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* scattershot snapshots of a second Swell Season show

Having made the relatively modest drive up to Richmond, Virginia, on Friday night to see another Swell Season gig after Thursday's Raleigh show, a few comparisons/contrasts and observations:

* Even in a smaller market such as Richmond, it's clear that Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova have well outgrown the nightclub circuit. Richmond venue Toad's Place (apparently a cousin to the storied New Haven, Connecticut, original) would probably be a comfortable venue for acts drawing under 1,000, but the sold-out crowd of 1,500 was a little bit more than the room could reasonably handle. On the one hand, it was kind of nice to see the band in a space where you could walk around and observe the show from different angles and perspectives; but in the end, too many patrons were relegated to watching primarily the TV-screen monitors instead of a stage they couldn't quite glimpse from the back bar or the balcony. Still, it was partly worth the drive just for one last chance to see the Swell Season in a club setting.

* Beyond that, it was also worth the drive for the rousing, show-closing cover of Van Morrison's "Into The Mystic". Probably the best reason for having seen the Raleigh show over the Richmond show was Hansard's mid-show solo rendition of "Astral Weeks"; the converse was the case with "Into The Mystic", which had the added attraction of Irglova's uplifting harmony vocals (not to mention the full-band backing). Better yet to have gone both nights and seen both songs. I don't know if you could fairly call Hansard the heir to the Irish legacy of Morrison's muse, but one thing is clear, he gets Van The Man, and grandly channels the true spirit of Morrison's music.

* A couple other set-list shifts in Richmond allowed for two more Frames numbers ending up in the mix. "Red Chord", an anthemic number from their 1996 album Fitzcarraldo (and the 2002 live disc Breadcrumb Trail), proved a fiery late-set high-point. Earlier, when Irglova departed for a brief stretch (apparently struggling with allergies), they cranked out "God Bless Mom" from 1999's terrific U.K.-only Dance The Devil. Compared to typical full-on Frames shows, it was a modest performance of what is arguably Hansard's best rock song. Inarguable, at least for me, is that Hansard's vocal re-entry after the bridge is the most dramatic passage he's ever fashioned: When he screams out "You see how haaaaaaard it can be, to keep your side of the deal" with the full force of the band behind him, it ranks up there with Springsteen's "The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last-chance power-drive" and, yes, even Roger Daltrey's legendary scream on The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" among the most powerful and emotional moments in all of rock 'n' roll.

* And yet, Hansard got by far the most overwhelming audience response of the night when, during a mid-set solo excursion, he casually tossed in "Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy", the minute-long, made-up-on-the spot ditty from a charming little scene in the film Once. Given the vast and vehement audience sing-along that spontaneously erupted, it would appear that the song Hansard spent the least amount of time writing in his entire catalogue has paradoxically become one of his most popular, which he acknowledged with equal-parts amusement and chagrin. Take it where you can get it, one supposes, and hope they find their way eventually to "Seven Day Mile"....

* Finally, Hansard effectively tweaked his introduction to "Falling Slowly" in Richmond. The metaphor was the same -- about how 7/8ths of him was amazed at how far he kicked the ball, and 1/8th of him just wanted his ball back -- but he changed the numbers to "99%" and "1%". Which works much better, in part because we humans don't respond as cleanly to fractions; and also because, well, 1% is about as much of an underdog as you can get...and everyone loves to root for the underdog.

adios,
peter

Posted by peter on May 18, 2008 7:05 PM | Permalink