Music: The National, Usher Hall, Edinburgh

Jonathan Geddes, three stars

IT IS rarely a good sign when a singer mentions how quiet the crowd are, as Matt Berninger did here. Given that The National have returned after years away with a chart-topping album, it was strange how flat part of this gig was, as if the audience was in eerie reverence and feared anything interactive.

That eventually changed as the gig went on, but for a band who can be blisteringly good this often felt like the Ohio natives were still trying to bring everything together. Berninger paced around and hulked over the microphone, however the set placed too much reliance on songs that slowly built to guitar histrionics.

It is effective but dull, and the methodical Walk It Back and Guilty Party were slow-burners that never caught afire. For all the band’s proficiency, with Bryan Devendorf as ever exemplary on drums, there is a creeping, morose familiarity to The National, a band in a zone of aching regrets and swelling songs that they are unwilling to leave.

The creative flames aren’t totally extinguished though. Turtleneck thrilled, with Berninger screaming while pulsating lights flashed, the melody of Green Gloves still beguiles and I Need My Girl was stark and tender. Those songs succeeded by stirring passion, rather than just studious admiration.