Benny Doyle, Journalist

If you discovered the group through their breakthrough 2008 record Nights Out, you’ll have a hard time keeping the flame alight with Love Letters.

"Maybe we weren’t ready [for success] before?"

"We’re especially proud of this song, it’s a real different direction."

"A dipshit friend threw a firework into our space and lit our studio on fire..."

"It’s always a risk, the second album, but it’s the place where you maybe lose a few to gain many."

Take it for what it is, hold hands and smile.

"With almost three hours of Green Day you're gonna get a bunch of everything; old stuff, new stuff, stadium rock posturing and covers – plenty of covers. It all works well – though three hours is far too long."

"As cliché as it sounds, it was a labour of love."

Real Feel is a confident move forwards from a band that could’ve easily got lost in the indie flood, and although not defining, it definitely feels good.

"We still have our personal issues, we’re human, we still get on each others’ nerves. But I’m willing to accept that we all have our shit."

"He’s an incredible player with a wonderful track record – he was a fighter to the end and to have him on this album is pretty special for us."

To turn a space as vast as the Riverstage into a campfire for thousands is an impossible feat, but The National have long been a band that have defied expectation, the final stand tonight making us feel alive in the most communal of ways.