It's amazing what a little spot on the world's most-watched awards show can do for two musicians.
Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglova -- relative unknowns in America a year ago -- were still basking in the glow of the Oscars spotlight Wednesday at the Orpheum Theatre, where they performed under their duo moniker the Swell Season.
Scheduled shortly after the Dublin-based singer/actors won the Academy Award for best original song, the concert sold out in less time than the couple of weeks it took the musicians to film their charmer of a movie, "Once." Not since the Buena Vista Social Club has a film given such a launch to a foreign music act.
And not since fellow Irishman Damien Rice was last in town has a concert been so sharply divided between depressing, heart-pounding songs and hilarious, sly-grinning stage banter. At times, Hansard's introductions lasted longer than the songs, stretching the show to over two hours. He could have used the Oscars orchestra to cut off his speeches, as it did to Irglova in February.
The concert started the same way as "Once," with Hansard passionately strumming out "Say It to Me Now" on his beat-up acoustic guitar -- unplugged and without a microphone, for the ultimate busker effect.
Irglova, now Hansard's girlfriend in real life, then joined him for "All the Way Down," featuring such fractured lines as, "You have broken me all the way down/ Down upon my knees." That pretty much set the lyrical tone for the night.
But that downtrodden feeling was balanced by the sweet chemistry between the two stars (a little more interaction actually would've been nice). Also, their movie showpieces "When Your Mind's Made Up" and "This Low" were brightened with spirited, hearty arrangements from their four-piece band, featuring members of Hansard's longtime, unsung group the Frames.
Before singing the Oscar winner "Falling Slowly" mid-concert, Hansard reflected on its success with a metaphor about kicking a ball far over the fence and into the river. "Five-sixths of you is standing there thinking, 'Wow, I just kicked that thing far,'" he said, "but the one-sixth of you wants the [expletive] ball back."
