Live Report: Glen Hansard in Berlin, 13/12/2012

Glen Hansard is one of those artists whose music will never leave you, once you discover it. He’s like an old friend: it’s good to know you have it.
Both with his band, The Frames, his project The Swell Season or solo, he’s like an hurricane, on the stage. Even if he performs in a church: in this case the Apostel Paulus Kirche in Berlin. As soon as you get in, you realize this is the perfect place for him, with its massive and gothic style. At 9 pm, when the red-haired irish takes the stage, the church is full of people. He’s accompanied by his old musician mates - the Frames in disguise. They begin with 4 songs off of Glen’s solo record, “Rythm and repose”, bu the temperature heathens with the crescendo of “When your mind's made up” - the audience responds warmly and Glen loosens up. The setlist goes on picking from all of his vast repertoir and musical outfits. As usual, he sings covers too: one of the evening’s most intense moments is a furios rendition of Van Morrison’s “Astral weeks” for voice and guitar. He could play a full concert this way, without being boring for a single moment.

As the show goes on, the dubliner becomes more of a storyteller, explaining the creative process behind the songs, before ending the first part of the set with a funky cover of Marvin Gaye’s “Baby don't you do it”.
After the break the audience is treated with a surprise: fellow dubliner Lisa Hannigan takes the stage for a couple of songs, including “Falling slowly” -the Academy Awards winning song Hansard used to sing with his partner in The Swell Season Marketa Irglova. He makes people literally cry. He gets a standing ovation and then closes the show with "Fitzcarraldo"
After such a show, you still feel warmed up even outside, in a freezing Berlin. If you felt this way every time you went to a church, every mass would be a sold-out. Thanks, Glen.