Review of The Swell Season at The brown 5/29

THE SWELL SEASON & JOE MANNING 5/29 - REVIEWED BY MARY KING (JOHN'S MOM)
First, John missed an incredible show. he was supposed to go, but is also working on some work for an art show in a few weeks, and ran out of money, so i let him use the ticket money on supplies. but he still missed a good show; Joe played well, Normal Joe sound. he is a nice guy, a friend of my Son's. i first heard his music when he did "i know you rider" for louisville is For lovers 5. i loved that song.
Glen Hansard was like a jack rabbit hopping around all over the stage! It was like he had music going on in his head all the time.
He is a real proud pleaser, and has a following from about 20 year old-to my age (which i won't say exactly). the ladies love him, but there was equal parts men and women in the audience. but, it also doesn't hurt that he is super cute.
He is a real pro, he even extended the concert by 45 minutes during the encore. you could tell he really enjoys coming to louisville. he talked about how the first time he was here he past the Brown Theater and thought "one day... and now this is the second time we've played here."
he talked all about coming to louisville for the first time and meeting lots of interesting people, and 'crazy musicians' which i'm sure one of those is my son. John told me about meeting him and hanging out with him years ago when The frames played at headliners. his friend Rachel Grimes introduced them. The Fiddle player even said hello to her on stage, and she hollered back! so, John, i wasn't the loudest person there. ha.
the fiddle player, i think his name is Collin, did a solo on a 300 year old folk song, and got a standing ovation, it was awesome. you could tell all of the musicians love what they do.
Glen played all of the songs of his i love, and even covered my favorite Willie nelson song, Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain, from "Red Headed Stranger" he really won me over with that. and he did it perfectly, he didn't change a thing. i love that song.
he even improvised a song at the end, and the band did a fabulous job keeping up with him. at first they looked at him, like "what is this? but then they jumped in and Marketa joined in on the Piano, and it came together nicely. it seemed he was having so much fun, and didn't want the night to end.
his asking the audience to join in on songs, and teaching them songs, it was so much fun.
they ended with an old irish song about a man at the end of his life, just wanting his friends to share and drink and not be sad about him dying, it was very touching.
-and now i have something to say about Marketa Irglova: she never interacted with the band, she stood very still, unlike Glen, but her beautiful voice is full of pain, and maybe that's why she wasn't overly energetic.
She has a lovely voice, but she is very timid, and appears very shy on stage. their recent break-up shows. she sings with pain in her Heart. she must still love him. everyone i overheard in the lobby said the same thing. if she put out an album of torch songs it would be great. the songs she sang that she wrote were sad and beautiful. Glen helped her with "The Crossroads". they were all good songs, but that one is really a beautiful song.
one of my friends that was there, said it hasn't been that long since they were last together. i think He Broke up with her. Marketa said on stage, that it was sad that the tour was ending, it's obvious that she is still in love with him, and stays on tour just to be near him.
John says she's too young for him, but she doesn't look like she's too young. i hope that they don't break up the music group because of their personal history, because the group as it is, is perfect. as far as their own story, i don't know. what i saw on screen was the perfect love story, but so was 'sleepless in Seattle', but Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan only had two scenes together in that movie! and in 'officer and and a gentlemen', Richard Grear and Debra Winger hated each other off screen, but were great Lovers in the movie, so you never can tell what is or could be.