The Swell Season in Columbus

Last night Darrell and I went to the Palace Theatre in Columbus to see The Swell Season. They were in the movie "Once" and won the Academy award for their song "Falling Slowly".

We got there early so we went to Buca di Beppo to eat. It's an italian restaurant that has huge portions of food. Our waiter was great. We found out he is from Lebanon and he works a full time 9 to 5 job as a junior stockbroker at Merrill Lynch and then waits tables as a second job. We had a 20 min walk back to the Palace so he made sure we got served quickly. The food is awesome if you ever have the chance to eat there.

There was an opening act that played for about 45 min. His name was Bill Callahan. He had a good voice but his songs and his voice was so monotone and kind of depressing. Darrell called him Eyore.

Bell X1 was playing at The Basement which is a couple of blocks away so they ran over and played 2 songs before Glenn and Mar came on. They are a band also from Ireland and they ran into each other accidentally that day.
They were REALLY good. I had never heard of them but their songs have been played on The OC and Grey's Anatomy.

Swell Season played for 2 hours and they were AWESOME!! They had band members from his group The Frames playing with them. They played the "Once" songs but they also played some newer songs that each of them had written. Glen Hansard is an amazing guitar player. I also like the way he gives the meaning behind the songs he sings.
Mar is shy but she sounds just like she did in the movie when she talks. She played guitar as well as piano. I can't believe she is only 20 yrs old!
If you ever get the chance to see them it's definitely worth it!