The Swell Season @ 92YTribeca (more by Chris La Putt)

The Swell Season & The Low Anthem on Friday, July 30th will be a highlight of the Celebrate Brooklyn season of free shows this summer in Prospect Park (so will Sonic Youth and Sharon Jones). The full schedule is HERE.

The new Brooklyn show is two days before the Swell Season, whose last NYC show was at Radio City, take part in the Newport Folk Festival, and it's one of many shows they have coming up

The Low Anthem also play the Newport Folk Festival, but one day earlier. Their last NYC show was at the Bell House and their other upcoming tour dates include a July 29th gig at Concerts in the Studio in Freehold, NJ.

All dates for both bands below...

Continue reading "The Swell Season & Low Anthem playing a free show in Prospect Park (and other tour dates) "

Newport Folk Festival 2009 (more by Jim Brueckner)

Newport Folk Festival will be happening again at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island, on July 31st and August 1st. The fest will also host a Friday night show on July 30th at the International Tennis Hall of Fame at Newport Casino.

The lineup so far includes Levon Helm's Ramble on the Road, John Prine, Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon Rangers, Yim Yames of My Morning Jacket, The Swell Season, Andrew Bird, The Avett Brothers, Brandi Carlile, Doc Watson & David Holt, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Calexico, Blitzen Trapper, Richie Havens, Sam Bush, The Low Anthem, Tim O'Brien, The Felice Brothers, Justin Townes Earle, Tao Seeger Band, A.A. Bondy, The Punch Brothers with Chris Thile, Dawes, Nneka, Horse Feathers, Pokey LaFarge & the South City Three, Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore, Sarah Jarosz, Cory Chisel & the Wandering Sons, O'Death and Liz Longley.

Tickets are on sale.

Here are pictures from DAY ONE and DAY TWO of last year's fest. Videos from last year and the list of the artists playing this year, by day, is below...

Continue reading "Newport Folk Fest 2010 - initial lineup, dates & tickets "

words by Kurt Christensen photos by Tim Griffin

The Swell Season returned to a sold out Radio City Music Hall last night (1/19), playing a long set of new and older songs along with a few incredible covers that had the audience eating out of the palms of their hands.

Josh Ritter opened the show while the crowd was still rolling in. He played a brief six song set - three songs from his upcoming album, to be released in May, and three older songs (Rumors, Girl in the War, To the Dogs or Whoever). The crowd was appreciative, but a longer set certainly would've won over the portion of the audience unfamiliar with his music. He will return to New York to play Town Hall on May 20th (tix on AmEx Presale).

The Swell Season's set started with Glen and Marketa sitting on the floor as they played "Fallen from the Sky". After a few songs, the rest of the band, consisting of members of the Frames joined them. After another set of songs, Glen took the stage solo. He unplugged his guitar and walked away from the mic to the front of the stage to sing "Say It to Me Now". He followed up with an incredible cover of Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks", playing the guitar so powerfully that it seemed as if his battle scarred guitar was going to explode.

A Swell Season show is known just as much for Glen's storytelling between songs as it is for the music. It is rare to see a band so genuinely happy to be on stage, and humbled by the adoration they receive from the crowd. Their sets usually feature several cover songs and plenty of requests for the audience to participate in the singing. Aside from the Astral Weeks cover, they also played Springsteen's Drive all night with Clarence Clemons' nephew on sax. Two songs were dedicated to Kate McGarrigle, and the show closed with "Red Chord", a Frames song, into "The Parting Glass", a traditional Irish song made famous by The Clancy Brothers. Even after a two and a half hour set, the crowd left happy but wanting more.

The Swell Season will make another appearance tonight (1/20) at City Winery as part of their four-show Haiti benefit series. More pictures and the setlist from Radio City below...

Continue reading "The Swell Season played Radio City again (pics & setlist) w/ Josh Ritter (who is playing Town Hall) "

by Andrew Frisicano

Thomas Bartlett aka Doveman

On November 1st, Doveman opened up at Mercury Lounge for The Ghost of a Sabre Toothed Tiger, a project that features Sean Lenon, his model girlfriend Charlotte Kemp Muhl (who, as announced from the stage, had only learned to play bass a few months prior), Cibo Matto's Yuka Honda and mi-gu drummer Yuko Araki. A week prior, both bands performed at Doveman's loft CD release party for The Conformist with different lineups.

The headlining Ghost of a Sabre Toothed Tiger is a relatively new project (with no records out) that plays tightly composed psychedelic pop. They also dip into Sean Lennon's previous catalog, like for an extended Maggot Brain-esque jam on his 2006 song "Dead Meat." Drummer Araki in particular hit all the fills and accents as if the songs were familiar jazz charts. Doveman came back to guest on GOASTT's last song, "Richard Brown," a jokey tune from an unfinished musical. The whole band (minus Kemp Muhl) is touring Japan right now with Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band in support of her latest Between My Head and the Sky.

Doveman was also joined by a stellar band that included National drummer Bryan Devendorf and guest singer Martha Wainwright. Bartlett is currently on tour opening for Swell Season. He'll be playing at Joe's Pub on December 2nd as part of the Happy Ending music and reading series with Amanda Stern, Hedwig's John Cameron Mitchell and Jonathan Caouette. Tickets are on sale.

Doveman will also be returning to Mercury Lounge for an as-of-now unannounced bill on January 12th. Then he and frequent collaborator Nico Muhly will be doing two nights (of TBA) at The Kitchen on March 18th and 19th.

More pictures from Mercury Lounge and tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Doveman played a show w/ Sean Lennon & Co. (pics), playing some more (Mercury Lounge, Joe's Pub, The Kitchen)"

photos by Ezra Caldwell

BV: And you also played on the new Doveman record, The Conformist, which came out October 20th.

Bryce Dessner: Yeah the three of us, my brother and Bryan from [The National] all play on that record. We're kind of like the house band, so we back him up for a bunch of those songs.

A more public album release show happens in NYC, tonight (11/1), at Mercury Lounge. Sean Lennon & Charlotte Kemp Muhl will be there again, but this time as headliner of the show. Doveman plays right before them and as a member of their band. White Circle (Josh Wise of French Kicks) is first of fourth on the bill. The talented Julianna Barwick plays right before Dovemen. Sounds like a great way to spend a Sunday night.

On November 3rd Doveman is going out on tour with The Swell Season, though the Swell Season's Radio City date isn't listed as one of the shows he'll be opening. More pictures from the apartment show, and all tour dates, below....

Continue reading "Doveman & friends played an apt (pics), NYC show tonight (w/ Sean Lennon), 2009 Tour Dates (w/ the Swell Season)"

Tickets are on Internet Presale for the Swell Season show at Radio City Music Hall (password = HESTRICT)

photos by Chris La Putt

The Swell Season's new album, Strict Joy, is out October 27th on Anti-. On Monday night, September 14th, the Irish & Czech duo (who are no longer a couple) performed at 92YTribeca in Manhattan. 92YTribeca is an intimate, and kind of swanky, downtown NYC venue that is much smaller than the places the Academy Award-winning band played last time they were here (Radio City and Summerstage). It's also probably much smaller than the ones they'll play next (nothing announced yet) (Beacon Theatre?). Bands often visit NYC for press purposes before an album, and I think that's related to why this show happened. Limited tickets were sold for $35 a pop. It was a packed house with tables taking up most of the room. People stood on the sides and in the back.

The setup on stage was spare. Glen Hansard had an old acoustic guitar which sometimes had "a mind of its own". Markéta Irglová sat at the piano when she wasn't standing up singing, either with Glen or by herself. They alternated playing solo and together. They flew in the night before, and hadn't performed in a while. Glen related that last fact to his forgetting to pack a few things, like his guitar tuner. To remedy the situation, he told us he downloaded iTune, an iPhone app that helps you tune your instrument. He even gave a demonstration of it after showing us how the Brian Eno iPhone app works (not sure if it was the old one or the brand new one). The iPhone segment was one of Glenn's many trademark (and entertaining) stories of the evening. His funny anecdotes offset the feelings of woe that dominate Swell Season songs.

Glen was as modest and down to earth as ever. He became frustrated when his guitar didn't do what he wanted. He thanked everyone for coming (especially Paddy, or is it Patty, in the front row who he thinks has been at every NYC show he's ever played), and for paying money to do so. He acknowledged that he expected the great success of last year to not always be there in the future. I imagine he is fine with the possibility that it won't always be Radio City and the Academy Awards, but I have no doubt The Swell Season can do it again (even if their demographic becomes less my friends, and more my mom's). Everything else aside, Glen (who is also in the band The Frames), can sing and play. And so can Marketa. It was especially noticeable since I'd just returned at 5am that morning from ATP NY, a festival in upstate NY where I saw a variety of bands, of varying musical abilities, perform.

The Swell Season setlist ranged from new songs to old songs to covers to something Glen wrote the night before. I don't know exactly what Glen's relationship is to Nico Muhly (Nico may have worked on the new album), but I know that Nico and Glen have a friend and collaborator Thomas Bartlett (aka Doveman) in common. I didn't see Thomas there, but Nico (who performed with Thomas at the Miller Theatre just a few days earlier) was, and he played a solo piano song in the middle of Swell Season's set. It was kind of weird - maybe out of place. Glen introduced his friend Nico before leaving the stage (Marketa was already off). Nico then came up and played his song, and then Nico left and then the Swell Season came back. Regardless, special guests are always fun and I like Nico.

"Falling Slowly" (the big hit) was played early in the set, and my initial excitement turned into "I guess I'm sick of this song", but the Once songs they played at the end, "When Your Mind's Made Up" and "Lies", felt much better. Other highlights included an upbeat cover of Tim Buckley's :"Buzzin' Fly" mixed with a bit of Jeff Buckley's "Grace", anything Marketa did solo, and the closing number which was a cover of Daniel Johnston's "Devil Town". During that, Glen had the NYC crowd singing along to the chorus which he repeated a few times, partially A Capella and sometimes with accompanying funny faces, accents, and vampire gestures. He sang part of it with a German accent, and he ended with a pose he called a "Kanye moment". The crowd followed with a laugh and a standing ovation.

More pictures and tour dates (which were recently announced, but no NYC yet), and the NY show's setlist, below...

Continue reading "The Swell Season (and Nico Muhly & Brian Eno's iPhone app) played 92YTribeca - pics, review, setlist & 2009 Tour Dates "

DOWNLOAD: Swell Season - In These Arms (MP3)

August 10, 2009 - Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova record and tour together using the name The Swell Season, which is a shorter but far less descriptive moniker than "Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, Who Won Oscars for the Song 'Falling Slowly,' From the Hit Indie Musical Once." So when we informed our coworkers that last Wednesday's Tiny Desk Concert would feature the pair, the response generally ran somewhere along the lines of, "Um, okay. ... Wait, who? THEM? REALLY?"

Hansard and Irglova stopped by our Washington, D.C., offices as a way of passing time between trips to New York and Denver, with the understanding that 1) we'd set up a keyboard for Irglova to play; and 2) they'd be expected to perform the standard three- or four-song Tiny Desk set. Both plans fell by the wayside quickly. The gigantic keyboard we'd provided would have been far more suitable had Irglova been a member of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, so they opted to scrap it and huddle up around Hansard's battered acoustic guitar. And three songs? Well, that wouldn't do. Hansard kept asking to play longer; not surprisingly, he met little resistance." [NPR]

According to a news posting today, The Swell Season will be announcing a full North American tour next week with a presale for most tickets going on sale September 9th. They also list a few previously announced shows including November 18th at The Wiltern in LA. What isn't there is the show they're playing at 92YTribeca in NYC on September 14th which is ON SALE NOW. All dates below...

Continue reading "The Swell Season - new album, stream, MP3, small NYC show (ON SALE NOW) & other tour dates (and more coming)"

photos by Kurt Christensen

Continue reading "The Swell Season @ Rumsey Playfield, NYC - pics & setlist "

the Swell Season @ Radio City Music Hall (more)

The Swell Season play Rumsey Playfield in Central Park tonight (Sep 17). Tickets are still available if you feel like going last minute. I also have a pair of VIP tickets to giveaway if you feel like going last minute. They go to the first person to email BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM (subject: Swell). Include your first and last name which will be placed on a list at the door.

All dates below...

Continue reading "Swell Season tour dates, Central park tonight, win VIP tix"

I just noticed that Celebrate Brooklyn updated the August 9th free Prospect Park show lineup...

Visionary music producer HAL WILLNER returns to the Bandshell with a multi-artist celebration of acoustic R&B pioneer BILL WITHERS, whose Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone, Lovely Day, and Lean On Me only hint at a body of work that ranks him among our greatest songwriters. ANGELIQUE KIDJO, NONA HENDRYX, THE SWELL SEASON, COREY GLOVER, JAMES "BLOOD" ULMER, SANDRA ST. VICTOR, TEDDY THOMPSON, ERIC MINGUS and many more! plus an all-star band featuring Lenny Pickett, Steven Bernstein, and Cornell Dupree will be among the ensemble castâ€"check our website for the latest updates but expect surprises and late additions. "No one puts on a better tribute concert than Hal Willner ... a sympathetic and generous listener with an almost preternatural ability to match performer to song, and a Rolodex to back it up." (Variety)

The Swell Season @ Radio City Music Hall (more)

Tickets are now on sale (@ noon) for the show The Swell Season are playing in Central Park.

$30 tickets for the August 4th Yeasayer/The National show at Summerstage go on sale Friday.

More pictures and the setlist from Monday night's show below....

Continue reading "updated setlist & more pics from Swell Season @ Radio City"

The Swell Season (Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova performing songs from the motion picture Once) played a triumphant, sold-out, and emotional (though at times a bit 'adult contemporary') two hour show at Radio City Music Hall in NYC last night (May 19, 2008). A setlist will surface soon enough and that will help summarize things better than I can do right now, but... there was a lot of storytelling, a shout-out to Pianos where they played two years ago, two Van Morrison songs, Marketa's singing sister from the Czech Republic, an opener from Ireland who later came on stage with the Swell Season, a violinist who played one of his own songs, and at least two standing ovations. There was not any Kraftwerk or Pixies.

The Swell Season's next NYC show will be at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park (Summerstage) on September 17, 2008. Tickets go on sale Thursday.

Sound seepage is a common problem at Coachella and Glen Hansard found himself in the thick of it when he started the Swell Season's outdoor stage set solo with just an acoustic guitar. Rock from the mainstage and beats from the tents gave him pause.
"How to be louder than the Raconteurs? You turn it up," he said midsong, and indeed the PA was boosted a good 20-30% louder. Thrilled when Jack White and company finished, he half joked " now all we've got to worry about is Aphex Twin."

Not only did Hansard, who won the best song Oscar this year with his partner Marketa Irglova, handle it all in stride, he turned the Swell Season set into a Coachella celebration. He recruited the National's drummer Bryan Devendorf and played covers of other acts' songs: in honor of meeting Kim Deal, she was here with the Breeders, Hansard and Irglova dueted on the Pixies "Cactus," and with the full band did an impressive version of Kraftwerk's "Model." [VARIETY]

Continue reading "the SWELL SEASON - covered KRAFTWERK & the PIXIES @ Coachella, played Kimmel -- videos & tour dates "

Tickets go on sale Saturday for the Oscar-winning Swell Season show at Radio City Music Hall. There's also a presale going on now (possibly sold out) (password=FALLING).

Continue reading "Glen Hansard/Marketa Irglova - Falling Slowly - Oscars video"

Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova @ the Oscars, Feb 24, 2008

'There is a certain poetry in a Grafton Street busker playing the Oscars," grins Glen Hansard.

"I feel like a plumber at a flower show. The indie rocker in me wants to say it's a load of bollocks, but if you are gonna get an award in this life, why not try and get yourself an Oscar?" The 37-year-old Dublin musician's life has the kind of fairy-tale arc that would make a good film, if it hadn't already been turned into one.

Hansard is the co-star of Once, a shoe-string budget feature (made for under £100,000) about an Irish busker and his platonic relationship with a Czech immigrant, played by 19-year-old Marketa Irglova. From extremely humble beginnings ("We never even thought it was going to get released, we just thought we might sell some DVDs after gigs"), it went on to win an award at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and become one of the art-house hits of the year, grossing $7 million in its first three months. Hansard and Irglova have been invited to perform their duet "Falling Slowly" at tomorrow's tonight's Oscars, where they have been nominated in the Best Original Song category. [Telegraph]

UPDATE: 2: Watch their performance & acceptance speech.

Next up: Radio City Music Hall, and another tour.....

Continue reading "The Swell Season (Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova) @ the Oscars, playing Radio City, Coachella, 2008 Tour Dates"

The Swell Season (Glen Hansard of The Frames & Marketa Irglova) recently performed music from the motion picture 'Once' at Gramercy Theatre in NYC. The show sold out - Steve was there. They do it again at Beacon Theatre in NYC on November 19th. Tickets go on sale Friday at noon. All tour dates below...

Continue reading "THE SWELL SEASON (Frames/Once) - 2007 Tour Dates"