Vicar Street, Dublin, 23 June 2004
Someone asked me recently "Don't
you ever get tired of The Frames?" and it’s true I haven’t been playing
their albums with the same regularity of late and their recent gig in Limerick
was somewhat dampened by the inclement weather. That being said Glen Hansard’s
solo gigs are always a unique experience, all the well known Frames songs
but pared down, one man and his guitar giving them a distinct treatment.
He has to rely on his charm and storytelling to fill the gaps left by the
other members of the band.
Much has been made of this storytelling
between songs and it continues to divide fans as comments on the band’s
website illustrate. It was remarks there concerning Glen’s apparent tiredness,
following his return from recording in France, which made me a little nervous
in advance of this performance. I feared this was going to be the gig that
would finally convince me to hang up my Frames fanaticism and give them
a break. Thankfully any fears I had were misplaced and not showing any
signs of tiredness Glen gave a superlative performance. Switching comfortably
between his electric and acoustic guitars, joking and telling tales, getting
a pint from a pretty blonde he played for over 2 hours and looked completely
at home.
Glen started the set with two new
songs played to a rapt audience. He fumbled a few of the words but this
only endeared him more to the crowd. There was intermittent heckling and
he even mentioned how difficult he finds playing to a home audience but
loves it all the same. In his introduction to ‘Lay me down’ he said he
wanted to clear up the misinterpretation of the line, "lay me down in
the hallowed ground where my father waits" explaining that people keep
saying to his father that they thought he was dead, which he isn’t, he’s
a taxi driver. ‘Headlong’ was introduced with a Caroline Corr story related
to a certain Hotpress Award 2 or 3 years ago, when they were both nominated
in the same category. He also added a whole new chorus to the beautiful,
bittersweet new song ‘Finally’.
It was a sign of how relaxed he was
that when a shout of "Outspan" (the name of the character he played
in Alan Parker’s 1991 film ‘The Commitments’) came from the balcony he
retorted with a rocking version of ‘Mustang Sally’ reviling the audience
for singing the chorus "Ride around Sally" in a Dublin accent. It’s
an aspect of his past that he has continually tried to put behind him but
it seems to haunt him still, even his Mother, who was in the audience,
encouraged him to do the sequel, she thought it would be the making of
him.
His set also included ‘Where is my
mind’ by The Pixies, he described how impressed he was after listening
to them on his cassette player on the rooftop of the Stephens Green centre,
many years ago.
He included all the favourites 'God
Bless Mom' (which he dedicated to his Mother),'Hollocaine', 'Rent Day Blues',
'Star, Star', 'Fake', 'Revelate', 'What happens when the heart just stops',
'Seven day mile' a rocked out 'Monument' as well as ‘Raglan road’ and Mic
Christopher’s ‘Heyday’ which had the entire place singing the chorus. His
voice lit up the room and everyone seemed completely enthralled by the
end of the set. He left the room on their feet and I think it was one of
his finest performances to date (but then maybe I'm biased!)
Roll on Marlay Park in August.
Celine O'Malley |
