A gig on a Sunday night felt like a good idea when I booked tickets in December. In reality, getting home at nearly midnight, still buzzing and wide awake, meant I was practically a zombie on Monday. It was worth it though.
This was my third time seeing Glen Hansard live, each time at a very different venue. The first time was in April 2019 at The Barbican – I remember the date as it was where I was when I first heard that Notre Dame in Paris was ablaze. The second was in October last year at The London Palladium, a venue I’ve always associated with the panto rather than live music. This time it was in Union Chapel, a far more intimate and cosy venue. Unlike the previous gigs where he appeared with a full band, including a violinist and a theremin at the Palladium, this time it was just Glen, a piano and a selection of about eight guitars.
I’ve only been to the Union Chapel once before having wanted to go there for years. It was my first gig after lockdown to see Roddy Woomble and I was so excited to be seeing live music again. That time we were lucky enough to be in the front row which made the experience even more special. We weren’t as lucky this time as when we arrived at the venue 30 minutes before doors opening a rather large queue of enthusiastic fans had already formed.
Something I hadn’t clocked about Union Chapel before was that you can’t take alcohol into the main space. They have to be drunk in the bar upstairs. This would explain why when we entered it may have looked like there were lots of rows of free seats, but they were actually reserved by coats and bags. A bit rude I thought, especially when people were taking so long to come and take their seats. It was only at the interval, when I went for a wander, that I discovered the no alcohol rule. I’m not against it, and I understand why they might want to restrict it but it did make it difficult to know what seats had and hadn’t been taken – the pew we sat in looked like it had been fully reserved (for approximately six people) but the coats thrown over the pew were only for three people.
Anyway, minor grumble out of the way and on with the performance. I was surprised when Glen came out at 7.30, expecting there to be a support act before he took to the stage. After one song he told us a story about his early days performing with The Frames to minimal audiences. One gig at Newcastle University they performed to just four people, but one of those audience members was so enthusiastic cheering them on, they gave it their all just for him. He then announced that, over 30 years later, that audience member was in the Chapel. He was in fact his support act.
Dr Martin Shaw was introduced as a storyteller who Glen had connected with after hearing him on a podcast. It was only after they met that Martin told him that they had met before and he was in fact that audience member from the gig in Newcastle.
He opened his performance by saying that by the end we might think he was on mushrooms. What were we letting ourselves in for?! He regaled the Norwegian folk story of Tatterhood. There was a lot going on with talk of kings and queens, flowers growing under the marital bed to conceive, a goat and a spoon. In all honesty I wasn’t really sure what was going on, but I was certainly more intrigued by his storytelling than Adam – this was not his thing at all. Ultimately it was a story of love, beauty and never giving up on your dreams, something we all often need to be reminded of.
Glen took to the stage again around 8.30 and for two hours performed songs primarily from his own back catalogue. A song by The Frames, a couple of covers and some songs by The Swell Season – the folk rock duo he performs as with Markéta Irglová, his “dance partner” from the film Once – completed the set list. For Falling Slowly, a duet from Once, he brought a friend up from the audience to join him. If we had gone on Saturday night we would’ve seen him do an extra song – a duet with Kelly Jones who was in the audience.
A couple of times he found he lost himself but that’s one of the wonders of live music – “it isn’t perfect”. If you want to hear the ‘perfect’ recording, stay at home and listen to the album. He didn’t hide his mistakes but I’m amazed how easily he managed to keep going, at times singing a capella while his fingers caught up.
At once point an audience member shouted out “where are you from?. The dialogue between Glen and Frida, as we discovered her name was, was an entertaining interlude. She wanted to know why he had a French name – turns out he’s had his DNA test that confirmed he is 97% Leinster but his name comes from the Huguenots. “Ah, you’re Irish, that explains it” he exclaimed before he carried on with the next song.
Whilst there was less chat here than the previous gigs, amongst the songs he told stories, including the time he joined a fisherman’s boat sailing from Ireland to Portugal. He was initially told he was too young to join them: “Young men want to get there and old men want to just be there” the captain of the boat said. I love that quote and am happy to admit that this means I am definitely old – you’ve got to enjoy everyday of the journey, not just the destination. Sadly that man died a few years ago, taken by the sea. Apparently fisherman don’t learn to swim, if the sea takes them they let it. He sang a song in tribute of this old friend.
Not one to shy away from politics, Glen performed American Townland by Interference, as he did at the Palladium on 30 October, j ust weeks after the current escalation of violence began. More than five months on and the atrocities against the Palestinians continue despite worldwide calls for a ceasefire.
It was the film musical Once, released in 2007, that first introduced me to Glen. Having written the music, he wasn’t set to star in it but was asked to do so after the original actor Cillian Murphy pulled out, and all the financing went with him. It is without a doubt one of my favourite musicals and is up there in my top films. I often wonder how different a film it could’ve been, but the connection between Glen and Markéta helped make it a beautiful, simple film.
Glen kept us company a number of times during lockdown with his lockdown lives on Instagram, including one for his 50th birthday. Last year, when he released his latest album All That Was East Is West Of Me Now he also did a live performance of it.
I have loved his previous performances, but there was something extra special about seeing him perform without a big band and Union Chapel was the perfect setting. His voice is incredibly powerful – I have no idea how he does it night after night – and he is such an enthusiastic performer. One of his guitars has clearly seen better days with a big whole on the body showing the energy he puts into every performance as he ferociously strums. There’s not many artists I’ve seen more than once and I realised the other night that other than David Gray, who I’ve seen live four times (though not for many years) he’s the person I’ve seen live most and I hope this won’t be the last time.
