"The Swell Season is the BEST Season!"

The Swell Season- 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C., 11.9.2009

Welp, I finally know what I want to do with my life…. I want to be Glen Hansard! That’s an acceptable goal right? I’ll have to quit my teaching job of course and find a school where I can study how to be supremely awesome and the coolest man alive. Do you know of a program? If so, please leave it at the bottom of the page.

After the concert Monday night, my friend informed me that I have a man crush on Glen. A piece of me felt I had to defend myself, but it’s clear that I do. I just want to be his best friend (insert dream sequence). Catch a match, grab a pint at the pub…sigh.

Monday’s show was the fourth time I’ve seen The Swell Season, and while the others were great, this show somehow stood apart. 9:30 Club was already packed by the time Doveman, the opener, took the stage. Then some guy from Chicago gave a meandoring, long winded, and quite confusing introduction to the band, which only made us more happy to finally see Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova take the stage.

The duo started the show with a pair of songs from the 2007 film Once. “Falling From the Sky” opened the set with Glen and Marketa playing from their knees. This was followed by “Lies”, which Glen introduced by saying, “This is a song about a man who tells the truth about things that never happened.”

At this point, The Frames, joined the stage playing a collection of song from the new album Strict Joy along with a well placed Willie Nelson cover, “Blue Eyes.” “Low Rising”, the new single off the album, seemed to be a fan favorite. It’s the kind of song that feels like it should have been a hit in the 60’s.

Marketa stepped up to the mic for two songs, which she sang beautifully. However, the highlight of the show came directly afterwards when the rest of the band left the stage, leaving Glen to play four songs. Glen started busking on the streets of Dublin when he was 13 years old, and it’s easy to see that with all that seasoning, he certainly knows how to mesmorize a crowd. “Leave” and “Say It To Me Now”, which started the solo set, are two of my all time favorite songs. Plus, I think “Say It To Me Now” was written about my life. Call me conceited, but I think the evidence speaks for itself. The final song of the solo mini set was a cover of Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks”. Can I swear in blogs? I don’t know the rules. Because, my reaction to this song involved a lot of “Holy _________ “ and “That was _______ ing unbelievable,” and I’ve seen him cover this before! My words cannot do it justice, so looking it up on youtube would probably be wise. Basically, Glen goes crazy with his loop pedals and creates a tsunami of sound that just rocks this song to it’s knees. Have you watched it yet? Yeah, it’s easy to see my man crush now isn’t it?

After everyone caught their collective breathes, the band rejoined Glen for a handful of songs. “When Your Mind’s Made Up” closed the regular set, and everyone sang along, even to the screaming part at the end. The encore included “Falling Slowly” an obvious crowd favorite, and a new, yet to be titled song, which sounds like it will come together into a very nice song. The night ended on a Frames song, “Red Chord”, that included seques into “Here Comes the Night” (Them) and “The Parting Glass” (The Clancy Brothers). Simply brilliant! Glen asked the crowd to sing “The Parting Glass” in honor of Liam Clancy, who is extremely ill back in Ireland. This left everyone singing “Goodnight and joy be with you all,” until eventually fading completely. A pretty stellar way to end the show.

So if you have the chance to see The Swell Season, I highly advice you to take that chance. They are an absolutely amazing band to see live, and I doubt you’ll regret it. As one concert goer proclaimed, "The Swell Season is the BEST season!" Agreed!

Were you at the show? Have your own Swell Season memories? Let us know!

Setlist
1. Falling From the Sky
2. Lies
3. Low Rising
4. Feeling the Pull
5. Blue Eyes (Willie Nelson Cover)
6. The Rain
7. The Moon
8. If You Want Me
9. Fantasy Man
10. Leave
11. Say It To Me Now
12. Back Broke
13. Astral Weeks (Van Morrison Cover)
14. Emer’s Dream (Colm solo)
15. People All Get Ready
16. The Verb
17. I Have Loved You Wrong
18. Once
19. When Your Mind’s Made Up
ENCORE:
20. Falling Slowly
21. New Song- Untitled
22. High Horses
23. Red Chord--> Here Comes the Night-->The Parting Glass