By: David de Young
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Glen Hansard of the Frames at the Fine Line Tuesday night - Photo by David de Young (click for full size)
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The Frames finished their set at the Fine Line in Minneapolis nearly 24 hours ago. Tonight I'm sitting at home listening to their Live CD, "Set List," which was recorded in Dublin in November of 2002, still under their spell.
It was about as far from a fluke as things get that the Frames show at the 400 Bar in Minneapolis last October 3rd was one of the best live shows I saw anywhere last year period. The Frames consistently deliver an overwhelmingly powerful show that will leave newcomers awestruck and even veteran Frames fans with an occasional jaw dropped in disbelief. It should be no surprise then, that a reviewer on Amazon.com ranked their live album "Set List" right up there with the best live albums by anyone, tossing off Neil Young's 1979 masterpiece "Rust Never Sleeps" as just one comparative example.
Tuesday, after leader and songwriter Glen Hansard introduced the band humbly and simply as "the Frames from Ireland", they started their mesmerizing spell from the first, "People Get Ready," full of beautiful tension that built and built as Hansard's tender voice led it forward and Colm MacConIomaire's fiddle warmed it as it weaved its way to its abrupt end.
Glen Hansard introduced "Lay Me Down as being about an unwanted Christmas gift, telling a story of giving his girlfriend a grave for Christmas to show her he'd love her all the way into the next world. The song also deals with the writing of genuine ink on paper letters, which led Hansard to comment on the problems of email messages in the context of love. "At least letters you could tear up and burn."
The dead quiet of the patrons at the bar was already apparent by the start of the beautiful "What Happens When the Heart Just Stops." Hansard held his hands flat out to the audience on the last line of the song, "Making someone else come."
Hansard said the Frames are having the best tour with Calexico. "It's really nice to tour with people who aren't assholes," he remarked. This must be especially nice since apparently The Frames bus broke down on the way to Minneapolis and they may have to share a bus with their tour mates while it's repaired.
"God Bless Mom," Hansard dedicated to all the bingo playing moms out there. Tonight's version was particularly funny, for some reason, in contrast to the fairly deadpan version of it on "Set List." Perhaps it was the "la la la" part getting a bit out of hand.
"Your Face," Hansard said, was about drinking cider in a field when you're 14 and making a tape for a girl with the hope of getting a snog. The song ended with a crazy and amped up Hawaiian-style guitar solo by Rob Bochnik. This coupled with Hansard's whimsical whistle brought the song to an interesting close. It also points to something wonderful about seeing the Frames live. At the same time that you are being overwhelmed by the sheer quality of the show and the depth and power of their music, the Frames are still having fun with it, and that fun is definitely something you feel a part of as an audience member.
The Fine Line was filling up at this point as eager Calexico fans began to pack in. The next song was the Frames new single, "Fake," which will appear on their next studio album, expected in early 2004. Hansard said that tonight they were trying it in a new way. It's a song about meeting up with an ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend and "fucking freaking out." The goose bump raising lyric at work here is, "If it's just a game, then what're we crying for." Hansard played acoustic guitar on this song.
Hansard asked for us to cry along with him at the end, which ended up being more of a whimper than a cry. And then the song went into a version of "Ring of Fire" which he said was "for Johnny." Please note that the version of "Ring of Fire" that the Frames worked into Fake last night was mournful, sad and beautiful, not the almost fun, though still reverent version that appears melded to "Lay me Down" on the live album.
Requests for "Santa Maria" were hollered out, but those were not in the cards for tonight. "Star Star" was the set closer, and was that a reference to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with added lyrics "come with me and we'll be in a world of pure imagination" and even something about strawberries? The song drops down to near silence with just Hansard and bassist Joe Doyle singing quietly. Then Doyle rejoins on bass, some light fiddle and light guitar and Dan Sylvester brushing ever so lightly on the drums. Mac Conlomaire joins in for three part harmonies. As the song ends Hansard salutes the audience and says goodbye.
There was one encore, a cover of Texan songwriter Daniel Johnston's "Devil Town," (I saw Johnston in Denmark this summer and he's amazing) which was sung to the accompaniment only of clicking fingers. The audience was asked to join in.
After the show, Hansard proved ever the gentleman as always, chatting with me and my friend for the good part of an hour and even (god bless him!) buying us each a beer. We chatted about Witnness, Ireland and some stories he'd heard about Roskilde this summer (about the only place you'd ever see Los Lobos open for Iron Maiden.) I talked up our local boy done good, Har Mar Superstar, who had a killer set at Witnness and whom Dublin DJ Donal Dineen said was a 2003 Witnness must-see. Glen Hansard may have been the only person in the Western World who had yet to hear of Mr. Superstar, so I did my public service for the Minneapolis music scene for the day by bringing him up to speed.
Here's to hoping that when the Frames come back to America next year they are still better known than they are today. Hansard says it's been slow going. He wants to come back soon, but ideally he'd really like to be playing to crowds of 5,000 or more. And coming from him, that's far from conceit. Having seen the Frames set 30 thousand plus Irish jumping in a sunny field I know what they are capable of.
In my honest and I hope informed opinion, The Frames are already one of the best bands in the world. And this was my conviction long before their lead singer plied me with beer.
Location Info:
Fine Line Music Café
Artist Info: The Frames
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