The National are days away from staging their first Homecoming Festival since the 2018 inaugural event. In May, the band announced the two-day festival was returning to Cincinnati, Ohio on Friday, September 15, and Saturday, September 16.
On Friday, The National’s headlining set will find them performing their High Violet album “from beginning to end,” according to the festival’s official website, and they’ll do the same with their Trouble Will Find Me album on Saturday. The lineup also features the likes of Patti Smith, Pavement, Snail Mail, The Walkmen, and Weyes Blood.
But as is the case with nearly everything, there is Taylor Swift speculation. Swift is the featured artist on “The Alcott,” a track on The National’s April album, First Two Pages Of Frankenstein. The National was also featured on Swift’s “Coney Island” from her Grammy-winning Evermore album.
While Swift has known Matt Berninger for over a decade, as he told the Cincinnati Enquirer this week, Aaron Dessner has become one of Swift’s closest collaborators and made a few surprise appearances throughout the first US leg of Swift’s The Eras Tour. Will Swift repay the favor and appear at Homecoming?
There has been no such announcement as of this writing, and Swift seemed delighted to have a break from the stage during last night’s (September 12) 2023 MTV Music Video Awards. Anything is possible, but it appears that the next time anyone sees Swift perform will be when The Eras Tour resumes in Buenos Aires, Argentina on November 9. See all of her dates here, and find more information about Homecoming here.
62