An evening of pure emotion. Glen Hansard live in Erlangen

Glen Hansard THE busker from Ireland. I finally had the pleasure to see one of my favourite artists live in a small club in Erlangen, Germany.

I was anxiously waiting for Glen to step on stage but first of was the support act Marketa Irglova. To those who know Glen, Marketa’s name rings a bell. She’s the other main character in the movie “Once” Glen starred in.

Not gonna lie, I wasn’t familiar with her music and as she walked on stage she seemed pretty shy, but wow this woman has such a delicate and beautiful voice. I would say, her music is one for a rainy Sunday morning. After her beautiful set and still mesmerised by her voice, we noticed some difficulties which led to a delay of Glen’s set, nothing major though.

Then the moment I’ve waited for, for years, finally arrived. Glen Hansard appeared on stage, and with him a smile on my face that wouldn’t leave for the rest of the night. I expected him to be all by himself, but hell was I wrong.

Glen brought along

• 2 violinists
• a pianist
• a trumpeter
• a saxophonist
• a guitarist
• a drummer
• a cello player
• a contrabass player

so you can imagine how packed the stage was. (Yes, I have a thing for lists.)

The whole evening was defined by amazingly talented musicians showing their skills on different instruments and Glen being his incredible self. He began his set on a quiet note, performing one of his new songs, called “Return”. One of my personal highlights definitely was when he played “My little ruin”, which I’ve never heard with so much emotion. Yes, I had goosebumps, yes, I cried.

When you see Glen on stage you know that’s just where he belongs and in between songs you were able to witness the banter between him and the other musicians and crew, which showed how down to earth he really is. I admit, I’m one of those people who doesn’t like watching live videos of artists I’m gonna see live, ’cause I want to make up my mind when I see them live. So beforehand I really thought: “Okay, let’s see Glen, and have a chilled and relaxed evening.” But damn, this guy has so much power! He had absolutely no problem switching between quiet and really loud, then back to delicate within one song. It made every song like a surprise present: you didn’t know what was going to happen when they began.

Glen and Marketa singing Falling slowly

If you want to know what makes an Irish artist so special, it’s the storytelling. In between songs Glen Hansard loved to just tell stories or have a chat. One of those stories was how he wrote a song for “The Hunger Games”, but Hollywood didn’t like the idea of him singing it, so Adam Levine did. He told us how he used to dislike Adam but when eventually they met (they needed Glen since Adam can’t play the ukulele) he realised what a lovely lad he is, and that being prejudgemental is a horrible thing to be.

After the set ended everyone was screaming for more and we got another surprise by Glen showing up on the balcony playing an acoustic version of “Say it to me now”. The highlight of the evening and for every Ireland fan, like me was, when all the people including the crew and the musicians sang “The Auld Triangle”. A Glen Hansard gig wouldn’t be the same without it. The room filled with 700 people suddenly felt so small, and there was a feeling of togetherness. The evening ended with a flawless version of “Her Mercy”, which left everyone in the room speechless and gleaming with happiness.

It’s safe to say, that Glen Hansard is one of those artists, who can mesmerise even the biggest audience with the emotion and power he puts into his songs.

Here’s a setlist of the night:

 

Have you seen Glen playing before? Let us know in the comments what you think.