Time and time again, Glen Hansard has proved himself to a folk troubadour who can win over crowds and give them a hell of a lot more than they bargained for. In a 3-hour set that went from glorious, crescendoing folk rock to concertina-led intimate Irish ballads, Hansard’s symphonic, many-parted set was a wonder to behold.
“Hello and welcome to the Nathan Carter Show,” Glen laughs, as he introduces his second song of the night, ‘Winning Streak’. It’s the first of several great one-liners from a man who has crowd-interaction down to a tee. “This is probably playing right now somewhere on Dame Street,” he says three songs later as he leads into ‘Falling Slowly’, his Academy Award-winning song (it must never get tiring saying that) from Once.
But a shape-shifting Glen makes his indelible folk ballads the centrepiece. The 47-year old singer seems to have mastered the technique of penning long-enduring folk songs. They’ll be sung for generations to come, no doubt, but they’ll always sound at their best coming from him.
The opening act is full of songs from Glen’s two solo LPs, Rhythm and Repose and Didn’t He Ramble. The passion is evident on his face, and it exudes from the band too, made up of Una O’Kane, Katie O’Connor and Paula Hughes on strings, Joseph Doyle on bass and Ruth O’Mahony-Brady on keys. The second act is more of a lyrically eclectic mix. Taking himself to the piano, Glen references the Apollo House and his optimistic naivety, before singing a truly heartfelt song (‘Shelter Me’) dedicated to a homeless he met at Apollo House named Tom. Following this, Glen pays tribute to Woodrie Guthrie (a figure who seems to be taking more and more importance in Hansard’s work), with a smart, explicitly anti-Trump reworking of ‘Vigilante Man’, followed up with a call-and-response rendition of ‘Way Back In The Way Back When’.
The next act is a decidedly more rock-based affair and is packed with energetic Frames numbers, including ‘Revelate’, ‘Friends and Foe’ and Santa Maria’. Glen steps into his role as rock star frontman with flare and gusto, before settling down by the piano once again for a bluesy rendition of ‘Wedding Ring’.
But the midway act was arguably the most special of the night. Glen Hansard was joined on stage by concertina extraordinaire, Breanndan O’Beaglaoich for a series of Irish songs/poems in commemoration of their friend, Kerryman Domhnall Mac Síthigh (a haunting rendition of ‘The Foggy Dew’ put shivers down this reviewer’s spine, even from the Vicar Street balcony).
There was time for several more covers as the singer entered his final act. Glen kindly invited support group Mongoose onto the stage to sing Phil Lynott’s ‘Old Town’, before he himself paid tribute to the late Fergus O’Farrell by singing Interference’s ‘Dark Days’.
The rousing crescendo of The Frames’ ‘Fitzcarraldo’ would’ve made you certain it was Glen’s final song of the night, but defying the Vicar St clean-up crew (who were surely getting impatient now, this being 2 and half hours in!), Hansard and band returned for two more. A cover of dEUS’ ‘Hotellounge – where fellow Frame and backing bassist Joe Doyle gets pride of place – which then bleeds into Willy Wonka’s ‘Pure Imagination’ (don’t ask) before settling on Sparklehorse’s ‘Most Beautiful Widow In Town’.
It’s nearly midnight by the time we’ve finally shuffled out of Vicar St. Glen Hansard is a phenomenal Irish legend.