The National‘s Homecoming Festival in its Cincinnati hometown is returning to the Queen City this fall for the first time since its inaugural 2018 edition. In addition to a unique set each night from the National, the lineup includes Patti Smith and Her Band, Pavement, the reunited Walkmen, Weyes Blood, Arooj Aftab, Snail Mail, Bartees Strange, Julia Jacklin, the Drin, Carriers, Leo Pastel, and Ballard.
Homecoming will be held Sept. 15-16 at the ICON Festival Stage at Smale Riverfront Park on the Cincinnati waterfront and will be the National’s first performances in the city since the original festival five years ago (a planned 2020 edition was scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
Members of the band’s Cherry Tree fan club will have early access to tickets; visit Homecoming’s website for complete on-sale information.
“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. It was such an exciting, memorable weekend and we’ve long hoped to bring it back,” the band says, whose members grew up in the Indian Hill, Anderson Township, and Western Hills neighborhoods. “We’re honored to return to Cincinnati five years later and be joined by so many of our favorite musicians and friends.”
Tomorrow (May 18), the National begins an extensive 2023 tour in Chicago in support of its latest album, First Two Pages of Frankenstein. Group member Aaron Dessner has also been busy writing, producing, and performing with Ed Sheeran and making surprise appearances at recent concerts by Taylor Swift, with whom he’s collaborated closely over the past three years.
