Chicago Weekend Fun!

In case you haven’t already heard, this year’s most eagerly anticipated concert is coming to the Chicago Theater this week. The Swell Season with Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova will be in Chicago on their national Tour following their Oscar win for the songs from the Movie Once. (song: Falling Slowly) And I have found from the first time I saw this movie (spring of 07) I have slowly fallen for this talented duo and the group Glen Hansard was originally with, The Frames and coundn’t be more excited to see them at the Chicago Theater Wednesday night. (The show review is listed at the end of this post)

Their individual stories are almost fairy tale like since they both rose from obscurity to fame after years of work and experience locally. Glen Hansard dropped out of school at 13 at the urging of his principal to go start his career since he was talented at music and uninterested in traditional subjects. He has been making music ever since and a part of The Frames for 17 years, which is a band very popular in Ireland. Marketa Irglova is the daughter of a concert promoter and grew up learning all spects of music and the business among other things. She met Glen years ago while he was on tour with the Frames in Eastern Europe. So, when Glen was approached to see if he knew an Eastern European girl that could sing and play piano he knew the perfect person.

The movie Once was originally written with a well known Irish actor in mind and when things fell through with him, (and with financing, making it a small indie film rather than big budget) they asked Glen Hansard to play the lead role since he had written the music and would be the best person to perform them. Plus parts of the movie were based on ideas he submitted from his experiences busking as a teenager in Dublin. Glen suggested Marketa for the role and she got the part and then they spent a week in the studio recording songs for the movie. The movie itself was shot for something like 100K and with 2 cameras in 2 weeks in mostly public places. The rest is history as people seeing the film fell in love with the movie, the songs and the actors. The Oscar win was the icing on the cake making the small indie film into a major success. I heard that it made 9 million dollars before it was picked up for distribution in the US, but who knows how much it has sold since then. And all these concerts are selling out across the US also.  

Glen and Marketa filmed the movie Once and then even though in the film they go their separate ways, in real life they really did start dating. Their chemistry comes across so well in their music. I have been listening to The Swell Season and The Frames concerts from NPR in All Songs Considered online and downloaded the Atlanta concert from this tour on PlayedLastNight.com. They have a relaxed conversational way of hosting a concert and as experienced performers we are curious to hear the songs from the movie and about more of their music.  They are actually surprisingly funny and Glen likes to go into stories and analogies often on stage that are pretty interesting.

Marketa was a great compliment to Glen’s voice, music and writing skills. Their sound is much lighter and softer together than Glen Hansard was with the Frames, but since The Frames are on tour with them the songs are backed up by a much richer sound than in the movie with a violin, drums and possibly additional pianos and guitars.  They do some Frames songs together also and Marketa can really rock too.

The thing about the music in The Swell Season and in the movie Once is that it seems so real. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova’s music is simple enough to make you want to sing along even if you have never sung before and harmonized beautifully in a complex way at the same time. It is completely open, vulnerable and emotional in ways we tend to normally keep to ourselves but somehow are more comfortable exploring with their help. Personally, I identify with them when Glen says things like “when you tend towards the darkness, its important to repeat these things”.  (the lyrics in Thread the Light) I raise my hand here in the office building I work in on Michigan Avenue while I am listening on my ipod during the work day.

I am overall very excited to see this show since it sold out so fast and you had to know a yuppie hipster or Irish culture fan to even know tickets were going on sale. (I got lucky I work with hipsters) Even though I only got nosebleed seats at the top of the Chicago Theater, it will be a treat to see them live and experience the magic in person.  Tickets are all sold out, so if you really must go to this concert at any cost, you might be able to find a few on Craigslist, although I don’t advocate the reselling of tickets at high prices. If you are more modest in means, check out itunes, NPR’s all songs considered or playedlastnight.com to download and purchase the soundtrack from the Oscar winning Movie Once, The Swell Season album and The Frames albums.Or just rent the film Once from Netflix. It’s a great movie for an evening in at home. 

Picture/Photo linked from VenusZine.com and their review of the Sunday June 15 show.

Update: June 18th Show Review (written 6/19/08)

I saw this show last night and it was a dynamic and inspiring musical performance. The show started at 8 with a opener also from Ireland and he played guitar and told a few stories about living in Chicago in the late 80’s.

Then at 9 The Swell Season started. Glen Hansard opened the show by coming out with the acoustic guitar and no amp or microphones and playing acoustically to the audience and singing “Say it to me now” with no mic. It worked well and we were able to hear him way up in the balcony seats without a problem. I was a little dissapointed though that the audience was not that supportive and just politely waited to clap at the end rather than cheering throughout when he had moments of crescendo and projected to the back corners of the theater.

He then introduced Marketa and the band and went into playing the first few songs from the movie that people knew but without much introduction or explanation like I had heard in the concerts online. They played “Lies” with an amazing lighting effect where the 6 spot lights behind them on the stage projected their beams up over the musicians and together up into the theater dome on the ceiling. Then the light reflected back down on the audience in a “heavenly” way. It’s hard to describe, but the nature of the song being about telling lies and then the beam of light from above made a compelling atmosphere for the song. They used these lights again later on in the show too.

About the 4th song in, they sang “Falling Slowly” and Glen Hansard briefly told of how that one song changed everything for them. Then in the song he missed a cue somehow, spun around from the mic and then at the next point he started apologizing for that and explaining that he got into his head a bit. Somehow he has a great sense of humor without really being like a standup. Anyway, he explained that he was thinking that they should dedicate the song to a special guest they had that night. Barack Obama was there. He pointed to mid floor on the ground level of seats, but from where I was sitting you couldn’t see him. Glen made a brief comment about the song being dedicated to Barack Obama and that it would be great if he won the election and made this country great again. I think he hit the sentiment of the crowd on the head with so many people frustrated with so many things in the USA these days. It wasn’t a political statement, it was more a reflection of the feelings and mood of the people in the US right now and a hope that they can get a better life back again and weather the storm of sorts.

After that announcement the show and the audience seemed to warm up considerably. I heard from 3 people who went to the Tuesday night show that Glen talked a lot and the intros were longer than the songs. And that a boy named Ethan was called out of the crowd to sing the Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy song. (he has 29,000 views of him singing it on YouTube and has sung it with Glen Hansard before) On Wednesday though the crowd sensed some reserve in Glen and wasn’t as cheery and supportive until he loosened up after the Barack Obama in the audience announcement. Then the heckler stopped and the crowd was behind him all the way.

I also thought it was interesting that Glen and Marketa each both play guitar and piano and for some songs they switch. I did not know that before seeing this performance. Marketa has the confidence and presence on stage of someone older than her years and Glen just exudes emotions and happiness when he plays and sings. Like he says all these years he has just been playing his guitar and hoping people like him.

One review of a show last week cited that Marketa just sits by the piano and looks to Glen for direction but I never saw that. They keep in eye contact when they are playing together but that isn’t looking to him for direction. Marketa was an active participant in running the show with Glen and they share the stage and the spotlight. After each song they seemed to confer about what to play next and she would stand with hand on hip and chat for a minute with him between songs as if the set list was flexible. She also introduced her songs and the interlude played by the violinist. Anyone who thinks Marketa isn’t as involved in the show just plain wrong.

There were also about 5 songs they invited the crowd to sing along with, which I loved, since it is such singable music within the range of what I am guessing is comfortable for most people’s voices. Or maybe I am over thinking this, but I have been singing along to the swell season in my car for months now and I love it for that. I think the crowd was tentative about the audience participation portion of the program at first (and my seat neighbors may have been annoyed at my singing) but then they concluded the show with an Irish Drinking song singalong called The Auld Triangle that went over well. Glen even went as far as picking an older gentleman out of the audience to sing it along with him on stage like an old Irishman would. The guy sang along a few verses and then retreated back to safety at his seat when Glen wasn’t looking. I guess not everyone would think going up on stage would be fun (like I would) but it was a nice touch to be so open with your audience to invite them on stage with you. This song did end up getting everyone in the 3,000 seat packed house singing, I even nudged my boyfriend to sing and he did.

Overall, I thought the show was great because their voices are always so “on” and the instrumental band members are also so good at this. The violin player was very popular getting many applause when he added his instrument to songs. They can play the songs spot on like the CD and play such a depth of music beyond it because of the depth of their experience and skill. Even the songs that aren’t from the movie have the characteristics we love about the Swell Season and Glen and Marketa’s work and the audience received them warmly.

After the show ended we walked around to the side of the Chicago theater to see if the group of fans would get their wish and get to meet Glen and Marketa after the show. But after a crazy/drunk/homeless guy ranting at us for a 1/2 and hour and the information from the security guy that they didn’t come out until 2am the night before (and a lot of beer went in through that door) we decided to just go home. It was late and the L stops running at a certain time so we had to get back, but we were overall very happy with the show and I would definitely see them again in concert if they came to Chicago. If you were at the Swell Season concert, you can post your comments below also.

Update 6/20/08I just read on Time Out Chicago’s Blog that Barack Obama was not there, they checked with the Chicago Theater directly on that. How weird. Glen, what’s up with saying he was?