Pictures: The Frames at Live at the Marquee

The old saying about what makes a house more inviting than another is ‘Location, Location, Location’, and based on their storming concert at Live At The Marquee on Friday what makes a gig by The Frames so engaging is ‘The Songs, The Songs, The Songs’. 

Glen Hansard and the rest of the band played a set largely drawing from the first half of their career with classics such as ‘Rent Day Blues’ (which he dedicated to Eoin Ó Broin TD, who was hospitalised this week with a suspected stroke); and ‘Angel At My Table’, in which the band had twin electric guitar intros, bass and drum sound to match any rock band you’ll ever hear. 

Similarly, it is interesting to see Glen and the only other original member of The Frames - the original lineup played together at their last visit to The Marquee and were lovingly referred to as ‘The Zimmer-Frames' - violinist Colm Mac Ionamire still pushing the limits of songs such as ‘The Stars are Underground’ and ‘Santa Maria’, with equal mix of distortion and dynamics.

While he spoke a lot less than some of his diehard fans would remember from his smaller shows in Cork over the years where his ‘Glen-O-Logues’ were sometimes longer than a song, Glen still used many of the skills he picked up busking to work a crowd of thousands of people to feel like a much more intimate event, from starting the show with just one microphone and the entire band vocalising acapella; to getting the crowd to sing along ‘not to the note but in the key’; to nodding references Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and John Denver speckled amongst their set.

Sharing his stage with others is a long-standing tradition with Glen, and for ‘Star Star**’ he brought on a Ukrainian woman - Anna Kardakova - who currently lives near him and his family to sing her national anthem. 

Having done a surprise-ish warm-up show in Levis in Ballydehob during the week, the band returned to Cork City with two members of Interference in tow, who came on for a great version of Interference’s ‘Looking For Someone’. Perhaps the single biggest reaction by the crowd in the whole show was when James O’Leary took his guitar solo.

The finale of the concert were two classic songs synonymous with any gig by Glen Hansard or The Frames, ‘Fitzcaraldo’ and Mic Christopher’s ‘Hey Day’. However this concert had a twist, with Glen introducing a young singer and musician called Andrew Fletcher from Midleton, who took on the lead vocals for both. 

It was a reflection on the strength and longevity of those songs, that they are twice as old as the person singing them and sound as vital when they were being sung in De Lacey House, Nancy Spains, The Lobby, The Savoy and the many other venues The Frames have played in Cork over the years.

The Frame’s first three albums ‘Another Love Song’, ‘Fitzcaraldo’ and ‘Dance The Devil’ are all being released on vinyl this week via www.claddaghrecords.com