The Frames
I think I'm becoming a violin groupie. I went to see The Frames last night and spent almost the whole set watching this guy.
True, he's a bloody good player, but there's something about those soaring violin lines, especially in music like The Frames, that just gets to me. The lower part of my body dances to the bass and drums, but the upper part of my body moves to the violin. And I love watching them when they play. I love the way their whole body moves with what they play. And the way their fingers look so delicate, yet have that strength and speed about them at the same time. I'm sure it's all part of my overall passion with string instruments, but I'm getting more and more to the stage where I watch the fiddle, violin and viola more than anything else.
And I have a new crush - Glen Hansard, the lead singer of The Frames.
He actually bats his eyelids when he sings the sweet lines of their songs and the passion in his voice during the more intense moments was just beautiful. He's cheeky and irreverant and grins like a naughty little boy and quips almost as much as he sings. He also makes great eye contact with the audience. I was only a couple of rows back, so I got a lot of eye contact. *sigh* Heavenly.
It was also a great set. They played all of my favourites (except Santa Maria), plus a couple I didn't know so well (including one right at the end about being a vampire, which was an audience participation song). I had enough room to dance my butt off during Revelate and Star Star and Lay Me Down, so I was a pretty happy chappy.
During the early part of the set, I was between two boys that were standing there with their arms crossed, so I felt like I had a couple of bodyguards. I went to the gig on my own, and, as per usual when I do that, the guy next to me (one of the boys with his arms crossed) chatted me up during the break, which is always nice for the ego. Mmmmm... boys with Irish accents.
And thinking of boys chatting me up. I also got chatted up while I was walking home! This guy runs up to me, mutters something about hair-conditioner, and asks me out for drinks. Again, nice for the ego, but I was a little weirded out by it, so I turned him down. For some reason, a guy chatting me up in a pub or venue seems perfectly normal, but chatting me up in the street is weird. *shrugs* I think maybe it's because the chatting up on the street was so bloody fast - "Hi, what's your name? Will you go out for drinks with me?" - it was like being in Paris again, except this guy didn't ask whether I had a boyfriend. ;o)
But back to last night. The supports were Melanie Horsnell from Sydney, who I've heard about, but never seen before. She's pretty good and has a lilting voice that complemented the Irish acts well, but her mike technique is a little off and whenever she belted notes out, she was too loud and piercing - she really should move away from the mike for those notes. But other than that, very good. Not good enough for me to rush and buy her CDs, but very good nonetheless.
And then there was Mark Geary. I saw him a couple of times at Whelans when I was living in Dublin and always thought he was great. I had one of his CDs before, but it's one of the many things that went walking while I was living over there. I would have loved to have bought both of the CDs that they were selling on the night, especially since this is his first time to Australia and he doesn't have a distribution contract over here yet, but I'd brought my wrong card with me and couldn't get any cash. Bugger!
Oh well, hopefully after the reception he got in Brisbane, he'll get that distribution contract. And hopefully he'll be back. Because he did get a bloody good reception. Lots of cheering and mostly a quiet crowd for his songs, at least from everyone sitting down the front. The rude buggers up the back were still yelling and yahooing, even when he'd asked for a bit of shush. And he recorded our cheering towards the end - said he was going to play it to the crowd in Sydney - and he used it in a loop in his last song. I thought it was lovely that he seemed so touched by it. Maybe he was a bit jetlagged - he did say that he'd just arrived that day.
Anyway, all in all, it was a great gig. Definitely in my top 20 - considering that most of the top 10 is taken up by Ben Folds/Five gigs, that's really saying something!
Listening to: The Frames - Setlist
True, he's a bloody good player, but there's something about those soaring violin lines, especially in music like The Frames, that just gets to me. The lower part of my body dances to the bass and drums, but the upper part of my body moves to the violin. And I love watching them when they play. I love the way their whole body moves with what they play. And the way their fingers look so delicate, yet have that strength and speed about them at the same time. I'm sure it's all part of my overall passion with string instruments, but I'm getting more and more to the stage where I watch the fiddle, violin and viola more than anything else.
And I have a new crush - Glen Hansard, the lead singer of The Frames.
He actually bats his eyelids when he sings the sweet lines of their songs and the passion in his voice during the more intense moments was just beautiful. He's cheeky and irreverant and grins like a naughty little boy and quips almost as much as he sings. He also makes great eye contact with the audience. I was only a couple of rows back, so I got a lot of eye contact. *sigh* Heavenly.
It was also a great set. They played all of my favourites (except Santa Maria), plus a couple I didn't know so well (including one right at the end about being a vampire, which was an audience participation song). I had enough room to dance my butt off during Revelate and Star Star and Lay Me Down, so I was a pretty happy chappy.
During the early part of the set, I was between two boys that were standing there with their arms crossed, so I felt like I had a couple of bodyguards. I went to the gig on my own, and, as per usual when I do that, the guy next to me (one of the boys with his arms crossed) chatted me up during the break, which is always nice for the ego. Mmmmm... boys with Irish accents.
And thinking of boys chatting me up. I also got chatted up while I was walking home! This guy runs up to me, mutters something about hair-conditioner, and asks me out for drinks. Again, nice for the ego, but I was a little weirded out by it, so I turned him down. For some reason, a guy chatting me up in a pub or venue seems perfectly normal, but chatting me up in the street is weird. *shrugs* I think maybe it's because the chatting up on the street was so bloody fast - "Hi, what's your name? Will you go out for drinks with me?" - it was like being in Paris again, except this guy didn't ask whether I had a boyfriend. ;o)
But back to last night. The supports were Melanie Horsnell from Sydney, who I've heard about, but never seen before. She's pretty good and has a lilting voice that complemented the Irish acts well, but her mike technique is a little off and whenever she belted notes out, she was too loud and piercing - she really should move away from the mike for those notes. But other than that, very good. Not good enough for me to rush and buy her CDs, but very good nonetheless.
And then there was Mark Geary. I saw him a couple of times at Whelans when I was living in Dublin and always thought he was great. I had one of his CDs before, but it's one of the many things that went walking while I was living over there. I would have loved to have bought both of the CDs that they were selling on the night, especially since this is his first time to Australia and he doesn't have a distribution contract over here yet, but I'd brought my wrong card with me and couldn't get any cash. Bugger!
Oh well, hopefully after the reception he got in Brisbane, he'll get that distribution contract. And hopefully he'll be back. Because he did get a bloody good reception. Lots of cheering and mostly a quiet crowd for his songs, at least from everyone sitting down the front. The rude buggers up the back were still yelling and yahooing, even when he'd asked for a bit of shush. And he recorded our cheering towards the end - said he was going to play it to the crowd in Sydney - and he used it in a loop in his last song. I thought it was lovely that he seemed so touched by it. Maybe he was a bit jetlagged - he did say that he'd just arrived that day.
Anyway, all in all, it was a great gig. Definitely in my top 20 - considering that most of the top 10 is taken up by Ben Folds/Five gigs, that's really saying something!
Listening to: The Frames - Setlist
posted by OLS |
Sunday, March 27, 2005 | 8:30 am
2 Comments:
Huh! There you go. I'd completely forgotten that he was in The Commitments - I used to love that movie. And now I've looked him up on imdb and it turns out he's more than 3 years older than me... which makes me very happy. I'm so used to having crushes on mere children! ;o)
- OLS
OLS have you heard Glen's version of Mic Christopher's song 'Heyday'? Amazing - they used the original in this Guinness ad where a guy swims the Atlantic to see his brother.
Corny ad.
Great song.
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