I'm going to start off by saying that this was the single most powerful performance of any kind I've ever seen.

The opening act was a guy named Mark Dignam, who was actually really good. He was a friend of Glen's from where he grew up, was a great guitar player, singer, and had some really nice songs. He did a really good job of setting the mood and making me want more, his accent only made me want to hear Glen.

The concert starts off with Glen and Marketa walking out on stage, with Marketa holding the little keyboard from Once that she used for Fallen From the Sky. I looked to Matt, and in a rather shrill, excited voice said "Oh my god! Matt! Little keyboard! They're gonna do Fallen From the Sky!" And they did. No introduction. They walked on stage, Marketa with her little keyboard, and Glen in a silly hat, walked straight to the front of the stage, sat down, and started playing. This did an excellent job of relaxing the crowd, breaking them into the mood. And I'm pretty sure Marketa improvised the keyboard part. It was the shiiit.

After that they did a couple of songs from the new album, just the two of them. I thought it was going to be like that for the rest of the concert, and then Glen introduces The mother fucking Frames as their backing band, and then proceeds to play Feeling the Pull. God...it was amazing. They played a few more songs from Once and Strict Joy, and the violist from The Frames did like a 10 minute solo. Fucking awesome. Fucking...awesome.

Marketa did a few songs on lead vocals, including The Hill, and If You Want Me, which is my favorite song from the Once soundtrack. God...she has such a beautiful voice. Her accent is so...pretty. God. Damn. I love that woman. Mmmmm.

Then Glen was on stage by himself for a few songs, one of which was Say it To Me Now, which is my second favorite track from the Once album. He started to play the first few notes, and then unplugged the guitar, leaned towards the mic, and said "No, I need to do this bus curb style." Then walked away from the mic. The crowd was silent. At this point, I was just about ready to have an orgasm. There was so much...emotion behind it. God, I was nearly in tears. I love that song...so much. One of the other songs Glen did by himself was a cover song, the name of which I can't recall. Never before had I seen a man shred on a fucking acoustic guitar, but the man did. He did it. Because he's Glen fucking Hansard.

They did another song or two, and then took their bows and left the stage. Of course, everyone gave them a like 6 minute standing ovation, and Glen and Marketa came back on stage by themselves. Glen thanked us for being such a good crowd. The few of us who actually knew who they were prior to the concert knew what was coming. We'd waited all night for it. We erupted when we heard the first few notes of Falling Slowly. It was...like sex for my ears. Sex for my ears. Little did I know that they were doing a four song encore.

The second one was another song from Strict Joy, but I don't remember which one. For the third one, Glen called Mark back out on stage, and all of them did a song with both Glen and Mark on guitar and vocals. God, it was amazing. It was such a powerful performance. I've never seen anyone more into their music than those two. They ended the show with a The Frames song.

I swear, I think this concert was probably comparable to someone finding god.

Also, the lights were amazing. The set had a backdrop of several white, abstract cut outs which they lit up with different colors. They did a very good job of choosing colors that added to the mood, but keeping it simple enough to not distract from the music. Two thumbs up, light guys. Two thumbs up.