Have the National gods finally smiled upon Cincinnati?
Homecoming is back on the table, at least according to fans. Locally bred band The National has not yet formally announced the return of the Cincinnati festival it curates, but members of the band’s subreddit said they’ve received a Feb. 8 email alluding to just that.
“We’ve had an overwhelming number of questions about Homecoming 2023,” The National reportedly said in a screenshot of the email posted by a member of r/TheNational. “We’re pleased to report that Homecoming is scheduled to return to Cincinnati this fall. When we have additional information to share, you will be the first to know!” All emphasis in the quote reportedly belongs to the band.
At least two other subreddit members said that they also received the email from The National, albeit without specific dates or performers named. CityBeat has not received the alleged email and has reached out to Redditors to obtain it [Editor’s note: CityBeat has since reviewed and confirmed the email]. Social media accounts for The National and for the Homecoming event itself have not mentioned the festival recently.
Where has Homecoming been?
The National generally has been silent about Homecoming since 2020.
Launched in 2018, Homecoming took place in Smale Riverfront Park along the Ohio River and featured two nights of music, with The National taking several performance slots themselves.
The most recently scheduled Homecoming was to have happened in May 2020 but was canceled due to the then-new COVID-19 pandemic. “We made every attempt to reschedule Homecoming for 2020, however due to circumstances beyond our control, the festival will not take place this year as planned,” The National’s statement at the time said. “We look forward to bringing the event back in 2021.”
Unfortunately, Homecoming did not take place in 2021, either, as the pandemic continued to rage on thanks to the fast-spreading Delta variant of the coronavirus, causing a months-long surge of new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations throughout the summer, fall and early winter.
When the alt-indie-rock stalwarts posted tour dates for 2022 with Cincinnati conspicuously absent, fans and media anticipated that a Homecoming return was imminent. But no such announcement happened, and CityBeat received no updates on the local festival from band representatives or festival text alerts.
The National then dropped a tour announcement in January, with 19 dates in North America and 10 dates scheduled for Europe and the United Kingdom but none in Cincinnati. The band later added shows in additional cities, again leaving Cincinnati dry. The National’s tour will support the band’s upcoming album First Two Pages of Frankenstein, which is scheduled for an April 28 release. The band’s ninth studio album features collaborations with Taylor Swift, Sufjan Stevens, Phoebe Bridgers and others.
Currently, the Homecoming website says “Homecoming 2023: For updates about future dates for Homecoming please join the mailing list!” The message is the same as what was posted in 2022.
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This article appears in Feb 8-21, 2023.