Two for the Road is a series where two artists about to hit the road together chat about life on the road and on stage. As they get ready for their co-headlining “Zen Diagram Tour,” The National’s Matt Berninger and The War on Drugs Adam Granduciel sit down for our latest installment.
Whether you’ve been a longtime fan of the two defining bands of 2000s indie rock or only discovered them via Taylor Swift collaborations, you likely lost your mind when The National and The War on Drugs announced a co-headlining tour. Dubbed the “Zen Diagram Tour,” the 20-date tour is easily one of the can’t-miss bills of the summer-fall transition period.
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Ahead of the trek’s September 12th kickoff date, frontmen Matt Berninger and Adam Granduciel linked up for a video chat to discuss their plans, expectations, and preparation for the tour.
“I’m excited! These are gonna be short shows for both of our bands, I think. We’ve been doing two-and-a-half-hour shows lately a lot,” says Berninger. “And that’s amazing, but I’m looking forward to being able to conserve energy and give a much tighter, shorter performance.”
“Everything that comes with playing two-and-a-half hours at night, your whole day is consumed with saving up energy to get to the spot where you can deliver two-and-a-half hours of singing your songs to all these people and sort of appreciating and being present with that thing,” Granduciel adds. “And I feel like this tour, it’s three great bands, it’s shorter sets than normal, but I feel like that’s just going to reach a greater level of being present with our set, you know? Because it’s a little less pressure during the day to conserve all this energy. And it’s just about going out and playing great music for people that want to see some great rock and roll music.”
Wait, three bands? Yes, Lucius will be providing support, and you can expect some collaborations there. “I will say Lucius is going to sing with us every night on ‘I Don’t Live Here Anymore,’ which is sick because on the recording, they elevated that tune,” reveals Granduciel. “So, to have it with them every night is just going to be awesome. And I’m going to jam with them every night on the song I just played on theirs, ‘Old Tape.’ I’m going to play on that whenever they play it, so that’s going to be super fun — family, communal things.”
As for The National’s setlist plans, Berninger admits he’s blissfully ignorant: “I don’t ever put set lists together, the other guys always do it every night… I never look at the set list; I try not to even look down at the set list during the shows. I don’t want to know what’s next, because I want every night to be a new movie a little bit. So, I hope they’ll change it up a lot. I love when they throw in old songs that I’m not expecting”
See what else the pair have to say about The National and The War on Drugs’ “Zen Diagram Tour” by watching the full conversation above. You can also check out the complete tour itinerary below, and stay tuned for our coverage of the show.
For more live War on Drugs, you can check out their new live album, Live Drugs Again. Dropping September 13th (the second night of the tour), the collection features 11 songs captured between February 2022 and December 2023 at shows in the US, UK, Europe, and Australia.
Trouble viewing the video in the player above? Watch on YouTube.
The National and The War on Drugs’ “Zen Diagram Tour” Dates:
09/12 — Gilford, NH @ Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion
09/13 — New York, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium
09/14 — Mansfield, MA @ Xfinity Center
09/16 — Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
09/17 — Philadelphia, PA @ TD Pavilion at the Mann Center for Performing Arts
09/19 — Laval, QC @ Place Bell
09/20 — Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage
09/21 — Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center
09/24 — Chicago, IL @ United Center
09/25 — Sterling Heights, MI @ Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill
09/26 — Madison, WI @ Breese Stevens Field
09/28 — Englewood, CO @ Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
09/29 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Granary Live
10/01 — Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena
10/02 — Vancouver, BC @ Pepsi Live at Rogers Arena
10/03 — Portland, OR @ Moda Center
10/05 — Napa, CA @ The Maritage Resort & Spa
10/06 — Berkeley, CA @ The Greek Theatre
10/07 — Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl
10/10 — Mexico City, MX @ Palacio De Los Deportes
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