The Swell Season, with Iron & Wine *updated*
Last weekend I went up to The Greek Theater in LA to see The Swell Season and Iron & Wine with Lauren. I don't often go to shows in big arenas or stadiums for many reasons, but this theater is gorgeous with amazing sound, surrounded by redwoods and oaks. Iron & Wine was the opening act, and Sam Beam performed without his band. He opened with "Trapeze Swinger" and played music from most of his albums old and new, and a lot of my favorite songs. The Swell Season played some recently written material, some covers, and some of their songs from Once and their album (for those not familiar, The Swell Season is Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, from the movie Once). The last time I saw Glen perform was with his band The Frames, about 4 years ago. His band joined the duo and this was a much more memorable night.
One thing about LA is most people I talk to have some sort of opinion of the city. Mine is that I find that the stereotypes of the city often cause people overlook everything it has to offer. While I love all the art galleries and concert halls, one of my favorite things about the city is it's history. The magic of old Hollywood is still around.
Glen, from The Swell Season, met a man while out around LA and struck up conversation. They spent a good deal of time discussing music, only to find out that he is Richard Sherman, best known for writing songs from Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Winnie the Pooh, and the classic "It's a Small World (after all)". Glen surprised us by having Sherman come out and do a number for us:
Another guest Glen had come out was John Carney, Director and Writer of Once, whom Glen paid much credit for pushing the songs to the level they were at in the film. John played bass on one song. The band also left the stage and gave The Frames violinist Colm Mac Con Iomaire, who's solo album The Hare's Corner is soon to be released, a chance to perform solo. (here is a link to someone else's video, for those interested: Blue Shoes)
Lastly, before the big finale, The Swell Season brought Sam Beam to play a cover with them, and admitted that he has still yet to actually see Once, and joked that knowing them in real life is better, so whats the point?
**One more treat that I almost forgot: Since the show was out in the woods all the creatures of the forest get to listen to the music. A raccoon made his way down into the audience at one point, but ran as soon as someone walked towards him. Later on during the last song a raccoon popped up underneath the seats behind us scaring away the people sitting there. The raccoon started eating all the leftover food :-) Lauren snapped pictures till the Raccoon eventually made a scary hissing noise and scared the rest of us away.
One thing about LA is most people I talk to have some sort of opinion of the city. Mine is that I find that the stereotypes of the city often cause people overlook everything it has to offer. While I love all the art galleries and concert halls, one of my favorite things about the city is it's history. The magic of old Hollywood is still around.
Glen, from The Swell Season, met a man while out around LA and struck up conversation. They spent a good deal of time discussing music, only to find out that he is Richard Sherman, best known for writing songs from Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Winnie the Pooh, and the classic "It's a Small World (after all)". Glen surprised us by having Sherman come out and do a number for us:
Another guest Glen had come out was John Carney, Director and Writer of Once, whom Glen paid much credit for pushing the songs to the level they were at in the film. John played bass on one song. The band also left the stage and gave The Frames violinist Colm Mac Con Iomaire, who's solo album The Hare's Corner is soon to be released, a chance to perform solo. (here is a link to someone else's video, for those interested: Blue Shoes)
Lastly, before the big finale, The Swell Season brought Sam Beam to play a cover with them, and admitted that he has still yet to actually see Once, and joked that knowing them in real life is better, so whats the point?
**One more treat that I almost forgot: Since the show was out in the woods all the creatures of the forest get to listen to the music. A raccoon made his way down into the audience at one point, but ran as soon as someone walked towards him. Later on during the last song a raccoon popped up underneath the seats behind us scaring away the people sitting there. The raccoon started eating all the leftover food :-) Lauren snapped pictures till the Raccoon eventually made a scary hissing noise and scared the rest of us away.
posted by studball at
4:20 PM
5 Comments:
Sounds like a great evening! And, how fun to have a surprise guest like Richard Sherman!
ok, i am just starting this stuff but i do look at your blog my friend from the mid-west!! Sounds like a great time. continue on with the fun!! pat m. (from the mid-west)
This comment has been removed by the author.
good post.
too bad you didn't mention me or the raccoon in it.
for that, you get a B- instead of an A+ !
The raccoon story sounds very scary!
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