Those of us who with a strong Jones for new music need their suppliers, folks who keep us fed with the latest bands and tunes. My friend Godfrey is one of my main sources. Originally from Dublin, Godfrey is my supplier of all that is great from the British Isles. Years ago he turned me on to The Frames, who at the time were barely known here. So it was only fitting that when I finally got to see The Frames perform live last Saturday, it was with Godfrey (along with his wife Nancy, the kids and my dear friend Cynthia). The show was billed as a duo show with Frames lead man Glen Hansard and his music partner Marketa Irglova, the stars of the movie Once.
Based on the huge success Hansard and Irglova were having after winning the best song Oscar this year, Godfrey decried the apparent end of The Frames, Ireland’s greatest live band. However his sorrow was short-lived when Hansard introduced The Frames at the start of the show. Where we expected a duo show, what we got was a Frames plus Irglova show. Granted there was a fair amount of Hansard’s more recent acoustic driven songs that were featured in Once, but there was enough driving symphonic Frames music to keep me very happy and grooving in my seat.
If you want to see what makes The Frames one of the world’s great bands, here are some links (since the site has been so heavy on embedded video lately, I figured I’d pass along the video as links):
The Frames performing their crowd favorite, God Bless Mom (from Lollapalooza 2006)
Check out a beautifully shot and produced Frames concert featuring clickable chapters so you can pick any song from the show.