Manchester Apollo, 28 July 2012.

It is rare for two of my personal favourite top ten rock lead vocalists appear on the same bill (at one of the best venues around) when I discovered that Glen Hansard and Eddie Vedder were performing together I was prepared to move heaven and earth to see them. So here I am on one of the wettest Manchester nights ever watching a sell-out (and very mixed age group) crowd crawl along into Manchester’s best concert venue to witness one of just a handful of UK dates for these two great artists.

Back in 1998 I was given an album to listen to which eventually became one of the few (for me) to set the standard for indie rock records. It was called DANCE THE DEVIL from Irish band the Frames and within a few short weeks I was seeing the band perform in the tiny Picket club in Liverpool. That performance was one I will never forget and remains one of my top five in thirteen years of reviewing shows. While not as intimately involved over the years with Pearl jam and Eddie Vedder it is another one of those bands that set the standard for me in every way and especially Vedder’s distinctive baritone vocal. Tonight will be my first experience of Vedder live and, like several thousand fans gathered here, cannot wait for that special moment he walks onto the stage.

Glen Hansard is supporting Vedder on his international solo tour and I suspect because they had struck up a personal relationship. Well, a little research seems to confirm this. Last year while Hansard’s duo group, The Swell Season, was on stage in Canada when a young man committed suicide by jumping onto the performance stage from a great height. The man landed very close to Hansard who was deeply affected by the incident. Shortly afterwards Hansard received an unsolicited telephone call from Vedder offering comfort and advice which subsequently developed into a friendship and working collaborations.

The atmosphere was electric, a buzz quite unlike I’ve experienced before as Hansard wandered onto the stage at the unusually early time of 7:45 pm armed with his now famous venerable, holed acoustic guitar. Most UK fans know Hansard as the musician who starred in the very successful low-budget Irish movie ONCE and the winner of the 2008 Oscar for best movie song. However, older fans who have followed Hansard via the Frames for many years know him for his prolific quality songwriting and passionate, expressive vocal delivery - on record and live. I’ve been lucky enough to see him perform on many occasions and believe him to be one of the world’s very finest rock musicians who started his recording career back in the late eighties.

Tonight’s set is short and very sweet, and packed with incident during it’s five-song duration. After thanking people for turning up so early to see him he opened with one of my favourites ‘Leave’ (which featured in the first Swell Season album and the movie ONCE). It was a moving and tempestuous performance which brought many fans to their feet while serving as a solid reminder why this rocker has few peers.

Then an invitation for a female fan tp join him on stage followed by a complaint from Hansard about the noise at the rear of the auditorium. His answer to the latter was unhook from his mic and walk to front of the stage to perform unamplified. In addition to his own songs which also included ‘Low Rising’ and ‘In These Arms’ Hansard performed a stunning version of Van Morrison’s ‘Astral Weeks’ to end the set to a standing ovation. God, this musician is special and while his loyal, established fans know it I sometimes get the feeling that Hansard does…