There’s a knack to telling great tales. It’s a skill that’s honed through living. Some of the best songwriters have this seemingly innate ability to craft those stories into an emotionally resonant vehicle that transcends. Glen Hansard is one of those great story tellers, and over the past three decades he has built a library of work which he highlights in the the soon-to-be released collections Don+t Settle Volumes 1 Transmission East and 2 Transmission West. The volumes, which were recorded live, give us a sampling of his work to date – from his Frames days through The Swell Season and his solo work. With that in mind, Hansard kicked off a tour in support of the new collection with a stop this weekend at the 9:30 Club. 

I was more than pleasantly surprised to see Margaret Glaspy opening several dates on the tour, including the DC stop. The first time I’d seen her perform was about 10 years ago and this time, like that, she performed without a backing band. And if that wasn’t enough, she started her set with one of my favorite Magnetic Fields songs, “The Book of Love” before playing a couple of new songs from an upcoming LP as well as covers of “Fruits Of My Labor” and a haunting version of Creedance’s “Have You Ever Seen The Rain.” 

Starting the set off, Glen and his band led with the slow build of “Don’t Settle” from This Wild Willing. But like so many of Glen Hansard’s music it could not restrain the emotional core of the song as it reached a fevered crescendo. 

A Glen Hansard show, for me, is an emotional event. As of this writing I’ve seen him perform more times than I can count on my hands, including that first time I didn’t know who he was as he and his band, The Frames, opened for New Pornographers at Fletcher’s in Baltimore way back when. So when I hear a song performed live there’s an immediate sense of traveling back to periods when those words formed the thread for those moments in my life. 

When the band launched into one of the best Frames songs, “Fitzcarraldo,” Glen appeared to shake off whatever pre-show cobwebs were left and went full tilt into rock mode.

Just as quickly as the rock storm started Glen and his band – Joseph Doyle on bass, Rob Bochnik on guitar, Piero Perelli on drums, and Rose Droll on keyboards who just joined the band on this tour – slowed things down. One of the most powerful moments of the performance was when Glen Hansard sang the lines of “Grace Beneath the Pines” acapella before the rest of the band came in.

If there was a quintessential Glen Hansard song, for me it would be “Her Mercy.” It takes that story telling and mixes in bits of gospel and soul and rock with that gradual start before it’s a full-on celebration. Even without the horn section I’ve seen him with in the past, that song soared.

Enjoy the new single and official video for “Didn’t He Ramble” (Recorded Live at Funkhaus) by Glen Hansard:

Mid-way through the set, keyboardist Rose Droll took over to play a song with a refrain, “everyone says you’re an ocean/sometimes I wonder how deep” as Glen kneeled, watching on.

Glen Hansard explained to the crowd that the 9:30 Club show would be the last of the short run they had planned before dedicating The Swell Season’s “A Great Weight Has Lifted” to Bruce Springsteen before a rousing version “Didn’t He Ramble” and a special request from a fan in the audience for the every popular “Falling Slowly.”

The highlight of the night was the emotional one-two punch of “When Your Mind’s Made Up” followed by the Pete Seeger song “Passing Through.” As Hansard started singing Margaret Glaspy stepped onto the stage to trade verses of the classic with Hansard, Doyle, and Bochnik before everyone in the crowd sang along.

For the encore, Glen Hansard and his band came back out for a brilliant, foot-stomping “Gloria” by Van Morrison. Glen Hansard has wrapped up his brief US tour, but I get the feeling he will be back soon pending the releases of both volumes of Don+t Settle.

Check out more photos of Glen Hansard performing at the 9:30 Club on April 12, 2026. All photos are copyright David LaMason:

And here are photos of Margaret Glaspy opening the evening at the 9:30 Club: