16 June 2013 // Washington, DC // 9:30 Club

Support Act: Doug Paisley

Main Set: Falling Slowly*, You Will Become**, Maybe Not Tonight***, Talking with the Wolves****, Love Don’t Leave Me Waiting – Respect (Aretha Franklin) – Please Please Please (James Brown), Low Rising, Bananaman, When Your Mind’s Made Up*****, Bird of Sorrow******, Leave *******– Love Reign O’er Me******* (The Who), Broken-Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy*******, In These Arms*******, High Hope, Heart’s Not In It, Way Back in the Way Back When, Smile******** (Pearl Jam) – Hey Hey My My******** (Neil Young), Fitzcarraldo, Song of Good Hope*******, This Gift*********

Encore: Say it to Me Now*******, Gold********** (Interference), Enter Sandman (Metallica), Her Mercy, Don’t Do It********, Drive All Night********* (Bruce Springsteen) – Feels Like Rain (John Hiatt) – The Parting Glass********* (Traditional)

*Glen, Joe and Graham
**Ronan on piano
***Simon on guitar
****Leon O’Neill on piano AND shaker, what
*****Michael on piano
******Ronan on piano
*******Glen solo
********Simon on guitar
*********Leon on piano
**********Glen, Joe, Graham, Rob

Band: Glen Hansard, Joe Doyle (bass), Rob Bochnik (guitar), Graham Hopkins (drums)

Brass: Curtis Fowlkes, Michael Buckley, Ronan Dooney

Strings: Andra Kulans, Kristina Dutton, Teddy Rankin-Parker

Notes: This is the last night of a short six show leg, and it opens with ‘Falling Slowly’, which may be a first. This is due to the fact that an hour before the show (as he later explained onstage), Glen had no voice with which to sing. His plan was to come out and hopefully get through four or five songs, before his voice was completely gone. The idea was to get the tough falsetto tune out of the way first, with help from Joe, Graham, and the crowd, of course. But a funny thing happens on the way to catastrophic vocal failure, and that is that Glen’s voice actually comes back and stays strong for the whole show. Glen tells the crowd that he felt it was down to the fact that if there’s a large group focusing their energy on one person, it makes that person better. At several points in the evening he thanks the crowd for helping him and the band get through the show. With the band already pulling together to fill the space left by keyboardist Justin Carroll’s early departure from the tour, it makes for an even greater communal experience.

After that cracker of an opening, the next big surprise of the night is when the band goes straight from ‘Respect’ into ‘Please Please Please’, which makes its first appearance since October 2012. The highlight is the final verse sung by Curtis Fowlkes. Later, ‘Bananaman’ goes from being a solo guitar ditty to full band jam complete with reggae-style drums, bass and horns. Before ‘Smile’, Glen asks Simon for a harmonica. Simon reminds Glen that Glen gave it to an audience member after the previous night’s performance of ‘Smile’. Glen uses one in a different key and they kill it anyway. During the encore when Glen announces they’re free to play anything, the crowd shouts out many suggestions. and then fall silent as he turns to the band and asks if they’re ready. He leans over his guitar, plectrum hovering over the strings, and the whole room leans in to hear what the song choice will be. Glen starts the riff for ‘Enter Sandman’, with the band immediately joining in. They only play a short bit, with Glen laughing that he couldn’t resist messing with the audience just a bit. Toward the end of the night, after Curtis’ solo in ‘Drive All Night’, Glen says he’s reminded of Pharoah Sanders, who is playing in DC that night as well. The show ends beautifully with 12 shots of Jameson and ‘The Parting Glass’.

Reviews:
A Musical Reflection blog (with photos)
The Bluest Light blog

Photos:
A few by Elysia & a bunch by Reflection Photography below (and up top) with more here.