When Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard of The Swell Season took the Palladium stage last night, they sat on the floor and shared a mic, Glen wearing a well-worn knit cap with a pom-pom on top. The humble scene, unfolding to the strains of "Fallen from the Sky," harkened the duo's meet-cute scene in Once, the film that shot them into the stratosphere. From there, Irglova and Hansard, joined by the rest of Hansard's Irish band the Frames, regaled the audience with a mix of songs from the Once soundtrack and Swell's new CD, Strict Joy. Hansard played the hell out of a Van Morrison tune, while the full band tipped their hat to Texas with Willie Nelson's "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain."
Hansard, ever the congenial host, kept the audience in good spirits with funny quips and
musings. The more-somber Marketa displayed the buoyant sweetness we fell in love with in the movie and at the Oscars, leading the proceedings a few times , guitar in hand. She even plugged the solo CDs of two Frames members, available at the merch table.
This was my first show at the Palladium where chairs took up the areas closest to the stage, and while my tootsies were happy to be seated, doing so took a bit away from the audience's engagement with the band. Wisely, Hansard called everyone to their feet for encores one and two -- I gotta say that really felt more like a show.
Click through to the jump to find the setlist for last night's concert.
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