Review: Glen Hansard celebrates Chicago connection and community in heartfelt show at Space in Evanston
Every time Glen Hansard rolls through town, it feels like a big reunion with his extended Chicago Irish family. It’s loud and joyous, full of stories and inside jokes, and you just never know who’s going to show up.
Tuesday night at Space in Evanston, it was Songs: Ohia member Dan Sullivan.
After Hansard and his hyper-talented four-piece band rolled through a career-spanning set of charged solo material (including new songs “Friend” and “Sleeping Dogs”), The Swell Season staples made famous in the 2007 movie “Once,” and The Frames’ masterpiece, “Fitzcarraldo,” they changed gears with a tribute to late friend and tour mate, the Midwest indie rock blues king Jason Molina.
Following a tender take on “White Sulfur” (which Hansard beautifully profiled in a 2015 tribute EP), he started talking about the pivotal contributions of members in Molina’s Songs: Ohia project. As he got to Sullivan’s name, someone from the crowd screamed, “He’s here!”
Naturally, it led to an invitation for the guitarist to join in on a heartfelt rendition of “Hold On Magnolia” that was given such care and attention, you had to believe there was some kind of divine intervention on the stage. Or maybe it was just the ghosts of Hansard’s Chicago past that he loves to conjure when he stops by.
“That last song was for us, for our people in Chicago,” Hansard declared in a moment of kinship with the room. “That was our moment.”
Though Hansard hails from Dublin, he logged pivotal time in our city — much of it thanks to Molina, who introduced The Frames to Steve Albini and Electrical Audio and connected Hansard with his now steady guitarist, Rob Bochnik. “It was a special time for us, and Chicago became my home,” Hansard shared, recalling the time in the early 2000s when he lived in the North Center neighborhood and would shop at the Village Discount Outlet and eat at neighborhood staple Kitsch’n in Roscoe Village.
Hansard described what Molina did for him as a bit of meitheal, an Irish word that emphasizes the goodness of community and what can come from helping one another. Since he first crossed paths with Molina in 1999, he’s been paying that idea forward.
His live performances are a testament to the good he gives to others, showcasing him as an expert in the primal connection between a good song and a passionate performance that has the power to become a permanent memory.
Hansard has played Chicago many times — most recently, reuniting with his “Once” and Swell Season cohort Marketa Irglova for an emotional anniversary set at Cadillac Palace Theatre in 2022, headlining Salt Shed in 2024 or playing Wrigley Field that same year as an opener for Pearl Jam (Hansard also moonlights as one of the Earthlings in Eddie Vedder’s solo project). Or, those lucky enough to have been there can probably still remember the visceral feelings of seeing The Frames the many times the band played Metro, Schubas and even the old Abbey Pub in 2002 in their first shows outside Ireland.
Many in the sold-out room at Space Tuesday night have been on the journey with Hansard since the beginning and wanted to let him know.
“That was our wedding song,” shouted one person after the band ripped through the gospel of “Winning Streak.”
“That was my divorce song,” joked another after the poignant “Bird Of Sorrow.”
“Thanks for adding a show,” shouted a third, echoing a shared gratitude for the last-minute booking at the Evanston venue after Hansard’s show at Old Town School of Folk Music on Wednesday sold out in record time — like most of his shows do.
Hansard’s current, very brief U.S. tour (wrapping April 12 in D.C.) is also sold-out. It comes ahead of an upcoming pair of live albums, “Don’t Settle - Transmissions East & West,” which no doubt will be frenetic and energetic and full of the raw moments that transpire in all his shows. But there just is no replicating the feeling of being in the room with Hansard and the transmissions of meitheal up close.
The once-busker (not too far off from his beloved character in “Once”) has never lost his gift for drawing in a crowd in the most honest, authentic way possible by playing every song like it’s his last shot. He still brings along with him his battered acoustic that has been his constant companion, from playing the streets of Dublin to writing the “Once” music that would win him an Oscar and be translated into a Tony Award-winning Broadway show. But like his guitar, he’s remained unchanged by it all — just your Irish cousin coming back into town to tell you the latest stories he’s gathered along the way.
Set List for Glen Hansard show at Space in Evanston March 31, 2026
Don’t Settle
The Feast Of St. John
Friend
My Little Ruin
Down On Our Knees
Sleeping Dogs
Winning Streak
Bird Of Sorrow
Great Weight (The Swell Season)
Leave A Light
Didn’t He Ramble
Song Of Good Hope
Back Broke (The Swell Season)
Stuck in Reverse (The Swell Season)
Fitzcarraldo (The Frames)
This Gift
White Sulfur (Jason Molina and Songs: Ohia cover)
Hold on Magnolia (Jason Molina and Songs: Ohia cover)
When Your Mind’s Made Up (The Swell Season)
Falling Slowly (The Swell Season)