The National splendid at Riverside in warmup gig for Lollapalooza
With an engaging live show and one of the most consistently compelling recent discographies of any rock band, the National has earned the right to headline Lollapalooza Friday.
Unfortunately, they’re bound to have the most sparsely attended closing set, since they’re performing at the same time as the Chicago mega festival’s biggest get, Bruno Mars. But if the National’s performance Friday is as mesmerizing as its Milwaukee concert Monday, it’ll be one of the highlights at Lolla this year.
“My faith is sick and my skin is thin as ever,” Matt Berninger sang near the start of the sold-out Riverside Theater show, during “Nobody Else Will Be There” from last year’s superb seventh National album, “Sleep Well Beast.”
That’s a far cry from Bruno Mars’ strawberry champagne on ice and pinkie rings up to the moon, and not exactly festive festival escapism. But there’s a gripping gravity to Berninger’s baritone and bleak worldview — which, performed live, was far more animated and raw than his cool detachment on the albums would suggest.
“I can’t explain it/Any other way, any other way,” Berninger barked during “Beast” single “The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness,” intensely gripping the mic, his body breaking out into jittery jerks like an unhinged preacher, his crisp voice transforming into hideous croaks.
As a man on the edge, it was fitting, and fascinating — and it was a precursor of what was to come, with Berninger in one of the front rows, practically screaming on top of people, for the electrifying, post-punk climax of “Terrible Love.” He was like a man who lost it — and had nothing left to lose.
During a calmer moment, Berninger joked that U2 was actually playing the band’s music in the basement while the National faked it. There was certainly a touch of influence from Bono and the blokes during Monday’s hourand-50-minute show, with Aaron Dessner channeling the Edge’s emotional guitar grandeur for “Beast” songs “Day I Die” and “Carin at the Liquor Store.”
Pretty and sweeping passages like these elevated Berninger’s bleakness, but the National also offered more challenging textures than your average arena rock band.
During “I Need a Girl,” Dessner, dangling a guitar upside down from his right hand while another guitar was strapped around his neck, repeatedly banged the head into the stage floor to create an ugly, arresting sound. And “Beast” song “Guilty Party,” which Berninger joked was dedicated to former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort (who went on trial Tuesday), mixed symphonic horns with jam band drums and art-rock weirdness at the end.