Saturday, September 27, 2008

Once--revisited live on stage

Last year one of my favorite movies was the Irish romantic drama with songs Once. I think it ended up at number two on my year end list. Well, a batch songs performed in the film were done by the stars (Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova) and came out before the film was made. The pair then recorded a few more that were used only in Once. You may recall that the duo won an Oscar for best song and have been touring as The Swell Season based on the popularity of the music and the film. Luckily for me and my friend LW, they made a stop at the historic Brady Theatre in Tulsa and we got to see them from row three.

They played for nearly two hours and covered lots of movie moments--Falling Slowly, Lies, The Hill--and unveiled four or five very strong new songs which makes me hope that they will have a new album out soon. Their music is just honest song craft, no gimmicks or phony hipsterisms. It's music with lots of heart and full of beautiful harmonies that never feels inauthentic. In this day and age that's a high compliment. Plus, Glen is a funny, witty Irishman and I've even got more of a "crush" on Marketa after getting to see this show.

Walking back to my car in downtown Tulsa after seeing them perform, my own heart just felt content and happy thanks to a movie I love (Once) and the duo who made the film so special with their music .

4 comments:

Laura said...

It was an amazing show. One of the best I've ever been to. I hope I get to see them again soon.

Joshua Blevins Peck said...

I'm still hoping that it was recorded like some of their shows have been.

Brandon said...

I'm jealous. I want to see them. I've got one of their shows that was taped for NPR and I listen to it quite often.

Joshua Blevins Peck said...

The cool thing about these shows is that most of them have been recorded--so I got to buy the one in Tulsa and the sound is really good. Not sure why more bands don't do this. Surprised they didn't play a show in the Seattle area.