I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: July 29, 2025] The Swell Season (Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova)

Three years ago my wife and I saw Glen and Marketa (interestingly announced as Glen and Marketa of The Swell Season) and the show was wonderful.  So when they came back around (this time announced as The Swell Season) I grabbed tickets right away.  (Incidentally, The Swell Season is the formal name of this duo–Glen has several other bands as well.

We were delighted to be reasonably close and right in the middle.

And there were to be lots of surprises tonight.  Glen and Marketa were joined by a bass player and drummer (whose names I don’t recall).  But before the first song started, they had a big surprise–four member of Snacktime came out to play horns on several of the tracks.  Glen explained that he had met Snacktime at the Newport Folk Festival and since they were going to be in Philly at the same time, he asked them to join him on a few songs.  I’m not typically a fan of horns, but their horns added so much depth to these songs, it was terrific.

And what was so much fun was that Glen instructed them how to play some of the songs while on stage–almost like an improved jam session.  The opened with Low Rising and Glen asked them to stick around for any songs that seemed good to have horns on.

The Swell Season just released a new record and they played all of the songs from it (except A Little Sugar).  But as I told my wife, I don’t really listen to The Swell Season all that much, but everything I hear from Glen (especially live) I enjoy immensely.

After a couple of new songs they played When Your Mind’s Made Up and the crowd was rapt as their gorgeous voices (and that piano) melded beautifully.

They played a few songs that they’d played last time, and that’s great because those are obviously the catchiest ones.  They played a few of Glen’s solo songs (three in total) but none of Marketa’s solo songs–although she did get some gorgeous solo moments where it was just her and her piano and her voice is still gorgeous.  This was especially evident on I Leave Everything to You, which Glen said was so beautiful as soon as he heard it he knew it would be the centerpiece of the album and the tour.

The beautiful “If You Want Me” sounded fantastic.   But they don’t like to keep things quiet for too long and they launched in The Frames’ song Fitzcarraldo (which Glen played with his band when they opened for Pearl Jam, and boy is it a stunner live.

Glen played electric guitar but also his beat up acoustic guitar (with a clear hole in it).

As the set drew to an end they played the gorgeous “Falling Slowly.”  Just like last time, I was thinking that “When Your Mind’s Made Up” was the big hit from the movie completely forgetting about “Falling Slowly” (which was clearly much bigger!)  And as last time it sounded amazing.

The set ended much the same as last time, with a Frames cover and an Interference cover.  “Gold” was in tge movie and the soundtrack, but I guess I didn’t realize it wasn’t one of their songs.

After a quick encore break, Glen came out and said he had another surprise for us.  This time it was War on Drugs drummer Charlie Hall who was going to play on a couple of songs (the people around us went absolutely berserk when his name was announced, although I didn’t know who he was).  Glen said that he and Charlie had met recently and wrote the song “friend” together, which they played.

Charlie stayed on drums and Snacktime came back out for a fantastic cover of Into the Mystic (They played it last time and my wife and remembered it so fondly that we were quite pleased that they played it again).  The song jammed out for a while with Snacktime each taking a solo.  It was so much fun and so joy-filled.

They ended with a spirited version of Her Mercy, like last time, it segued into a bit of Leonard Cohen’s Bird on a Wire.

Glen told many stories about being in Philly and how much he loves the city.  His first memory was of seeing someone with a gun in an alley behind the club they were playing in.  But he also said that after their most recent tour, when it was over he decided to decompress for a few days by hanging out in Philly.  I know that bands always say nice things about where they are but it seems like Philly is quite a beloved location for bands.

And it was all over pretty early as well (10PM).  We had a gorgeous night of music and were home early too!

 

 

2025 (Met Philly)	2023 (Merriam Theater)
Low Rising (with Snacktime) Ø	If You Want Me ©
People We Used to Be ⇑	This Low §
Factory Street Bells ⇑	When Your Mind’s Made Up §
When Your Mind’s Made Up §	The Moon §
Pretty Stories ⇑	In These Arms Ø
Back Broke Ø	Low Rising Ø
The Moon §	Sleeping §
Stuck in Reverse (with Snacktime) ⇑	My Roots Go Deep (Marketa song) ψ
I Leave Everything to You ⇑	Return (Glen song) ≅
Great Weight ⇑	Feeling the Pull Ø
Lowly Deserter (Glen Hansard song) ∇	What Are We Gonna Do (Glen song) ¶
If You Want Me ©	All the Way Down Ø
Fitzcarraldo (The Frames cover) £	Into the Mystic (Van Morrison cover)
Hundred Words ⇑	Quintessence ‰ / Guns and Ships (Lin‐Manuel Miranda cover) / History Has Its Eyes on You (Lin‐Manuel Miranda cover) (with Zuzana Irglová, Marketa’s sister)
This Gift (Glen Hansard song)  ¶	I Have Loved You Wrong Ø
Falling Slowly §	Fool’s Game (Glen song) ϖ
Say It to Me Now (The Frames cover) £	Say It to Me Now (The Frames song–Glen acoustic at front of stage) £
Gold (Interference cover)©	Leave (Glen acoustic) §
encore	Falling Slowly §
friend ((with Charlie Hall on drums)) (with SNACKTIME)	Gold (Interference cover)  ©
Into the Mystic (Van Morrison cover) (with SNACKTIME) (with two verses of “Bird on a Wire” at the end and a tag of “Drive All Night” to close out the song)	encore
Her Mercy (Glen Hansard song)  (with SNACKTIME) ∇	The Hill (Markéta Irglová song) (Marketa solo) ©
	Her Mercy (Glen Hansard song) (with Bird On a Wire (Leonard Cohen) snippet) ∇
	Passing Through (Pete Seeger cover) (Acoustic at front of stage)

⇑ Forward (2025)
Ø Strict Joy (2009)
© Once soundtrack (2007)
§ The Swell Season (2006)

GLEN HANSARD
∇ Didn’t He Ramble (2015)
ϖ This Wild Willing (2019)
≅ A Season on the LINE EP (2016)
¶ Rhythm and Repose (2012)

MARKETA IRGLOVA
ψ Lila (2022)
‰ Quintessence (2020)