October 25, 2009

if you’ve got something to say, say it to me now

Irish songwriter Glen Hansard took the crowd outside Fingerprints by surprise last week, as they waited in line for his appearance inside with Marketa Irglova (of The Swell Season, and the movie Once):

Doesn’t that just give you the best kind of visceral reaction in your gut-parts? Sometimes I wish we could always live inside wonderful moments just like that, where people sing out what they mean, and mean the things they sing. Glen is an artist of the first-class.

That night their set included tracks from the new album Strict Joy (out tomorrow on Anti- Records), the Once soundtrack, Leave (The Frames), Tim Buckley’s Buzzin’ Fly (Jeff Buckley was once Glen’s roadie, ‘member?), and “New Partner” by Will Oldham. Those who were there say it was truly magical.

Say It To Me Now – The Frames
(from Hansard’s 1996 album Fitzcarraldo; a version was later on the Once Soundtrack)



SwellSeasonFinalSMIn conjunction with the fine folks at Fingerprints, I have one autographed poster from that event to give away. It’s only signed by Glen (“Marketa wasn’t feeling great, so after the performance and almost two hours of meeting fans we set her free for the nap that was calling so loudly”).

Leave me a comment if you’d like to be entered for the poster — and go see Swell Season on tour this fall, eh?








SWELL SEASON FALL TOUR DATES
11/01 Milwaukee, WI – The Pabst
11/02 Indianapolis, IN – Clownes Theatre
11/03 Toronto, ON – Massey Hall
11/04 Montreal, QC – Olympia
11/06 Boston, MA – Berklee Performing Arts Centre
11/07 Providence, RI – Lupo’s
11/08 Philadelphia, PA – Merriam
11/09 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
11/12 New Orleans, LA – House of Blues
11/13 Houston, TX – Warehouse Live
11/14 Dallas, TX – Palladium
11/15 Austin, TX – The Paramount
11/17 Mesa, AZ – Mesa Arts
11/18 Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern
11/19 Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern
(WITH JOSH RITTER)
11/20 Oakland, CA – The Paramount
11/22 Seattle,WA – The Paramount
11/24 Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom
11/25 Vancouver, BC – Centre For the Performing Arts
11/27 Boise, ID – Egyptian
11/28 Salt Lake City, UT – Jeanne Wagner Theatre
11/29 Denver, CO – The Ogden
11/30 Kansas City, MO – Uptown
12/03 Chicago, IL – Auditorium Theater
12/04 St. Louis, MO – The Pageant
12/05 Minneapolis, MN – The State Theatre
01/19 NYC, NY – Radio City Music Hall
(WITH JOSH RITTER)

36 Comments

  • Sweet! Ya this is some very powerful music… love it.

    Thanks.

    Matt Walters — October 26, 2009 @ 8:54 am

  • Isn’t Buzzin’ Fly a Tim Buckley song?

    Reggie — October 26, 2009 @ 9:24 am

  • yes indeed – oversight on my part! thanks so much.

    browneheather — October 26, 2009 @ 9:33 am

  • What a classic moment.

    I have to say, this post is perfectly timed. I’m putting in extra hours at work this week to free myself up for a trip to see them live. The show comes at quite an inopportune time but Swell Season is just one of those groups that I feel bad for not having seen live yet.

    Thanks for the motivation!

    natthedem — October 26, 2009 @ 10:32 am

  • me too nate! i’ve not yet seen them live either, and am excited. very much so. thanks for entering.

    browneheather — October 26, 2009 @ 10:45 am

  • Now I’m wondering if I should show up real early for the Boston show!

    jameson akers — October 26, 2009 @ 10:49 am

  • Very cool. It’s like he brought them into the opening scene of Once.

    Jeff — October 26, 2009 @ 12:14 pm

  • Josh Ritter and Swell Season together in Radio City Music Hall. Good lord, it makes my knees weak.

    Jonathan McVerry — October 26, 2009 @ 12:21 pm

  • That’s fantastic! What a great guy.

    Faith — October 26, 2009 @ 12:43 pm

  • Glen Hansard is my favorite. I wish they were playing closer to Florida. I live in the worst state as far as concerts go.

    Kim C. — October 26, 2009 @ 2:02 pm

  • love it adding them to my list of musts

    Mike — October 26, 2009 @ 7:10 pm

  • I moved from Long Beach, CA a little over a year ago and its moment like this that make me regret it. Fingerprints is one of the great independent record stores and have Glen Hansard singing amongst its wares is just too awesome.

    Wish I coulda been there.

    Katie — October 26, 2009 @ 8:05 pm

  • i would love to be entered for the poster! and i am lucky enough to be catching the opening night gig in milwaukee on sunday.

    andrea

    andrea — October 26, 2009 @ 8:34 pm

  • It’s such a good feeling knowing that he’s performing for the pure joy of it and still pouring effort in regardless. It’s times like this when I know I haven’t experienced enough music yet in my life.

    Nathan — October 26, 2009 @ 8:38 pm

  • Great stuff, Heather. Every time I look at that video, I laugh when the girl says, “Oh, shit!” as the jeep backs towards Glen, and then I wonder why the hell jeep person was leaving at that moment to begin with.

    I live in Long Beach and was lucky enough to get in that night. The show was phenomenal, Marketa was indeed sick and stuck it out like a trooper (Glen said something about them just finishing a video shoot where Marketa repeatedly had water dumped on her and she took a cold from it), and I’m stoked to report that those two come off every bit as nice and humble in real life as they always seem to be through interviews, etc.

    But that bit outside was some of the coolest shit I’ve ever seen. What were you thinking jeep person?

    Kill More Trout — October 26, 2009 @ 10:01 pm

  • Ah man…if only I had known they’d be there! Saw them open for Damien Rice a few years back and they are so much fun and so sincere…really beautiful show.

    Eric — October 26, 2009 @ 11:56 pm

  • “Cause this is what you’ve waited for…” As soon as it gets to that line, every time I hear this song, my chills are already in full effect.

    You really nailed it with the line “where people sing out what they mean, and mean the things they sing”. It’s impossible not to see Hansard as that kind of artist.

    Ed — October 27, 2009 @ 4:36 am

  • I’m leaving a comment for my brother, who is the biggest Glen Hansard fan in the world… Enter Micah Patchin in the drawing, friend.

    Bethany — October 27, 2009 @ 8:11 am

  • done! :)

    browneheather — October 27, 2009 @ 8:58 am

  • The SF date is actually Oakland. :-) Love Glen’s passion.

    kt — October 27, 2009 @ 12:25 pm

  • ha! SO CLEARLY. i missed that. reminds me of all the billion shows at Shoreline where all the bands take the stage and yell “Helloooo San Francisco!!!” and I’m sitting there thinking, “well, it does have a better ring to it than ‘Hellooooo Mountain View!” :)

    browneheather — October 27, 2009 @ 1:11 pm

  • Social comments and analytics for this post…

    This post was mentioned on Twitter by calebchancey: Glen Hansard is one of the most personable artists in the world. Read this: http://bit.ly/1ipHBE

    uberVU - social comments — October 27, 2009 @ 3:19 pm

  • True. Even in Oakland they say, “Hello San Fran!” ;-)

    kt — October 27, 2009 @ 6:41 pm

  • don’t care what the weather is like in boston that night but i will be here early!
    thanks that was amazing!
    i skipped thanksgiving dinner with the family in ny to see them the last time they were in town and would definitely do it again!

    kelly — October 28, 2009 @ 6:04 pm

  • Seeing them in Mesa. New album is quite a departure from the prior work, but I think I like it more.

    James — October 30, 2009 @ 1:18 pm

  • I would love that poster!

    Anybody know what font they used?I used to have it, and I can’t remember its name…

    Elliott Regan — October 30, 2009 @ 1:41 pm

  • if you have never seen the frames you have never seen band like this before. solo glen is very powerful and i used to hate singer songwriters. he redefines it genre and art of it.

    Daviso — October 31, 2009 @ 8:43 am

  • What an awesome giveaway! I saw them in concert last year, I believe? Feels so long ago.. but it ended up being SO much better than I ever could have expected. And the Iron & Wine collab finale… ohh my.

    Pamela — October 31, 2009 @ 12:23 pm

  • Already bought tickets to see them in Portland, it’s going to be amazing. Sign me up for the poster giveaway. Gabe Merrell

    Gabe — October 31, 2009 @ 2:35 pm

  • I would love to have this poster, is it still up for grabs?!?
    Can’t wait until they get to Chicago in December!!

    matt — October 31, 2009 @ 4:38 pm

  • Kind regards from the lowlands of Holland.
    Thanks for the great post on the Swell Season!I’d love to get my hands on that poster.

    I’ll see the Swell Season mid of Feb in Germany (Düsseldorf). Can’t wait…

    Keep up the good work on your blog Heather!

    BergMeisteR — November 1, 2009 @ 6:33 am

  • Since they are not coming to Ohio, looking at the poster with headphones on is the next best thing.

    thanks for the contest!

    Andrew — November 2, 2009 @ 1:04 pm

  • hopefully I can still enter the contest :) I’m seeing them in Boston!

    amy — November 2, 2009 @ 1:42 pm

  • would love to have the poster. ‘strict joy’ has been one of the few bits of sustenance during a separation with my wife. music, love, and art live on–this disc and this post remind me as much. would love to have that poster too. thanks.

    kyle — November 2, 2009 @ 6:56 pm

  • congrats to katie who won the poster! :)

    browneheather — November 3, 2009 @ 10:22 pm

  • [...] few weeks back, Dustin (a big fan of the Swell Season too) over at Matchstic passed along a link from a fantastic music blog.  Apparently before one of the more recent Swell Season performances, Glen came out into the [...]

    The Sixthman Blog » Blog Archive » Say It To Me Now — November 19, 2009 @ 8:40 am

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Bio Pic Name: Heather Browne
Location: Colorado, originally by way of California
Giving context to the torrent since 2005.

"I love the relationship that anyone has with music: because there's something in us that is beyond the reach of words, something that eludes and defies our best attempts to spit it out. It's the best part of us, probably, the richest and strangest part..."
—Nick Hornby, Songbook
"Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel."
—Hunter S. Thompson

Mp3s are for sampling purposes, kinda like when they give you the cheese cube at Costco, knowing that you'll often go home with having bought the whole 7 lb. spiced Brie log. They are left up for a limited time. If you LIKE the music, go and support these artists, buy their schwag, go to their concerts, purchase their CDs/records and tell all your friends. Rock on.

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