E-Werk, Cologne, Germany5th November 2023
Glen Hansard - 2023 Live In Europe
GLEN HANSARD went a long way to get to where he is now internationally: at the forefront of sincere singer-songwriters with individuality, heart and unwavering passion - as can be seen time and again in his incomparably intense live shows. On his sold-out tours, the Irishman enchanted audiences with shows lasting over two and a half hours between folk, rock, soul, jazz and the most intense moments of great intimacy.
Extensive jam sessions with his nine-piece live band as well as collective singing orgies with the entire audience made every evening an unforgettable highlight. Now, after the cancellation of his European tour for family reasons, the Grammy winner announced his next German concerts for this year: In addition to the open-air show on 4 August 2023 in Hamburg’s Stadtpark, GLEN HANSARD will come to Cologne, Frankfurt and Munich for three concerts between 5 and 8 November, and on 17 November he will make a guest appearance in Berlin for one show.
As soon as GLEN HANSARD writes songs, he reveals his unconditional love for an incredibly deep emotionality and intimacy. This is also due to the tough school he went through - that of a street musician in Dublin. There, in the pedestrian zone, his career began over three decades ago. In 1990, he founded the rock band The Frames, with which he released seven albums until 2006. When his band colleague JOHN CARNEY decided to switch to film with the romantic drama Once, he asked HANSARD and his girlfriend at the time, MARKÉTA IRGLOVÁ, to write the film music. In the end, he convinced the two of them to take on the leading roles as well. After ‘Once’ won an Oscar for “Best Film Score” in 2008, Hansard was suddenly well-known. Both his band THE SWELL SEASON, which he ran with IRGLOVÁ until 2012, and his subsequent solo albums ‘Rhythm and Repose’ (2012), ‘Didn’t He Ramble’ (2015) and ‘Between Two Shores’ (2018) became worldwide successes.
In 2019, the next step followed: his album ‘This Wild Willing’ was recorded in Paris with more than 20 musicians, including the classically trained Iranian brothers KHOSHRAVESH, long-time Hansard collaborator JOE DOYLE, and Dublin electronic musicians DEASY and DUNK MURPHY (Sunken Foal). The songs emerged from improvisations. In them, HANSARD’s vocals interweave with restrained orchestral arrangements, dissonant waves of sound, soft electronics and dark melodies to create small wonders of intimacy and vulnerability. The soundtrack of the film ‘Flag Day’, released in August 2021, is no less intimate and yet completely different, on which the Irishman collaborates with his close friend, Pearl Jam singer EDDIE VEDDER - as well as his daughter OLIVIA for the first time - alongside the wonderful CAT POWER. This grandiose work is also convincing with artistic free spirit and craftsmanship in equal parts - and is also a piece of music outside of the film that you can’t hear often enough, or much more, live through.
“You can’t second-guess your creativity, you just have to do it, keep formulating and also put a point in the right place,” HANSARD explains his general approach. “You end up with something that might surprise yourself, but is far more honest than anything that would come out of thinking about what you want to do next.” It is precisely this unconditional honesty that makes GLEN HANSARD such an extraordinary artist - as can be seen once again in his current song ‘Take Heart’, which he recorded together with MARKÉTA IRGLOVÁ and three Ukrainian female musicians in support of the organisation “Ukrainian Action”. About ‘Take Heart’ he says: “This song is a single flower placed at the foot of all this devastation, a candle lit among the millions standing helplessly in front of embassy doors or burning in windows” - a candle he will surely bring to his newly confirmed shows next November.
German Tour Dates
05 Nov 2023 - Cologne / E-Werk
06 Nov 2023 - Frankfurt / Jahrhunderhalle
08 Nov 2023 - Munich / Circus Krone Bau
17 Nov 2023 - Berlin / Verti Music Hall
Additional Concert Info
Doors: 19:00
Start: 20:00
Tickets: are available for 63.00 € (+ charges/shipping) via Eventim
Info: https://prime-entertainment.de/veranstaltung/glen-hansard-3/
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