The Swell Season is basically what became of The Frames after Once overtook them in popularity and Markéta Irglová joined them. They are on tour right now. In Vienna, their support was Josh Ritter.

When Josh Ritter came on stage, I was a little surprised. He was all alone with his guitar and the stage seemed huge and the venue we were at was huge (and there were only seats which is always weird for a not-classical concert for me) and he just seemed so tiny.

Then he started to sing. Not only had his voice no problem to fill the whole hall, but his songs were really great.

They went from really sad to sweet to making me actually laugh out loud. When was the last time a song made me lol? I really don’t remember. But the line (from the song Harrisburg) “It’s a long way to Heaven, it’s closer to Harrisburg” definitely did it.

He so completely won me over that I don’t even mind the religiousness of some of his lyrics.

I guess it’s safe to say that The Swell Season found their perfect support.

Then The Swell Season themselves came on. There were, of course, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová but also a 4-man band that accompanied them. They played mostly songs from their new album, but there were also some Frames songs and the biggest hits from the Once soundtrack.

I have to admit that it seemed less like The Swell Season was giving the concert and more like Glen Hansard and his supporting acts. But since I really like Glen Hansard and he makes damn good music, I didn’t mind a bit.

Glen Hansard knows how to work a crowd and he tells a lot of stories in between songs, which are probably as entertaining as his songs.

They gave a solid two hour performance, “interrupted” by the soundcheck guy playing and the violinist who was with them playing a beautiful Irish traditional.

Their encore included an absolutely awesome version of Rock Me, Amadeus which had the whole hall Rocking Out. [Yes, capitals are necessary.]

So, I guess what I’m trying to say is that the concert was completely mind-blowing and if you like their music even the teensiest bit, you should definitely try to catch them live.