Live Report: The Swell Season shine at the National Concert Hall

The difference between a good gig and a very special one is similar to the difference between an average movie and a great film. It’s not just about how you feel when you walk out of a venue or theatre, it’s about how what you saw sits with you the next day.

If you find yourself replaying moments, humming tunes, or just drifting back to the atmosphere of the night before, then something more than entertainment has taken place. Something has stuck.

That’s exactly what happened to me after seeing The Swell Season – the band formed by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová – live at the National Concert Hall in Dublin. The show marked the final date of their three-week tour and came ahead of next month’s release of Forward, the duo’s third album – and their first in all of 16 years.

From start to finish, the concert was a celebration of two musical lives – past and present – from two unique, and very different, artists. Their demeanours, on-stage presence and career paths couldn’t be more contrasting.

Hansard, who has pursued various successful solo and collaborative projects, brings the energy and presence of a rock-band frontman: bold, animated and larger than life. Irglová, catapulted into fame at a young age, but quick to reject the trappings of celebrity, is his quiet counterbalance, introspective and composed, content to let the music speak.

Yet somehow, that contrast is what created their magic. Whether seated at the piano for hauntingly nostalgic duets like ‘Stuck In Reverse’ and ‘People We Used to Be’, both from their forthcoming record, or singing their Oscar-winning classic ‘Falling Slowly’ from the film Once, which started their collaboration, the unlikely pair gelled effortlessly.

Together, they offered what felt like several concerts in one.

One moment, the National Concert Hall morphed into a sweaty Whelan’s-style gig, with Hansard in full rock mode: guitar solos, rollicking energy and crowd-standing renditions of ‘Revelate’ from the singer’s Frames days. Next, we were back in our seats, teary-eyed, as Irglová delivered the beautiful ‘I Leave Everything To You’, which she introduced as a song about “seeing life from a higher perspective.”

What was exceptional about these two artists wasn’t just the multi-instrumental, genre-bending talent they displayed on stage, but their ability to read each other. Throughout the almost-three hour long set, the Irish-Czech duo knew when to push and when to yield, when to speak and when to hold back. The musical chemistry ran through every duet, old and new.

The homecoming aspect added informality to the evening: “I have so many friends in the audience I don’t know where to look,” said Hansard, pint of Guinness in hand.

Meanwhile, Irglová brought her sister on stage for a traditional Czech piece, sung in unison with an angelic timbre that sounded like a single, otherworldly voice.

And just as the crowd began to be taken over by emotion, Hansard’s unpredictable stage banter brought us back to planet earth.

“Does anyone have a violin in the audience?” and, in reference to Trump's re-election “I got rid of my TV and brought it to a charity shop. At least it went somewhere good,” are just some of the many standout quotes of the night.

As the evening neared its end, the still-unreleased ‘Great Weight,’ dressed with heavy banjo and spoken-word, sent the crowd into a frenzy. Hansard delivered a timely message: “End the genocide. If you tolerate this, your children will be next.”

The performance ended with a standing ovation, but for many it will continue to play on in their minds – and in their hearts – for a very long time.