Live Shots: Woe to those who missed Matt Berninger’s introspective solo set at Bimbo’s

Matt Berninger entranced a sold-out crowd at Bimbo’s 360 Club on May 20. Touring to support his soon-to-be-released sophomore solo album, The National’s frontman worked his way through most of the tracks on Get Sunk (coming our way May 30) and a fair number of tracks from his first lone endeavor Serpentine Prison, a healing soundtrack that came out at the height of the pandemic.

First came opener Ronboy, who brought a wildly divergent musical experience for those who knew her vocal work with the evening’s main act. During her set, her voice’s power and variety of expression surged in synthesis with her bass guitar. Berninger joined Ronboy during her set to bring a song to life they said they had written the night before, jocularly commenting on it as a work-in-progress. Indeed, Ronboy’s time on stage seemed to convey an ongoing personal and musical journey that will clearly feature many more chapters.

When it was Berninger’s turn, his performance seemed to hail from the interior landscape of a person longing for understanding and comfort amid a disconcerting world. With Ronboy occasionally providing supporting vocals, he seemed free to be more brooding and introspective than when onstage with The National.

To this end, Bimbo’s served as the perfect venue, an intimate space where the front row sat within an arm’s length of the singer, with acoustics that highlighted the raw intensity of Berninger’s voice. A disco ball was strategically deployed.

While delivering his opening track “No Love” and its bridge “We laugh it off/With careful hugs/And kisses off the cheek,” Berninger embraced the devoted fans who had lined up early to get prime front row spots. While his lyrics, flush with novel turns of phrases, represent personal experiences, he seems to strive for such connection with his listeners.

During “Bonnet of Pins,” he crooned “she sidewinders through the room,” shifting the noun into a verb to capture a past love that still has a gravitational pull (a universal experience, there!) Throughout the show, he juxtaposed serious searching and ruminations on modern life with playfulness—including lively interactions with the audience, Aiden the tech master, Stu the sound guru, and his touring backup band.

There are no bad moments when Berninger performs, but there are superlative ones. “Times of Difficulty,” with the line from which Get Sunk‘s album title hails, encapsulated our collective desire to figure shit out when faced with the struggles of contemporary life. “Silver Springs” is a powerhouse of a song, but it called for more than just complimenting chords—and Ronboy delivered.

Berninger reminded us that conflicting emotions can be held simultaneously. He explored and questioned life, his gratitude palpable. He leaned into the audience, thanking fans for attending, crediting all of his writing partners throughout the show.

Sponsored link

His special talent is deploying that sultry voice to explore universal truths expressed through minutiae. In Bimbo’s on a Tuesday night, he conjured simultaneous fear of betrayal and longing for love via the “rumor [that] somebody saw you somewhere in the middle of nowhere in a silver Jeep.” Even folks who aren’t parents could relate to the joy and disgust of picking up a child “smellin′ like girl scout cookies and drool.”

The three songs from his encore started out with a spirited cover of Radiohead’s “Kid A,” a version that Berninger dubbed “Kid B.” Then came the night’s singular The National, “Gospel,” a Berninger favorite. Finally and appropriately, “Inland Ocean” closed the show, echoing what many in Bimbo’s felt: “Everything ends before I want it to.”

If you weren’t lucky enough to see Matt Berninger’s tour solo, as one of his personas in “Bonnet of Pins” remarks: “poor you.”