KILLYLEAGH CASTLE - 25.5. 2003
Of course most of the audience had
come for Van and were not to know when The Frames lead singer, Glen Hansard,
took the stage alone that the man who sat top of the Irish album charts
was in their midst. How would he do without the band. Of course he has
been doing solo gigs for a long time and to be fair there were many of
today’s more mature clientele who The Frames would have blown the zimmer
frames (no pun intended!) straight off.
Hansard has a permanent mischievous
grin and it usually slides down off his face to find its way into all he
does. Starting with Astral Weeks was an audacity on the verge of stupidity.
I watched the wings for Van’s men to come and drag him away to a prison
cell in Avalon. But Hansard is the genuine fan as previously mentioned
and told an amazing story about being at Van’s 50th Birthday party where
after a very Van like cold shouldering his hero gave him the entire night
playing him whatever song he wanted to hear.
Without the band Hansard had to use
peddles and thumping the stage for some extra sound. Boy did he! My mate
Pete Cheney described some of his sounds as River dance on an acoustic
guitar and that was as good a description as there is. So as with The Frames
he screamed it on Revelate and Angel At My Table and whispered it during
Lay Me Down, Star, Star and The Blood. Following Houston who usually fills
his night with yarns and said nothing Hansard didn’t disappoint with his
wit and humour. The best summation of all things Hansard was when he introduced
Lay Me Down with a story about buying his girlfriend a grave for Christmas,
something to suggest the length and depth of his devotion. With its sense
of madness there was something hugely endearing and romantic about the
idea but as he finished and went straight into a brand new song Fake he
added that this one’s for the man she’s with now. Again humour but now
tinged with sadness. His work is that place where naďve innocent idealism
meets the reality of disappointment.
And he left without most of the crowd
being still aware of his place at the top of the island’s music scene.
His humility did not see it as even a temptation to tell them!
Stocki |
