The National are untouchable at London's Eventim Apollo

As the lights dim in Hammersmith, a small camera projects onto the tiered screens adorning the stage. It’s positioned just behind the stage door, capturing moving bodies and last minute activity and slowly, one by one, reveals The National - coming together and exchanging the final words before they once again transform a venue into an unbridled exhibition of human fragility, fever and feeling. It’s not so much that The National have come bursting in with all guns blazing, but they’ve captured a level of devotion that few bands could ever achieve - and now they’re taking on that mantle for an evening that confirms their untouchable status. Guiding through a career that’s never compromised and always remained true, there’s a masterful touch to every moment tonight, like the coming of a glorious artistic statement that has everyone transfixed from the opening strains of ‘Nobody Else Will Be There’. New album ‘Sleep Well Beast’ is given an almost-full airing, jumping between the ferocious cuts of ‘The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness’ and ‘Turtleneck’ to the chilling serenes of ‘Guilty Party’ and ‘Walk It Back’. Never putting a foot wrong, the bright lights that scatter across each track and the shape-shifting visuals behind them feel like a band embracing and belonging to that clear-call of one of the great bands of a generation. The blissed-out cathartic feeling that comes out of the opening plucks of ‘Graceless’ and ‘I Need My Girl’ finds tears flowing throughout the hall, swelling into a beautiful whole on ‘England’ and its building layers that finds frontman Matt Berninger patrolling the stage with the look of a thousand tales behind his eyes. 'Sea Of Love'. 'Fake Empire'. Early EP favourite 'About Today'. A blooming cover of Talking Heads' 'Heaven'. There is no turning away from such a powerfully crafted display of a band in their prime. Pints are thrown, songs are drowned out by the voices of a choir all flinging themselves into every word and sound that comes from their catalogue and moments are made - and its in those exact pinpoints that a band become undeniably special. The National continue to look forward with the weight of emotion and majesty that they have formed from years of dedication. It's written across every face in Hammersmith tonight - and as Matt careers through the crowd one thing is clear. The National have become the band of the people. Sometimes the truly special bands are the ones whose shows can't be put into words. The National are that band, and they're only just getting started. <em>Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett / Dork</em>