The National warm up for their O2 Wireless show of July 4 with gigs at Birmingham Academy (June 30) and Leeds Uni (July 1). Tickets are £14 from seetickets.com or 08712 200260.

Big venue the Academy, good to see them stepping up again in venue size.

Not really sure why they need to "warm up" for the gigs, they've been touring Boxer for about 18 months now so if they dont how the songs go by now they never will.

I'm going to Leeds.

Awesome. Leeds!

Now I just have to convince the other four people I just bought tickets for to come along. And to pay me back.

WOOOOO - Leeds!

Birmingham again!!!

Excellent, ordered my tickets and now just counting down the days.

Leeds for me. My first National gig too, can't wait.

I'm in for both of these gigs!

Anyone got any suggestions of good things to do in Birmingham and Leeds before the gigs? Cheers.

Caroline Martin, writer of Without Permission from The Virginia EP, is the support at both gigs.

Caroline Martin Myspace

I wonder if there'll be some kind of collaboration like an opposite version of when St. Vincent joined for Green Gloves.

I'll be there in Leeds, i can't believe after seeing them in London, Nottingham, Minehead and Paris I'm finally getting to see them at home

I spoke too soon, i've currently lost my bloody tickets!

At least yesterday night there was.

Caroline Martin was right by my side for the last few songs of the main set and as soon as they wrapped up Fake Empire she raced to the stairs leading to the backstage. I thought: "what the hell..."

3 mins later Matt said they were going to play a song they don't usually play live, one of his favourite songs written by Caroline Martin and only recorded on an EP. Since she was the supporting act, he invited her to join them on stage and sing Without Permission.

Actually it was her best performance of the night since her set was...dull to say the least .

Afterwards she came back to the audience and kept enjoying the gig until the end.

Cheers!

Just back from both these shows and have to say there was a bit of a contrast between the two.

I thought Birmingham on the Monday was one of the most subdued performances I'd seen from the band, they just didnt seem to be particularly enjoying it. The crowd also seemed a bit flat, Monday night gigs always do for some reason. The sound was pretty shit, I was to the left of the stage and had to move due to fear of a burst ear drum! There was little crowd interaction by the band and at the end Aaron admitted that they'd hat a "shitty day".

Leeds though was much, much better and one of the most enjoyable gigs by the band I've seen. The venue was a lot smaller than the awful cavernous Birmingham Academy and right from the start there was so much energy and they all seemed to be enjoying it. Some highlights included Bryce sarcastically complaining that they hadn't got any water, after security handed out drinks to the front few rows - a few songs later and tray full of pint glasses of water was placed on the front of the stage - which Matt then handed out to the audience!

The gig also coincided with Bryan's birthday, with the guys leading the audience in a rendition of "Happy Birthday" to a non plussed Mr. Devendorf. Someone in the crowd then shouted, with tounge firmly in cheek, "get your hair cut you poof" and was roundly booed by the audience! Matt said that he had no idea what the insult was, but thankfully Padma was able to translate and offered the guy out for a fight! (Again with tounge firmly in cheek).

Was great to hear Cherry Tree, according to Bryce it was the first time they'd played it live in about 4 years and also to hear Without Permission live.
Setlists here.

Nice report, K, thanks!

Hey newbie here, i was at Leeds on Tuesday was my first National gig. Had a brilliant night, thought they were awesome well impressed, great set list and the sound quality was faultless. I really liked the venue which isnt the biggest but was packed out which made for a really good atmosphere, lots of banter between the band and the crowd. Im a big fan of the song Karen, but had seen on their previous set lists on here thats it one they very rarely play(not sure why?), there were a few calls for it from the crowd in between songs and one of the band said....nah we never play that

Hard to pick out a favourite moment, probably start a war(love that song) but the encore was terrific! Cant wait to see them again.