The National will be performing at the Santa Barbara Bowl on Friday, April 25 to provide an evening of live music to all their fans in Santa Barbara, plus very special guest Portugal. The Man.

The National - Formed in 1999, the Ohio raised, Brooklyn-based band consists of vocalist Matt Berninger fronting two pairs of brothers: Aaron (guitar, bass, piano) and Bryce Dessner (guitar), and Scott (bass, guitar) and Bryan Devendorf (drums). The band’s newest album, TROUBLE WILL FIND ME, the most self-assured collection of songs produced by the National in its 14-year career, is a tribute to fully evolved artistic vision — and, somewhat less mystically, to sleep deprivation. Their first full-lengths, The National and Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers, and a crucial mini-album, Cherry Tree, preceded their signing to Beggars Banquet in 2004. Alligator (2005), included underground anthem “Mr. November,” and raised their profile as the National grew into an incendiary live band. Boxer (2007), featuring songs like “Fake Empire”, “Mistaken For Strangers” and “Start A War,” sold over three times as many copies as its predecessor and saw them transformed from underground stars into an indie rock institution: they began the album cycle opening for the Arcade Fire and with guest appearance on major television shows such as the Late Show with David Letterman. By the time their busy season in support of Boxer came to a close they had become a headline attraction in their own right — REM picked them as a crucial part of a US arena tour; and the Barack Obama campaign turned “Fake Empire” into an unstated anthem for his presidential run, using it in the soundtrack to the promotional video Signs Of Hope And Change, and as background music during his victory rally in Chicago’s Grant Park.

Portugal. The Man— The band has spent much of the past year on tour supporting “EVIL FRIENDS.” Portugal. The Man– currently traveling Australia and New Zealand as part of the annual Big Day Out festival extravaganza – continues to draw rave reviews wherever they go, with Rolling Stone’s Gavin Edwards recently naming them the “Trippiest Act” at Los Angeles’ annual KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas, further praising them for “blend(ing) a steady dance groove, falsetto vocals and psychedelic freakouts.”