sections from the Devendorf brothers. That was the case throughout the night, as the weaving and undulating ride make The National as one of the best live acts of any genre.
Sheldon Ang Media would like to thank Mad Dog Publicity (and Dixie Battersby), Mellen Events and The National for the media accreditation.
About the Writer/Photographer: Perth based Sheldon Ang Media (est. May 2022) have been accredited to cover over 80 of the hottest acts including Taylor Swift (ERAS Tour in Sydney), Coldplay, KISS, P!NK, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blink 182 and Lizzo with reviews shared by the likes of UB40, Delta Goodrem and Toni Childs on social media. He has interviewed rockers Ace Frehley (KISS), John Steel (The Animals), Frank Ferrer (Guns N Roses), Phil X (Bon Jovi), Andrew Farris (INXS) plus over 40 artists.
