- Music
- 19 Dec 13
There was lots of competition – we’re thinking particularly of Bruce and those amazing Kilkenny, Belfast, Cork and Limerick nights – but Gig of the Year in the Hot Press Annual goes to The National for their extraordinary Dublin O2 show.
“The concern for us was whether or not we can make these big rooms feel intimate,” Matt Berninger says of their recent step-up to the arena circuit. “It’s hard to pull off but we opened a bunch of times for REM and saw how they were able to it. Michael Stipe said something on that tour, which has stuck with me: ‘You’ve got to reach the top-row. If you don’t you’ve failed at your job.’”
In a fascinating year-end interview, Matt also talks to Hot Press about texts from Bono “to come drink whiskey”; being paid a sartorial compliment by Leonard Cohen; his former seduction techniques; why he loves Whelan’s; gigging with the Foos and lots, lots more.