i have seen glen hansard in concert about 15 times in various iterations... with the swell season, with the frames, or on his own opening for eddie vedder. each time i see him, i swear it can never get any better... he leaves every molecule of his heart onstage every time... to the extent that i wonder how he has anything left for himself in his regular life.
this show... the last one on his american tour supporting his first solo album... blew every other show i've seen of his out of the water. he hit every emotion i could ever want to feel in a night, and he clearly had an awesome time with the venue and the audience.
highlights included this gift... perhaps his most anthemy song to date... and the particular instantiation of maybe i was born to hold you in these arms that included the lyrics "if you vote for that asshole, he's gonna do you wrong." another insane highlight was bringing the bride and groom, literally fresh from their own wedding reception, onstage to serenade them with colm, the violin player, with the song gold, accompanied by the audience. if that couple ever breaks up, i will personally hunt them down and kill them... if getting a love song sung to you by glen hansard on your wedding night doesn't seal the deal that your marriage will last forever, then nothing will.
glen hansard has ruined me for live music forever... i actually saw several other shows the same week as this one... joe jackson and peter gabriel among them, two of my other all-time favorites... but they were not even in the same universe as glen hansard.
one of the three best nights of my life. period.