3 February 2013 // Glasgow, Scotland // Old Fruitmarket

This show is part of the Celtic Connections Festival

Main Set: You Will Become, Maybe Not Tonight, Talking with The Wolves, Love Don’t Leave Me Waiting – Respect (Aretha Franklin), Philander, When Your Mind’s Made Up, Low Rising, Bird of Sorrow – When Heart is Open (Van Morrison), Leave*, Spencer the Rover *(Traditional), Pennies in the Fountain*, Astral Weeks* (Van Morrison) – Smile* (Pearl Jam), High Hope, Mr Rock N Roll** (Amy McDonald), Don’t Do It (Marvin Gaye/The Band), Santa Maria, Song of Good Hope***

Encore: Say it to Me Now – Gold (Interference), Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy (snippet), Falling Slowly, This Gift****, Passing Through (Leonard Cohen)

*Glen solo
**15-year-old busker Murdo Mitchell on vocals (interview with Murdo in The Gazette)
***Glen and Colm and strings
****Eva Gaffney on vocals

[Thanks to Fleur for the setlist and notes.]

Band: Glen Hansard, Colm Mac Con Iomaire (violin), Joe Doyle (bass), Rob Bochnik (guitar), Graham Hopkins (drums), Justin Carroll (keys)Brass: Michael Buckley, Ronan Dooney, Paul Frost

Strings: Katie, Ruth and Ben

Notes (by Fleur): The most interesting thing about this venue is the set up – it is cabaret tonight baby! – so there are unreserved tables and chairs for the patrons to relax with their drinks and enjoy a great show. It’s not a set up I have experienced at one of Glen’s show before and I am interested to see what effect it has on the audience’s participation. The Lost Bros start off proceedings with a much more upbeat set than at the Barbican. The crowd are very receptive to them and they bring the house down again with their version of ‘Moon River’. Colm joins them for the last song of their set – ‘Turquoise Sky’.

‘Talkin With the Wolves’ has a cool strings intro which is new. The band is now all over the groove in this song and it’s one of my favourite live tracks from R&R. ‘Low Rising’ is introduced as representing the quiet, internal euphoria that comes with a personal realisation. The example Glen gives is when you realise about 7pm the day you are hungover that you are not actually going to die and may even be able to talk yourself into another pint. It seems that most of the Glaswegian crowd can relate to that! ‘Bird of Sorrow’ again has a family related intro – Glen comments that if you think you have reached enlightenment then you should go and hang out with your family for a week because there is a reason why the monks hide up in a mountain – awwh there’s Glen showing the love! I am in tears during this again – man I gotta stay off the red wine at Glen’s shows – talk about slightly over-emotional!! ‘Spencer the Rover’ is a cool addition to Glen’s solo set and is introduced as a tribute to John Martyn.

One of the highlights of the night for me is Glen giving a shout out to young busker Murdo Mitchell who he saw on the street yesterday. He asks where he is in the audience and, after some suggestions from the audience, invites him up to play a tune. This plucky 15 year old (read: fetus) jumps up, grabs a Takamine from Glen and launches into a rockin cover of Amy MacDonald’s very well-known Scottish pop tune, ‘Mr Rock N Roll’. The whole band kicks in behind him and both he and the crowd push the excitement level into over-drive. It is one of those semi-spontaneous moments that you can’t anticipate and which pays huge dividends for everyone involved.

The lads change their plans after Murdo’s performance and we head into their cover of The Band’s cover of Martin Gaye tune ‘Don’t Do It.’ To change the focus of proceedings Glen asks for the all the lights to be turned off on the stage and for the lights to brought up in the audience – it’s a shame that those at the back can’t check out Glen’s dance moves! ‘Song of Good Hope’ is sung off mic tonight with a quiet dedication to the person behind the inspiration for the tune (Glen’s good mate Ezra who has recently made a huge call about his illness and how he is going to deal with it). When the strings start up after the first chorus, it is sublime.

We almost make it through the night without some indecipherable Glaswegian comment from the crowd but after ‘Say It To Me Now/Gold’ a strange comment which I think involves a Simon Cowell mask throws things slightly off kilter for a moment. As an illustration of how everyone in the Glen/Frames crew works in numerous guises, Glen invites crew member (and current merch stand operator!) Eva up to duet with his on ‘This Gift’. It’s all in the family!! Another great show – I love the venue, the crowd, the lads and my table of red wine! Yay!

Review: Tune Love

Photos:
STV.tv
Photos here by Fleur, more at Flickr
& by Carluke Dave, more at Flickr