Matt Berninger – Open Season 2026

As the voice and lyricist of The National, Matt Berninger spent two decades making records that felt like they’d been written specifically for you – bruised, literary, orchestral, and devastatingly precise about the quiet disasters of life. His baritone became one of the most recognisable sounds in contemporary music. Now, with his second solo album, he’s doing something a little looser, a little stranger, and just as compelling.

Get Sunk was born in a Connecticut barn – lyrics scrawled on baseballs, dust-covered objects rearranged into surreal compositions, a man making sense of his own creative life far from the machinery of a major band. Produced with Grammy-winning engineer Sean O’Brien and shaped by collaborators including Meg Duffy (Hand Habits), Kyle Resnick (The National, Beirut) and the legendary Booker T. Jones, it’s a record that sits in that rare space between longing and relief – the blurry picture brought as close into focus as it needs to be.

Matt Berninger plays The Princess Theatre for Open Season. For anyone who’s ever felt deeply seen by a song.

Open Season is The Tivoli Group’s annual program of music, art and cultural events, transforming Brisbane into a winter playground for live performance each year. Open Season is independently owned and operated, and has funding assistance through the Live Music Office of the Australian Government and Arts Queensland.