"ONCE" Set List

Dateline -- AUSTIN (November 15, 2007):

I am an admittedly biased reviewer, so I will only say that it was a magical night of music at the outdoor stage of Stubb's Barbecue last Thursday night. As anyone who has SEEN the movie knows (and only four people I know have, as far as I can tell), Glen Hansard is a dynamic performer, and he carried the show. Marketa Irglova was, by contrast, very much a supporting player, which also fits her personality (she is not a professional, and this is her first tour ever!)

Hansard came out solo (with that same old, beat-up guitar he used in the film--holes and all) and performed "Say it to Me Now." Next, he introduced Marketa and they did a duet of "All the Way Down." Then, he introduced the rest of The Frames, who came out for "Lies." At one point, she took his old guitar for a solo while he sat down on her piano bench.

The rest of the set (as best I can remember) went like this:
-- two new songs: one with a working title about 'Heartstrings;' the other was called 'Drown Out'
-- "When Your Mind's Made Up"
-- two more new songs: Edges of the Night (?) and "This Low"
--an impromptu audience request of 'Cry Me a River' (a Frames hit?)
-- Falling Slowly
-- Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy (another audience request)
-- Leave
-- ?? lay me down ??
-- a Pixies cover ('I want my life to make more sense'?)

ENCORE #1:
"Once"
"Star-Star ... " ??
"If You Want Me" -- finally, marketa!!

ENCORE #2:
"Fitzcarraldo" (a Frames song)
"Deviltown" (a Daniel Johnston song) -- where he lead the audience in a sing-along, asking the obliging crowd to snap their fingers, repeat the chorus, and file out quietly (which they started to do!). That lead him to shout "Austin, you Fuckin' Rule!!"

And the concert was over.

"Once"

I have just seen (for the second time) the most-perfect movie with music ... I cannot call it a "musical" because it is light years away from "Hairspray" or "Dreamgirls." "Once" is the latest Sundance darling that (for once) lives up to the hype that annual designation brings --oftentimes regardless of quality. This indie Irish gem of a movie stars two talented singer-songwriters that I had never heard of: Glen Hansard (of the Irish group "The Frames") and his newest collaborator, Czech sensation Marketa Irglova. For non-actors (as most of the cast apparently are), they are naturals in front of a camera.

The story of their friendship -- an always awkward journey of getting to know someone of the opposite sex, stepping through that sexual minefield along the way -- is refreshingly real (they don't even 'meet cute.') This is due in large part to Ms. Irglova's directness: like a true foreigner (in my experience), she immediatley asks the most personal questions to a street singer who, admittedly, was baring his soul in his songs.

The camerawork and street scenes of working-class Dublin add to the movie's verisimilitude (a Spelling Bee word I've always wanted to use). But the movie stands or falls on the music itself -- and fans of the music will not be short-changed. [Count me in that camp: I cannot predict what non-fans will think of the movie overall -- the two are inextricably linked.]

For critics who charge that there is too much music, not enough story or dialogue, I say: The music IS the dialogue! Character is revealed through music in a way that a conventional musical only scratches the surface (of). [As I wrote that, I thought of a number of classic Broadway exceptions to that statement, most involving Stehpen Sondheim, but who would accuse him of being 'conventional'?]

I do appreciate the traditional movie musical ("Chicago" and "Moulin Rouge" being recent notable achievements in the genre). But "Once" is a different animal entirely: not a movie with music as an over-produced diversion but a movie with music as integral as any language.