Totally Chuffed

Last night Jody and I went to The Swell Season concert at the Chicago Theater and it was awesome.

For those who don't know The Swell Season is comprised of the two stars of the movie "Once" -- Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova -- and several of Hansard's bandmates from The Frames. If you haven't seen "Once" yet, go rent it. (Click on the link to see a trailer for the movie.) It is such a special little movie, and the music is incredible. My parents first introduced us to the movie when they were here visiting around Christmastime. They had seen "Once" when it hit theaters and they were instantly obsessed. After watching the movie on DVD, we were on the "Once" bandwagon. Big time.

So when Jody heard they were coming to Chicago to play a concert, we bought tickets immediately. We bought them forever ago, and it was totally worth the wait.

The concert was probably one of the best shows I have ever been to. Hansard was really the star of the show. His personality was contagiously fun and positive. He introduced most of the songs with these long, rambling explainations and stories. While he tended to go on and on, it was quite endearing to listen to him gather his thoughts and reveal what the songs meant to him. Analyzing song lyrics is one of the reasons I love music so much, so it was really satisfying to hear the basis for the songs that I have been enjoying so much this past year.

One of the best parts of the night was the performance of "Falling Slowly," the song that won Hansard and Irglova the Oscar for Best Original Song in a Movie. This is, by far, the duo's most recognizable and popular songs. But, unlike many artists who tend to start resenting their most commercially popular works, these two really seem to love, respect and appreciate the tune. In his intro, Hansard said this song changed everything for them. He then went on to describe how musicians' songs are like their children. He said you send them out into the world and hope they will succeed, touch people, do great things...and maybe even make some money to bring home to its parents! I felt like this was the perfect analogy for this group, and it showed the crowd how much this song meant to them.

Then in the middle of the song, Hansard missed a cue and started singing a lyric that didn't fit and he kind of stopped the song midway. He told the crowd that his mind was elsewhere and that he wanted to dedicate the song to a special guest in the crowd: Barack Obama! Crazy, right. The whole audience starting cheering, standing up and shifting around to catch a glipmse of Obama, but no luck. I'm thinking maybe he was backstage or something. Who knows.

Anyway, Hansard dedicated the song to Obama by playing off the "Falling Slowly" lyrics that say "save this sinking boat and point it home." He said that he hoped Obama could save the U.S. from the downward spiral its in and get us moving in the right direction again. The crowd went totally wild and from then on the auditorium was filled with such electric energy. All in all, it was a very cool night.

I could go on, but this post is already way too long. The bottom line? Go rent "Once," buy the soundtrack and if the The Swell Season comes back here or comes to your city, check out the show. You'll fall in love with them too.