The singer-songwriter's recent collaborations with National's Aaron Dessner have broadened and diversified their audience, which Matt Berninger notes was once a “dude fest.”
Taylor Swift's collaboration with Aaron Dessner led some Swifties from Eras on tour straight to the National concerts. The couple first started working together in 2020 Folklore, which featured the band's instrumentalist and producer on nearly a dozen songs. Most recently they collaborated on selections from Department of Tormented Poets. Noticing the growing overlap in their audience, National frontman Matt Berninger noticed an influx of bewildered fans — and a lot more women.
“We see a lot of Taylor Swift fans come to shows and get confused by the first 25 minutes or so. We're blessed with demographics that are all over the spectrum,” Berninger said recently NME. “Then, 10 or 15 years ago, a lot of younger people started coming [to our shows] – more and more women. The first 10 years were a dude fest at most of our shows, but that has changed a lot. At our shows we have all kinds of old friends and they're always different.”
Berninger dismissed the idea that Swift would make a surprise appearance at their concerts or that the full band would perform at one of hers, but expressed her gratitude for their musical connection. “I do not think so. I do not think. It's fun – that whole bridge was a really, really fruitful thing for our whole band, not just Aaron,” he said. “Obviously, Aaron is having such a great time and making so many great things with her, and the Taylor Swift bridge has been around for a long time. But no, we're not.”
Dessner has made a few solo appearances on the Eras tour. Last April, he joined Swift in Tampa to perform Midnight bonus track “The Great War” and returned the next day to play “Mad Woman” from Folklore. That May, in Nashville, they played “Would've, Could've, Should've” together in the pouring rain. Dessner has also appeared for performances of “Seven” and “Right Where You Left Me.”
“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I'd be playing a song for 80,000 people on acoustic guitar with @taylorswift,” Dessner wrote on Instagram after an appearance of “Forever grateful for all the music we've made and your friendship.”
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