The Swell Season

Another blog about music. This time, it's to chat about the amazing concert I went to last night: The Swell Season!

First off, if you haven't seen the movie Once yet, please do. It's an indie film about two young people in Ireland. The guy (Glen Hansard) works in his dad's shop, fixing vacuum cleaners but also is a street performer in Dublin with his beat-up guitar. Music is his real passion. The girl (Markéta Irglová) is a street vendor immigrant from Czech Republic. They meet, find out they both love music (she plays piano and sings) and start writing, performing, and recording songs together while growing closer through it all.

So Glen and Markéta are now touring the US, playing music from the movie. The concert is called "The Swell Season" because that is the name of the album with all their songs (it came out a year or two ago, right before the movie). The roomies and I got a heads-up on tickets (thanks, Nick!) so luckily we snagged some before they sold out.

So last night we headed up to Oakland (O-Town! Represent!!) and had dinner at this fun tapas cafe/bar in Berkeley. Then we found the theater and got seated.

THEY BLEW US AWAY!

Oh my goodness, I love concerts but this one has got to be on the top of my list! Glen and Markéta (he calls her "Mar" - yes, they are dating in real life) seemed so sweet and down-to-earth. Glen introduced most of the songs and he was really funny. And when they sang, their voices blend so beautifully together. They were joined on stage by a violinist and two other guitarists. No drums or percussion at all. Amazing.

When they came back for an encore, we were treated to another hour of music! Sweet! And even then, everyone in the theater was like, "No! Keep going! Don't send us home!" It was like we couldn't get enough. And they seemed to be having a ball on stage, too. We finally left around 12:15. We were tired but SO PUMPED. Love love love them.

Here's one of my favorite songs: Lies