When Glen Comes To Town

I was fortunate enough to attend both of Glen Hansard's gigs at Pianos tonight. The luck of the Irish works wonders...a friend of a friend could end up working the door at any music venue!

For the first show, Doveman frontman Thomas Bartlett played three songs. He had to go solo because the rest of his band was playing a show at Tonic.

Glen played some favorites from The Frames, including "Lay Me Down" and "Finally." He's probably a Mac man as he compared seeing the spinning wheel to forgetting the lyrics for "Finally."

Glen commented that he didn't want to share any more stories, since he only had an hour to perform, before introducing his Czech friend, Marketa Irglov. It turns out the band has been recording a new CD in France and Glen has worked on solo material in Prague. With Marketa on piano, Glen introduced half a dozen new songs, including "Falling Slowly," which imagines a crippled boat, leaking water, trying to steer home. Metaphor alert! Other tracks worth looking out for on his album include "The Moon" and "Lay Low."

He returned to playing material from The Frames, including an audience request for "Seven Day Mile," and closed the show with "Fake."

For the second show, all five members of Doveman were on stage. A lamp situated between the drummer and guitarist added a living room motif. There were enough corduroy and tweed blazers to make any college professor proud. And the music? You had to pinch yourself to make sure you weren't at a jazz club in New Orleans. The guys play Tonic on April 14th. Make sure you drop by.

When Glen took the stage and started pumping his fists in the air, like a true rock star, he set the playful mood for the rest of the night. He mocked the whispering girls in the front row during "God Bless Mom," and checked with the audience before repeating songs from the first set. "Finally" was the only Frames track which appeared on both set lists.

With Marketa on piano, Glen insisted he wanted to play the solo material since he was out of tune the first. There were some technical difficulties with his guitar and Glen used a Russian accent as he performed surgery. An audience member yelled that he wouldn't have these people if he stayed with a major label and had a roadie; Glen noted he wouldn't be himself if he had a roadie.

The highlights of the second set included "Revelate" and "Angel at My Table," which included a segway into Jeff Buckley's "So Real," and Glen using the guitar as a drum. Another audience member kept requesting "Star Star" but Glen refused to play it. The third encore of the evening, "Lay Low," took place around 12:45 a.m.