I know I have written about it in the past here, so I won’t repeat myself too much, but The National is one of those bands I've followed and enjoyed now for over 15 years and have seen live now more than I can count on two hands. This, however, was my first time seeing them perform in such a capacity as the United Center outside of seeing them headline a music festival.
What's so exciting about the Zen Diagram Tour is all three of the artists are successful each in their own right and have the headlining draw at this point of their careers. The point being all three together equaled an evening perfection.
The evening’s opener, Lucius, was an extra special treat if you were able to make it early to the show. Although playing a shorter set than used to, they packed in a lot of goodness, including a live performance of their newer track, “Old Tape,” with The War on Drugs’ Adam Granduciel on stage with them. What I love about this duo is no matter the size of the crowd or the venue, they play and sing with such fervidness that's completely infectious and has you wanting more. What was also exciting to see was discovering Jess Wolfe is expecting; wishing her and her family the best in their new life adventure.
The tour’s second billed, The War on Drugs, were up next and personally mostly based on my age and lack of memory, I cannot recall whether I've gotten to see them live in the past. I do, however, know how much I have come to enjoy their music and was excited when first learning of this tour. United Center being such a large venue, it was exciting to see the crowd fill in and The War on Drugs get the well deserved appreciation. They closed out their set with Lucius returning the favor and joining the band on stage for their title track from their 2021 album, I Don't Live Here Anymore.
Moving on to the evening’s main event, I once again won’t go too much into gushing about The National and how much their music has meant to me album after album. I can say at one point in their careers, lead singer Matt Berninger was very reserved in his delivery when performing and only showed hints of his alter ego stage persona. Those days of a mild-mannered Berninger are way past us and that is not necessarily a bad thing as their live shows have rocketed themselves onto an entirely new level of an experience that continues to leave me in awe.
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Setlist:
Sea of Love
Eucalyptus
Tropic Morning News
Bloodbuzz Ohio
The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness
I Need My Girl
Lemonworld
Conversation 16
Lit Up
Mr November
Bringing on the Dancing Horses #
Alien
Smoke Detector
Rylan $
England
Graceless
Fake Empire
Encore:
Light Years
Terrible Love
About Today
Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks (acoustic)
# Echo and the Bunnymen Cover with Adam Granduciel
$ Accompanied by Lucius