The Swell Season + Doveman - Berklee Performance Center (Boston, MA; Nov. 6, 2009)

At the tour’s request, we did not photograph the Swell Season. The photos are of the opening act Doveman.

Since seeing the Swell Season’s fantastic performance at Berklee Performance Center, I’ve told several friends that I haven’t seen “Once,” the film that launched the duo of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová and their real-life romance. Each time, I get the same reaction: my friend puts a hand to her chest and a hand on my arm, looks me straight in the eye and says, “You must see ‘Once.’ It’s so wonderful.” This sincere love for the film and its two stars clearly was shared by the audience at Berklee. Not one song in their two-hour set did not receive an explosion of applause and cheers. Some in the crowd couldn’t resist spontaneously vocalizing their love, like the man who yelled out in Czech to Irglová or the woman in the balcony who finished Hansard’s sentence, “I’d like to dedicate this next song...” by maniacally bursting out with “...to me?!”

The Swell Season carefully crafted their long performance, playing the majority of both the Once Soundtrack and last month’s release Strict Joy, and varying the set with solo pieces by both Hansard and Irglová as well as full-band numbers. The four-piece backing band, which included members of Hansard’s long-time band the Frames, deftly performed and highlighted the diverse styles of the Swell Season’s catalog, as in the slow-groove “Low Rising” and in Irglová’s confessional love song, “I Have Loved You Wrong.”

Though all the performers contributed to the diverse and impressively executed set, Hansard’s passionate solo pieces stood out as highlights of the night. In the heart-wrenching “Say It To Me Now” and in the Van Morrison cover “Astral Weeks,” Hansard’s raspy growl and furious guitar playing earned the loudest cheers of the evening. Though the audience was clearly enamored by Hansard even before he walked on to the stage, he upped his charm by offering sweet stories from their tour, such as writing a song at Boston’s Jacob Wirth’s (I hope it’s about their warm pretzels - my personal favorite.). Charm likewise comes easy for Irglová; while telling a story about the history of lobster eating, she used the malapropism of “delicatessen” in lieu of “delicacy,” and the crowd let out a collective, “Awww.”

After receiving a sincere and expectant standing ovation, the Swell Season returned for a three-song encore, including the Oscar-winning “Falling Slowly,” a new song not on the new release and the Frames’ “Red Chord.” With both the band and the audience singing “Good night and may joy be with you all,” it was a lovely way to honor Hansard’s 20-year history with the Frames, the band’s Irish roots and the Swell Season’s appreciation for the fans who have made “Once” and the Swell Season such a success.

I was equally excited to check out opener Doveman, having listened to last month’s release The Conformist. With impressive consistency, the album is sonically and lyrically rich with Thomas Bartlett’s soft, intimate vocals and piano, and with contributions from what reads as a who’s who list of indie music (Sam Amidon, Martha Wainwright and several members of the National, among others). Bartlett performed solo, accompanied only by his piano. Though he said it was stressful to play without a full band and asked us to imagine a drummer, a guitarist and some string players, he performed with ease, grace and much appreciated humor to complement the sorrowful tone of his music. Indeed, we learned a lot about Bartlett through his funny, quirky anecdotes between songs, such as what he desires on road trips (Taco Bell, Mariah Carey), his favorite bar in New York and his childhood best friend’s personal tragedies. Though that last bit of trivia isn’t funny, it inspired a hilariously odd medley of The Footloose Soundtrack, followed by Bartlett’s self-aware assessment: “It’s funny how anything I sing sounds mournful.” A highlight of both The Conformist and Bartlett’s performance was “Angel’s Share,” which when performed solo, serves as a simple plea to a lover, but on the record, when the chorus is sung by Amidon, Wainwright, Matt Berninger and Aaron Dessner, it transcends the personal. Bartlett is certainly compelling as a solo performer, and we hope we get the chance to see him with a full band soon.

Please forgive this oddly placed plug, but if you like Doveman, may I suggest you check out Chris Garneau? He was playing just a mile down Mass Ave. this same night at TT the Bear’s in Cambridge, and I couldn’t help but compare the two performers. Their musical stylings are so similar. We continue to be blown away by him, and he’s still touring for his latest release El Radio.

DOWNLOAD: Doveman - Angel's Share (MP3) or Follow us for more Doveman MP3s (Twitter)

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