A National Holiday

Joyous news from one of the best bands making music today. The National have released a statement saying they will have a new album out in May, a follow up to the heavily acclaimed Boxer, and will start touring again in March. I've already purchased my tickets for their DC show and can't wait to hear what the record sounds like. You can see the press release and tour dates below.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Everyone!

We have exciting news for you this morning. We are very pleased to announce the first tour dates in support of our new album in April, May and June.

The as of yet untitled follow-up to Boxer will be released worldwide in May on 4AD (specific date TBA). The shows begin at the Big Ears festival in Knoxville, Tennessee on March 28th followed in April by two special shows April 22nd and 23rd at the National in Richmond, VA. We will then play Royal Albert Hall in London on May 6th, Le Zenith in Paris with PAVEMENT on May 7, and Astra in Berlin on May 9 before starting a North American tour in Los Angeles at the Wiltern on May 22nd. Ramona Falls will be opening our US shows on the west coast.

There are limited pre-sales starting tomorrow morning and we encourage mailing list members to get tickets early.

The US pre-sales begin at 10am local time on Tuesday, Jan. 26 and run through 10pm Thursday, Jan. 28. The London & Berlin pre-sales start at 10 am local time on Wednesday Jan. 27 and run through 10 pm Thursday, Jan. 28.

The password for all of the pre-sales is BloodBuzz.

We will announce support acts for the tour and have more specific news about the new album in the coming weeks. All dates are listed below.

See you soon ...

26-28 MARCH: KNOXVILLE, TN
BIG EARS FESTIVAL 2010 / TENNESSEE THEATRE
Tickets on-sale now:
http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/3065

22 APRIL: RICHMOND, VA
THE NATIONAL
Pre-Sale Tickets:
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0100442F9DDB5528

23 APRIL: RICHMOND, VA
THE NATIONAL
Pre-Sale Tickets:
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0100442FAE716864

06 MAY: LONDON, UK
ROYAL ALBERT HALL
Pre-Sale Tickets:
http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/promo/3v6xmt?camefrom=CFC_UK_LINA_TN_FC270110

07 MAY: PARIS, FRANCE
LE ZENITH w/ PAVEMENT
Tickets on-sale now / FNAC:
http://www.fnacspectacles.com/place-spectacle/manifestation/Pop-rock-Folk-PAVEMENT-ZPPAV.htm

Tickets on-sale now / Digitick:
http://www.digitick.com/ext/billetterie2/index.php4?site=radical&p=11&idRep=422355

09 MAY: BERLIN, GERMANY
ASTRA
Pre-Sale Tickets:
http://www.ticketonline.com/de/de/production/21099-The+National/

22 MAY: LOS ANGELES, CA
THE WILTERN
Pre-Sale Tickets:
http://www.livenation.com/edp/eventId/417298

23 MAY: SAN DIEGO, CA
SPRECKELS THEATRE
Pre-Sale Tickets:
http://www.americanmary.com/tour.php

27 MAY: OAKLAND, CA
FOX THEATRE
Pre-Sale Tickets:
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1C00442BAD786B92

02 JUNE: BOSTON, MA
HOUSE OF BLUES
Pre-Sale Tickets:
http://www.americanmary.com/tour.php

05 JUNE: PHILADELPHIA, PA
ELECTRIC FACTORY
Pre-Sale Tickets:
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/02004435CD005CB9

06 JUNE: WASHINGTON, DC
DAR CONSTITUTION HALL
Pre-Sale Tickets:
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/15004435C0226C84

08 JUNE: TORONTO, CANADA
MASSEY HALL
Pre-Sale Tickets:
http://www.americanmary.com/tour.php

16 JUNE: NEW YORK, NY
RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL
Pre-Sale Tickets:
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1D004435F3B759C

My Favorite Things

Each month I take the opportunity to tell you about one of my favorite bands, because I can. Last month I waxed poetic on the bucolic and haunting Sparklehorse. Today we are getting down with a band who writes Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers, The National.

The members of The National all hail from Cincinnati, a city known for, um, being a part of Ohio, but didn't truly get their act together until they moved to Brooklyn (where magical rock star powers are clearly in the water). Their self-titled debut and second album, the aforementioned Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers, were both met with little fanfare, but The National quickly got their act together and have since put out two stunning and critically acclaimed records, Alligator and Boxer.

The band is led by the whiskey-soaked baritone of Matt Berninger, whose lyrics often bounce between white collar worries ("All night I lay on my pillow and pray/for my boss to stop me in the hallway/lay my head on his shoulder, he'll say/son I've been hearing good things" - from "Baby We'll Be Fine") and obscene nights out on the town ("Karen, put me in a chair, fuck me and make me a drink," - from "Karen"). Berninger is accompanied by two different sets of brothers, Scott and Bryan Devendorf and the crazy-talented guitarists, Aaron and Bryce Dessner. Sometimes the music is straight forward, driven mostly by Berninger's desperate pleas and liquored up dreams, and Bryan Devendorf's drums that are so precise you'll swear they're programmed by a computer (but they're not). At other times the the band breaks out in a full-on symphony, like a not-so-high-on-life Sufjan Stevens - who actually accompanies several songs on piano on Boxer.

Sometimes listening to The National will make you want to put on your best "blue blazer," and "tip-toe through your shiny city" staying up late and getting drunk with your friends. Sometimes the mood is nightcap, lonely, with the lights low in your apartment, staring out the window at all the people heading home from the bars. This is music for responsible adults who desperately miss their days of deviance and getting in trouble; the types of people who "wouldn't want angels watching over them," and well, the angels wouldn't wanna watch them either. It's the type of music that may hit a little too close to home for anyone in their late twenties to early thirties, living in a city. While Bruce Springsteen is the voice of the blue-collar, hard working American, Berninger speaks for those of us who waste away in cubicles, climb ladders and go to networking events.

In "Racing Like a Pro," Berninger tells the story of a "Pink, young and middle class," protagonist with "15 blue shirts and womanly hands," who used to be a "blowing young ruffian," and now sometimes "bakes cakes or lays in bed all day." Amongst a soft acoustic guitar, some sad jazz horns, and tinkling piano, Berninger, totally unsettled by the loss of youth, booms, "Oh my God, it was a million years ago. You're dumbstruck baby." In "Baby We'll be Fine," he comes home at the end of the day, tries to be seduced by his girlfriend, and ends up spilling whiskey and melting like a witch. And in "Squalor Victoria," he says fuck it, and "raises his heavenly glass to the heavens."

No one listens to The National the very first time and falls in love. Both Alligator and Boxer are growers. They take time. But soon enough you'll be loosening your tie on the train home from work, reminiscing about what you thought you were going to be when you were young, and what you swore you wouldn't be, and you will turn to the only band in the world who understands. You might just keep the Ipod on repeat as you drink yourself into a whiskey-stupor and pick that old smoking habit up again as Berninger assures you, "baby, we'll be fine."

Dumbstruck indeed.

-Travis Hare