hansardoscars

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

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

‘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: They won!

UPDATE: 2: Watch their performance & acceptance speech.

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

The Swell Season – 2008 Tour Dates
Wed 04/23 – Phoenix, AZ Orpheum Theatre
Fri 04/25 – Indio, CA Empire Polo Field (Coachella)
Sat 04/26 – Oakland, CA Paramount Theatre
Sun 04/27 – Eugene, OR McDonald Theatre
Mon 04/28 – Portland, OR Portland Center For The Arts
Wed 04/30 – Seattle, WA Moore Theatre
Thu 05/01 – Missoula, MT Wilma Theatre
Fri 05/02 – Salt Lake City, UT The Depot
Sat 05/03 – Denver, CO Ellie Caulkins Opera House
Mon 05/05 – Lawrence, KS Liberty Hall
Sat 05/10 – Royal Oak, MI Royal Oak Music Theatre
Sun 05/11 – Cleveland, OH Allen Theatre
Mon 05/12 – Louisville, KY W.L. Lyons Brown Theatre
Tue 05/13 – Atlanta, GA Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre
Fri 05/16 – Richmond, VA Toad’s Place Of Richmond
Sat 05/17 – Baltimore, MD Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
Mon 05/19 – New York, NY Radio City Music Hall
Tue 05/20 – Upper Darby, PA Tower Theatre
Mon 06/16 – Madison, WI Overture Center For The Arts
Tue 06/17 – Chicago, IL Chicago Theatre
Sun 06/22 – Telluride, CO Town Park (Telluride Bluegrass Festival)

(thx thighmaster)