The real hero of The National ’s headline slot on Glastonbury ’s Other stage on Sunday night wasn’t frontman Matt Berninger, or one of the Dessner brothers: it was the roadie whose job it was to stand behind Berninger and reel out what was surely the world’s longest microphone lead. As the lead singer of this veteran American “dad-rock” outfit roamed to every corner of the stage, the front row of the crowd and at one point almost around the corner, a nameless man stood patiently unravelling a roll of wire that occasionally looked threateningly taut. It would have looked faintly comical if it weren’t for the fact it was being soundtracked by The National, who are essentially Coldplay for people who have ever considered taking Prozac.
That’s not an insult, by the way – because where Coldplay lack edge and overdo optimism (Chris Martin last night asked the Pyramid Stage to “raise your beautiful British arms”), The National brim with angst and ennui, with a depth of emotional understanding that rivals, in my view, almost any other contemporary rock band. What the two bands share, though, is an ability to write songs that somehow hit you in the soul – accessing something of the sublime through very different pathways. And that’s why both make such great festival headliners.
Like Coldplay, The National have done this many times before. They have played at Glastonbury itself on the John Peel stage in 2008 and the Pyramid Stage in 2017, but also countless ot.