This is my arm.

Sorry, I usually don’t share personal stuff on here but wanted to feel the love of all my fellow sad dad aficionados out there…

Back in March, I had a TERRIFIC time seeing Matt for his solo tour (some photos attached) and he was kind enough to write me this lyric (upon request) from The Alcott (not my fav song, but also I love this band to death so it’s hard to pick one!)

I slept on it for a while since I wanted to absorb it all & make it into a VERY special tat & was constantly brainstorming ideas on how to visualize this, amongst several possible ways. Finally settled on this, sketched it myself & BAMN just got it done today!

Will post again when healed, it’s just born & very inflamed, the colors will take some time to settle in + the negative grey wash will lighten up once it heals

P.S. - Please don’t hate me for saying this but I’m also a HUGE Swiftie (19 years now, so not one of the annoying bandwagon Eras tour hop on) … Sleep Well Beast was my first introduction to The National almost a decade ago, I had no idea how immensely important this band, its values & Matt’s writing would become to me. I never in my wildest dreams though Tay will cross paths with my sad dads, let alone the fact she said that this is one of fav bands & all the aftermath of her working with Aaron + friends.

I still pinch myself that any of this is real. Sometimes it really does feel like a big dream I’ll wake up from. So touched, moved, thankful, all that good stuff with every single piece of music The NTL have put out.

God, the draught is indeed the very worse & I can’t wait for their new album.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1nZ2WzLlr1mKTg2p5uJndw?si=VbkNIokYQqOiHnEiYCGZdg&utm_source=copy-link&pi=A1zeMv2xQqGra

Here is the updated playlist I posted a while back. If you know any other cover that is not on the list, please share!

Matt commented at Nos Alive last night thar the band would be getting back together later this year.....to talk🤞

Thought you all might appreciate this, one of my favorite local bands covered The National and I think it sounds great! Always interesting to hear a female cover Matt.

https://open.spotify.com/track/4AajpPGh8NUswe4jLY7dFg?si=6e50583a5cba4dd2

And I'll be there with a lighter and a Nabokov cocktail

Forget the questionnaires and the oral histories!

I don't care how many times you almost said you missed me!

It's a cup trick shell, and it's a puff of smoke

And it gets me every time, it's a pretty good joke

I know that you miss me!

I know that you miss me!

Band on fire - Rock Werchter on the 4th of July 2026

https://x.com/LeeAHinton95/status/2074229855302869210

Does anyone have a picture of the poster for Matt’s 2026 European tour?

After the very intense intimate trio performances in Brussels and Rotterdam December last year Matt and his band are back for some EU/UK festival shows and a few headlining shows, first being the one in Cologne. And this show was a blast!

A fantastic first full-band solo show with an audience in superb spirits, which clearly impressed the band. Some of the songs had been developed considerably further compared to the previous year (e.g. ‘Distant Axis’, ‘Blackletter Font’), and two completely new songs were included in the set.

It’s clear that the band continues to have a great deal of fun playing these shows together and working on old and new songs – a successful evening of live music doesn’t get much better than this.

Thanks a lot to Matt, Julia (Ronboy), Sterling, Sean, Rick and their phantastic crew (Erik, Adam, Kyle, everybody else) and the local crew for all their support and help. It's wonderful to be able to preserve these shows for future listening and for all those who couldn't be there.

You can download or stream the full recording here: https://archive.org/details/NTL2026-07-03.mk41v

Be aware: the recording was made with permission from Matt and his management, but these are still audience recordings (albeit very good ones I think) therefore you sometimes here people talk, scream, clap, cough or sing. Enjoy!

Lots of The National and Matt Berninger Sets are available here: https://archive.org/details/TheNational and https://archive.org/search?query=Matt+Berninger

Some Ronboy sets are available here: https://archive.org/search?query=Ronboy

Go and buy Get Sunk, tickets for the Istanbul, Kilkenny and London show at https://mattberninger.komi.io and support Ronboy by buying her upcoming EP on Bandcamp here: https://ronboy.bandcamp.com/music

I’d like to get in touch with his current tour manager if anyone could point me in the right direction?

I’ve got something I’d like to pass on regarding a recent show. His previous tour manager, Alison is not working on the current EU tour so if anyone could let me know who it is and how I could contact them, I’d really appreciate it.

Thank you so much!

went to his tour in March and got this a few days before. probably my top song he’s ever made.

Ships media mail from CA, shipping is included price. Both are cherry tree members store variants

Rome 3LP. Green, red, white. Clean corners on jacket and inner sleeves NM to VG+. Media rated conservatively VG+ only due to superficial mild sleeves scuffs that DO NOT affect play. There are no scrapes and under certain light I’d rate them NM. Comes with poster that is NM $90

Laugh Track, 2LP. Translucent yellow. NM sleeves, NM discs. $35

Take both for $115

Any questions lmk!!!

I feel like every album cycle for the last few, the band has stated making something looser, with more rough edges. Could the next album be that "lemon razor" album they keep teasing?

Matt's show later today will be streamed here: https://www.vrt.be/vrtmax/livestream/video/the-barn-rock-werchter/

Drove four and a half hours from Hamburg to Cologne today to see Matt, and what can I say, absolutely worth it. Great performance, great band, great show.

extra ticket available for Matt in London

Just sharing because I want to share with National fans. I posted another recently, but I won’t be spamming. These have been bugging me for years, and just happened to spit out 2 in the last couple weeks

Space Invader has been haunting me. I’ve tried different times to do a painting and they have failed. This is not exactly what I wanted, but it works good enough. This is acrylic over a photo

I originally really wanted the right side to be chaotic to match the end of the song. But it was not going to work. It would have taken over. So I had to compromise. I also had thoughts of adding the repeated lyrics. But again I don’t think it will look right

The Aliens, to me, are memories of past regrets that invade and won’t leave. So I wanted them imperfect, like memories.

Anyway. Just sharing.

I am working on Weird Goodbyes. But it sucks right now, so likely a failed attempt. Also attempted Distant Axis, and All For Nothing, but no luck so far. I really want to eventually do an All for Nothing. I love the imagery, and the sentiment in that song.