The last time I saw Matt Berninger on stage, he was throwing a Red Solo Cup of wine into the audience. This time, it was straight vodka.

Matt Berninger performed his fourth show of his new tour at First Avenue on Friday, May 23rd. The tour is in anticipation of his second album, Get Sunk, releasing on May 30th.

When Berninger was throwing wine into the crowd, he was performing with The National, the band he fronts. I was curious to see how his solo stage show would compare, and the results did not disappoint.

Singer-songwriter Ronboy (Julia Laws) opened the show playing her bass to a crowd of somewhat rowdy First Ave attendees. Her band consisted of members of Berninger’s own, who played guitar, keyboard, drums, and even tambourine. Ronboy was funny and candid with her crowd banter and rolled with the punches of competing with a talkative group in the back and bumping her chin on the microphone during a heartfelt song about her mother.

Ronboy brought out Matt Berninger to sing their currently unreleased song “Disaster.” Berninger walked onstage in a velvety navy suit and sunglasses, coughing for a moment into the mic and saying, “I’ve got tequila stuck in my throat.” The chorus of the song goes, “I’m a disaster,” and Berninger would always sing the next part: “I know.”

When Berninger reemerged for his set, he now had on his signature black Ray-Ban glasses. Ronboy came back to play keyboard and sing backing vocals.

What struck me about Berninger’s stage presence in his solo show was the way he involved the audience. The National often plays huge venues, and though Berninger is known for his pointing and walking through the crowd, there is only so far that energy can travel. First Avenue, however, is intimate enough that Berninger seemed able to reach all corners of the venue. He made eye contact with individual members of the crowd, including me, during a verse of “No Love.” Sometimes he would aggressively point at people in the back or the balcony, as if he were an eccentric professor trying desperately to get his point across. When Berninger sings, he is feeling everything he felt when he wrote the song and meaning it. It was intense to watch and very gratifying. It was as if, throughout the show, Berninger was acknowledging—in his own, self-deprecatory way—that hey, thank you for coming; you really didn’t have to be here.

One of the most surprising moments of the night was between songs. After singing “Little by Little,” Berninger asked the crowd to hand the mic to a specific person in the crowd wearing a The National hat and t-shirt. The guy took the mic, thanking Berninger, and then got down on one knee and proposed to his now fiancée. The crowd cheered and clapped, and then once Berninger got the mic back, he and his band played “Times of Difficulty.” “This song isn’t dedicated to you two,” Berninger prefaced. Halfway through the song, however, which ended up being about getting through tough moments with someone, he said, “Actually, maybe this is dedicated to you two,” singing much of the rest of the song to the newly engaged couple.

Near the end of his set, Berninger said that “these places, venues, and theaters...they are our churches.” Then he added, comically, “Our churches are our churches too, but these are also our churches.” He dedicated one of the encore songs, “Light Years,” which is a National song, to his 16-year-old daughter, who was at her first prom that night. He covered “All Apologies,” holding the mic out to the crowd to scream it back at him, and then a single from the new album, “Inland Ocean.”

Matt Berninger may come on stage a little drunk. He tosses plastic cups of liquor into the crowd and sometimes personally hands people his drinks. He dances like an elementary schooler pantomiming the song they just made up in the kitchen. He leans on the mic stand, paces around the stage as if lovingly checking his bandmate’s homework, and gets up on the monitors to hold the hands of fans in the balcony. All of it absolutely works. The show on the 23rd was one of the most engaging of my life, and I can’t recommend checking out Get Sunk on May 30th enough. Next time Berninger is in the cities, you’ll want to be there.

Show Review & Photos: Helena Squires Mosher