Rock in Rio Lisboa: At the coming-of-age party, The National touched as if it was their first time

Unlike the gentleman who preceded them on the Mundo stage, Liam Gallagher, the Americans of the National know the corners of the house i.e., for them, Portugal, who have presented here 18 (!) times since their debut in Paredes de Cora. The other life that was 2005. Since then, everything has changed: we have changed, the band has changed, the world has changed. In 2005, Berninger died, confrontation leader The vacillating member of the Ohio-born band certainly wouldn’t go on a treadmill leaving the stage to amicably provoke the audience, and the band that, more than 20 years after its formation, still relies on twins Aaron and Bryce Desner and brothers Scott and Brian Devendorf have performed in Festivals of this dimension. The authors of “Crocodile,” the album they brought to Paredes de Cora 17 years ago, have grown naturally in pervasiveness and resourcefulness on stage: on the album that followed, the esteemed Boxer’s album, from 2007, and on the four-time album Since then edited. But they were not old enough, in popular recognition, to “fill” a solemn stage like the one on which they performed the night before the superstars Moses. And that’s not to say that his debut at this festival wasn’t surprisingly good.

Flanked by the crystal guitars of the Dessner brothers, Matt Berninger, despite all his efforts to the contrary, remains an extraordinary vocalist. Like all shy people, he resorts to a lot of tricks (strange gestures, fits of feelings) to survive in a world of extroverts, and this strange recipe seems to win over the audience. In front of the stage, as with Liam Gallagher, the biggest fans were concentrated (and showed up); In the massive audience, curiosity seemed to be the general observation. The audience at Rock in Rio Lisboa, I hope the festival gods keep it that way, they want to party – sorry, they want to be the party, so they never get tired of showing their support for The National, clapping their hands to more rock songs or lighting their cellphones on stories Like ‘I Need My Girl’ or ‘Light Years’, the only cast of the latest song I Am Easy To Find (2019). In the latter, the giant screens brought back the image of Matt Berninger, beaming with emotion, from a blind audience. It was as if, though they were veterans of the stage in Portugal, the five members of the Andean Kings, this evening accompanied by several musicians on woodwinds and other instruments, were still compelled to show what they had come for: and the show was a success .

Contrary to what happens with Xutos & Pontapés, who opened this first day of the festival with their songs half the world talking on the tip of their tongues, The National has never been so successful that it has given the masses. We’ve seen anyone who cares about the song “Don’t Swallow the Cap”, from the 2013 album “Trouble Will Find Me”, the most representative of the lineup, and “Fake Empire”, the elegant spearhead of the popular “Boxer” was the most applaud In the first few seconds. But, once again, a bow to Bela Vista fans, who cheered the band on in ‘The System Only Sleeps in Total Darkness’, from ‘Sleep Well Beast’ (2017), in ‘Pink Rabbits’ or in ‘England’, a successful revival of High Violet for 2010, where Matt Berninger performed one of several theatrical drops, achieving a certain dramatic effect as he rammed along the banister as the song escalated.

The brilliant “This Is The Last Time” or the more hopeful “Day I Die”, which Matt Berninger dedicated to the “angels” who frightened him in sliding (“And I don’t even believe in angels”), was another good concert moment where the band played in the background with a massive majority. Witnessing the recent escalation of “Slow Show,” for example, with the sound blast contrasting with the accuracy of the phrase so many have drawn in their memories (“You know I dreamed about it for 29 years before I saw you”), we’re left thinking how good it would be to discover a band It has many songs in heart pocket in 2022.

In the end, The National kept a barely-fail trio headline: ‘Fake Empire’, gold as pure now as it was 15 years ago, when it was released; ‘the master. November, the glorious anthem of “The Crocodile” and one of those songs to take her to the other world, and “Terrible Love” which, in its dynamic calm out loudtempts the audience and serves as an excuse for another drop by Matt Berninger in the audience.

On the way back to the stage, as the band collapses in a storm that lives up to the song’s title, the 51-year-old musician seems to show his age, noticing someone next to us. But while the party went on, he had the age — tender and pure — of all the premieres. Before the band’s first time at Rock in Rio Lisboa, we didn’t know their price tag with such a large audience, but we ended up realizing that the stock market was still smiling at them. Twenty-one years after their debut album, The National is still an introverted and secretive band, in the most idyllic senses, but they’ve learned to live outside of their own skin — thankfully for all of us.

alignment:

Do not swallow the cap
mistaken for strangers
Bloodbuzz Ohio
The system only sleeps in complete darkness
I need my girl
This is the last time
slow show
the day i die
Tropic Morning News (Haversham)
light years
pink rabbits
England
graceless
fake Empire
the master. November
terrible love