Aaron Dessner: Last News

William Earl The National have long been one of indie rock’s most revered bands, and like many of their past albums, the songs from their recently released ninth outing, “First Two Pages of Frankenstein,” take on a life of their own onstage. The band — frontman Matt Berninger, guitarist brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner, and bassist Scott Devendorf and drummer Bryan Devendorf, also brothers — are known for their intense live shows and are currently in the middle of a North American tour, and of course have received a wave of new fans thanks to their recent collaborations with Taylor Swift.

Taylor Swift played ‘Exile’ as the ‘surprise song’ on her ‘Eras’ tour in California last night (August 7) – check it out below.The song is taken from Swift’s 2020 album ‘Folklore’, and while it had previously been played live, it hadn’t yet been played on the ‘Eras’ tour. She previously performed the song with Bon Iver, Justin Vernon and The National‘s Aaron Dessner when she made a surprise appearance at the former’s show in London in October 2022.Swift played a piano version of the song during the ‘Eras’ show – check out fan-filmed footage of it below:The other ‘surprise song’ Swift played on her fourth out of six shows at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood was an acoustic version ‘Dress’, from 2017’s ‘Reputation’.

Haim dressed up as the step-sisters from Taylor Swift‘s ‘Bejeweled’ to perform ‘No Body, No Crime’ with her in California this weekend.The video for the ‘Midnights’ track guest starred Haim as a trio of step-sisters, who wore gowns that they also sported on stage in Santa Clara, California on Friday night (July 28).“hi from the step sisters!” they wrote on Instagram, with footage and photos showing them playing the ‘Evermore’ murder ballad while in full dress.It comes after Swift and Haim gave a live debut to ‘No Body, No Crime’ at the first ‘Eras’ Tour show in Seattle last weekend (July 22). Haim are supporting Swift on the latest leg of her North American stadium tour and have been joining her for the 2020 song during the ‘Evermore’ segment of the set.Elsewhere in Santa Clara, Aaron Dessner joined Swift on night one to give a live debut to ‘Evermore’ bonus track ‘Right Where You Left Me’, while night two saw her play ‘Red’ track ‘Stay Stay Stay’ for the first time in a decade and give a live debut to ‘All Of The Girls You Loved Before’.See footage from all the goings on at the latest stop of the ‘Eras’ Tour below.

Taylor Swift is used to breaking records, but now she’s breaking curfew.On Friday, the Shake It Off singer performed at Levi’s Stadium and ran past the venue’s 11 p.m. curfew, when she performed until 11:38 p.m., according to the San Francisco Chronicle.The stadium is home to the San Francisco 49ers and sits within a residential neighborhood in Santa Clara. Since its 2016 opening, the stadium has grappled with noise issues.

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is forever keeping Us on our toes!

Taylor Swift played her second ‘Eras’ tour gig in Cincinnati last night (July 1), duetting with Aaron Dessner and Gracie Abrams.As the stadium tour of the US rolls on into summer, Swift played two shows in the Ohio city this weekend at the Paycor Stadium.At the second on Saturday night, the ‘surprise’ segment of the show featured two collaborations.

Taylor Swift had plenty to celebrate over the weekend during the Pittsburgh stop of her Eras Tour. During her Saturday show at the Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Swift was joined by The National’s Aaron Dessner for the first live performance of her song, "Seven," and gave a Father’s Day shout out.

Taylor Swift gave her track ‘I Think He Knows’ its live debut during her latest ‘Eras Tour’ show last night (May 21) – watch the footage below.The pop star was performing a third and final concert at the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts where she delivered a mammoth 45-song set.Towards the end of the gig, Swift treated fans to the customary ‘surprise’ segment which sees her air two different songs acoustically in each city. It is often reserved for live debuts, rarities and collaborations.The singer’s most recent show included the first outing for the ‘Lover’ cut ‘I Think He Knows’, as well as the tour debut of the title track from her ‘Red’ album.

Taylor Swift gave a live debut to ‘Midnights’ track ‘Question…?’ last night (May 20) as the ‘Eras’ tour hit Massachusetts.The singer is set to play multiple dates at the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, and played the second show at the venue on Saturday night.During the ‘surprise’ section of the set each night, Swift plays a different track each show, often giving songs live debuts or dusting off rarities.At the second Foxborough gig, she gave ‘Question…?’ its live debut, which you can see footage of below.For other gigs on the tour, the ‘surprise’ section, Swift has previously paid tribute to The National by playing ‘coney island’, on which they guested, for the first time, and welcomed Aaron Dessner to the stage to duet on ‘The Great War’ (a track he produced for the ‘3am Edition’ of ‘Midnights’) and ‘Mad Woman’ from her ‘Folklore’ album.Swift will play a third and final gig in Foxborough tonight (May 21).Elsewhere in recent days on the ‘Eras’ tour, Swift appeared to defend a fan from a security guard during her Philadelphia show last weekend.During Swift’s performance of her 2014 hit ‘Bad Blood’ the singer paused mid-song to address a security guard.“She’s fine! She wasn’t doing anything!” she said, before yelling “Hey, stop!” two more times while simultaneously continuing to sing the lyrics.Elsewhere, thousands of Swift fans who couldn’t get tickets flocked outside the stadium on Saturday where many sang and danced along to her hits.Meanwhile at an earlier ‘Eras’ tour show in Nashville, a Taylor Swift fan who failed to get a ticket for her show has revealed he became a security guard to get into one of her concerts.Footage of Davis Perrigo stood behind the stage barrier singing along to her 2015 single ‘Style’ at one

The National in their hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio, has announced the line-up for its 2023 edition.The two-day event returns to Smale Park on September 15 and 16 and will, as ever, be headlined by the band themselves, who will play two unique headline sets. It will also play host to the likes of Patti Smith, Pavement and The Walkmen.Weyes Blood, Snail Mail, Bartees Strange, Arooj Aftab, Julia Jacklin, The Drin, Leo Pastel, Carriers, and Ballard all complete the line-up.“When we launched Homecoming in 2018, we were overwhelmed by the response from the community and by our renewed sense of connection to our hometown,” The National said in a statement [via Consequence of Sound].

Ed Sheeran‘s album ‘Subtract’ has become the fastest-selling album of 2023, meaning it may mark a sixth consecutive Number One album for the singer-songwriter.According to the Official Charts Company, ‘Subtract’ has already collected over 56,000 chart units, which is more than any other album that was released this year. Lana Del Rey’s ‘Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.’ previously held the record with 41,000 chart units during its first week.The LP, produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner (Taylor Swift, Gracie Abrams), is also set to claim the Number One spot in the Official Albums Chart.

Ed Sheeran is ready to perform!

Ed Sheeran’s – (Subtract) is already the UK’s fastest-selling album of 2023 so far on its journey to become the pop superstar’s sixth consecutive Number 1 album, the Official Charts Company can confirm. 

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Taylor Swift’s recent song “Midnight Rain” lived up to its name when it was performed Sunday night at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium, except that it was actually after 1 a.m. local time when it finally came up in the set list. The finale of her hometown three-night stand was pushed back hours from its scheduled start time due to lightning strikes near the downtown area; once it did finally get underway after 10 p.m., the second half of the three-and-a-half-hour set was marked by a steady downpour, hitting Swift as hard as it did the audience in the roofless venue, before the show finally wrapped up just after 1:35 a.m. The general crowd mood, at that drenched wee hour: delirious. (Except for the small minority of fans who gave up and went home before the show got started.)

Ed Sheeran has opened up on his long-standing friendship with fellow hit-maker Taylor Swift. Describing the I Knew You Were Trouble singer as one of the "only people that actually truly understands" him and where he's currently at in his career, Ed, 32, added that speaking to Taylor, 33, is like "therapy".

The National, and claimed that he wishes he “could be Matt Berninger”.He made the comments in a new YouTube video this week (May 3), which saw him share his views on the 2023 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame class with longtime colleagues Barbara Gaines and Mary Barclay.While sharing his thoughts on this year’s inductees — which include George Michael, Rage Against The Machine and Kate Bush — Letterman also expressed his “disappointment” at singer-songwriter Warren Zevon being snubbed.It was here that the conversation shifted to the former television host’s fondness for Matt Berninger-fronted band, The National. “Oh, I love the National,” he explained, going on to label them as “your saddest friend’s favourite band.”He also expressed his admiration for one of their songs, which wasn’t featured on their latest LP, ‘First Two Pages Of Frankenstein’: “They had this song called ‘Weird Goodbyes,’ which is not on the new album,” he said, going on to recite some of the song’s lyrics.

Ed Sheeran has revealed in a new interview that he confides in Taylor Swift, with the two artists finding common ground and understanding each other more than people realise.Speaking to Apple Music 1‘s Zane Lowe to promote his newly launched album ‘-‘ (pronounced ‘subtract’), Sheeran revealed that he confides in Taylor Swift, saying: “I have long, long, long conversations with Taylor about stuff just because I feel like she’s one of the only people that actually truly understands where I’m at”.“I had an hour-20 conversation with her yesterday and we were just — everything that was on our minds we talked about. I mean that in itself is kind of therapy as well, because you’re actually talking to someone that genuinely gets it,” he continued.

Every Thursday, we here at Official Charts round up the biggest New Releases coming your way across music and home entertainment. 

Taylor Swift debuted yet another song live for the first time at the ‘Eras’ tour this weekend (April 29) – watch her play ‘High Infidelity’ in Atlanta below.During the ‘surprise’ section of the set each night, Swift plays a different track each show, often giving songs live debuts or dusting off rarities.At the second of three shows at the Mercedes-Benz Arena on Saturday night, Swift gave a live debut to ‘High Infidelity’ from the ‘3am Edition’ of 2022 album ‘Midnights’, owing to its lyric: “Do you really wanna know where I was April 29th?”Watch footage below.The previous night (April 28), Swift paid tribute to The National by playing ‘coney island’, on which they guested, for the first time.The song, taken from her 2020 album ‘evermore’ was played along with ‘The Other Side Of The Door’ from ‘Fearless’ as part of the surprise segment of the show.Before playing the song, Swift took a moment to shout out the Aaron Dessner-fronted band on the day that their new album, ‘First Two Pages Of Frankenstein’, was released.“This band has influenced me beyond my ability to verbalize how much they’ve influenced me — just lyrically, their ability to set a scene, their ability to tell a story,” Swift said. “And obviously, Aaron Dessner is in the National and he has completely changed my life.”She continued: “I was lucky enough to be able to write a song with them for their new album.

Taylor Swift paid tribute to The National by playing ‘coney island’, on which they guested, for the first time on the latest stop of her ‘Eras’ tour.The song, taken from her 2020 album ‘evermore’ was played along with ‘The Other Side Of The Door’ from ‘Fearless’ as part of the “surprise song” segment of the show, which made a stop last night (April 28) in Atlanta, Georgia. Swift is set to play two further shows there tonight and tomorrow (April 29-30).Before playing the song, Swift took a moment to shout out the Aaron Dessner-fronted band on the day that their new album, ‘First Two Pages Of Frankenstein’, was released.“This band has influenced me beyond my ability to verbalize how much they’ve influenced me — just lyrically, their ability to set a scene, their ability to tell a story,” Swift said.

The National’s Aaron Dessner has defended working with Ed Sheeran on his upcoming album ‘–’, saying he’s “tired of the ‘what’s cool?’ debate.”Dessner co-wrote and co-produced Sheeran’s ‘-’ (‘Subtract’), which is due out May 5.“For the first time I’m not trying to craft an album people will like, I’m merely putting something out that’s honest and true to where I am in my adult life,” Sheeran said when he announced his sixth album. It was written when the musician was “spiralling through fear, depression and anxiety”.In a new interview with The Guardian, Dessner said that he wanted to bring out “the vulnerability and emotion in [Sheeran] to make music that would not normally be his inclination”.“I didn’t feel the need to try to make pop music,” Dessner added.The pair worked on 32 songs together in a studio in Kent, with 14 of them making it onto the album.