Glen Hansard

The Royal Festival Hall is an auditorium located in the middle of the Southbank Centre, a complex of concert halls on the revamped South Bank of the Thames, in the stretch leading from the London Eye to the Tate Modern Museum, the new London reinvented in stylish forms. You walk into the lobby and find yourself in one of the many free gigs that mark Fridays in front of the Central Bar, both at lunchtime and during happy hour; outside there's a row of venues and stalls for eating, drinking and meeting up, inside there's the hugely popular Abba exhibition — in short, one of the many paradises for music lovers that the English capital knows how to offer.

The great thing, and it's certainly no news in London, is that the Glen Hansard concert we're here for is scheduled for 7:30 pm, without the long, exhausting waits typical of most live clubs back home. It's no joke: at 7:35 the show begins, preceded by a countdown in the final minutes to let the crowd at the bar know it's time to head in, and we love the chance to watch a show inside an auditorium while being allowed to bring in a glass (strictly plastic, but fair enough) of beer or wine, something that back home would be ruled out from the start.

Having noted the habits of those who are always one step ahead of us, we dive into the opening date of Glen Hansard's new tour, as he takes the stage in perfect solitude, just voice and acoustic guitar slung over his shoulder, for the first two songs on offer, two covers, one by Frames, the band he fronted, the other by fellow Irish act Interference. This is just to test the stage, a kind of warm-up before tackling the crowd with far more electric routes: band and strings come on for the vigorous one-two of "Roll On Slow"/"Wheels On Fire", perfect for starting to roll out the songs from the new Between Two Shores, his most eclectic and fully-realized solo work.

Then the horns come in, giving it a strong "Motown" feel, bringing the number of musicians on stage to twelve, a deployment of forces Glen has accustomed us to, and which allows him to act as grand master of ceremonies for a performance that ranges from the laid-back atmospheres of "Bird Of Sorrow" and "Wedding Ring" to the many energetic moments ("Didn't He Ramble"), always chasing that thrilling emotional crescendo ("My Little Ruin"), alternating full, lush arrangements with more minimalist passages, like when he sits at the piano to perform the aching "Shelter Me" alone.

Hansard remains alone also for a version of "Time Will Be The Healer", delivered in a stripped-down form compared to the album version, followed by a cover of Woody Guthrie, "Vigilante Man", which becomes the perfect occasion to fire off some ironic jabs at Trump, cleverly tweaking the song's lyrics. Through the steady groove of "Way Back To The Way Back When" we arrive at the acclaimed "Her Mercy", which contains within it a passage drawn from another Frames song, "Star Star".

A few moments' pause and the ensemble returns for the encores: after the charming little interlude of "Banana Man", we move into the decisive phase of the show, where Glen proves he still has all the right cards to play. With the skill of a seasoned performer he holds the entire hall in the palm of his hand, moving it to tears with "Falling Slowly" (Oscar for Best Original Song in 2008), "Grace Beneath The Pine" (alone with strings and piano) and "Song Of Good Hope" (the one Vedder sang in Florence standing on the barrier). The rowdy "Lowly Deserter" (with Hansard on banjo) is the last burst of energy before closing the night with a tribute to the Pogues' "Rainy Night In Soho".

In all, two hours and ten minutes of great music, delivered by an artist who's no longer exactly young, but who is proving to be at the peak of his artistic and compositional maturity, capable of moving with real command across folk and rock, often with distinctly southern inflections, right up to soul registers that bring him close to the territory of Ben Harper or Marvin Gaye. All while remaining absolutely himself throughout, summing up the many reincarnations that have dotted a career that would finally deserve even greater international recognition.

After spending the whole month of February touring Europe (no Italian dates are planned for this leg), in March Hansard will fly to North America for a hefty run of dates, before joining his friend Eddie Vedder, whom he'll support for two nights in São Paulo, Brazil. Should he come back to our shores in summer, we strongly advise you not to miss him.

Ride the wave of great music

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