pop culture, reviewed

… it was because Glen Hansard’s enormous voice was coming from inside the Lincoln Theater and all the cars and passersby had to stop and congregate outside to appreciate it.  I myself was inside so I can’t testify as to whether traffic actually DID stop, but I wouldn’t have been a bit surprised.  I thought July’s Swell Season show at the 9:30 Club was amazing, but last night’s show at the Lincoln Theater topped it.  It was the first time I’d been to the Lincoln Theater and it was a perfect place for the show — the acoustics were great (Marketa’s voice in particular was much louder than at the 9:30 Club) and the audience was rapt.  Glen and Marketa played with three additional musicians on strings and, like last time, Glen out-Vanned Van Morrison and they closed with a rousing “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” (which you can hear for yourself on the I’m Not There soundtrack).  They received two standing ovations, and that’s not counting the one guy in front of me who was so overwhelmed with the show that he reminded me of the town council member/pharmacist who is so enamored with Corky in Waiting for Guffman. 

I’ll leave you with this video of Glen singing “Astral Weeks,” though I can assure you that the performance embedded here was nothing compared to the “Astral Weeks” we heard last night.  The Swell Season’s original music was the highlight, of course, but you can’t argue with a cover this good.