When Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova won the Oscar for Best Song, I cheered. It was involuntary. I scared the gaggle of gay men with whom I was watching the awards. (They were cheering for Enchanted.)

And since winning the Oscar, Glen and Marketa, who tour as The Swell Season, have gone from a less-than-full show at the TLA to a sold out crowd at the Tower. This means I get bragging rights in the "I knew them when" category. It also means that, as I was recently reminded, I can make like a snob and say I liked them better before they sold out.

I'm not going to go that far. Because The Swell Season really did put on a solid show when they were in town two weeks ago. Glen and Mar, obviously aware that the majority of the audience knew them only from Once (and even then, probably only because of the Oscars), played more or less the entire soundtrack from the film (including "Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy"), starting with a powerful, completely unamplified version of "Say It to Me Now" and only introducing one or two new songs, plus two covers: one Van Morrison and one Pixies. (Acknowledging the absurdity of the lyrics of the latter, the song "Levitate Me," Glen said: "I don't know what the hell it means, either—I didn't write the damn thing!") The two, performing with several of Glen's Frames bandmates, are obviously talented songwriters and very comfortable with their musicianship. They're also obviously very comfortable with each other. All of these elements should have combined for an intimate, short night of music.

And therein lies my little tiny bit of snobbery. Because the Swell Season show, while often quite personal, wasn't especially intimate. And it certainly wasn't short. While I've previously lamented those artists who don't talk to the audience between their songs, the opposite can sometimes be just as frustrating to the critic or audience member there for the music. The stories behind the songs are interesting, sure, but Glen had what felt like a story per song—and as the night progressed, the stories got longer and strayed farther from the "This song is about" vein of exposition and further into the "My name is Tristram Shandy" vein. Glen is charming and funny and oh so handsome (although I must admit I prefer him with a beard to the clean-shaven look he was sporting this time around), but the last El back to Center City from the Tower leaves just past midnight and Glen was still going strong at ten till. And it was a Tuesday. Even us superfans have to get up in the morning. So it's with just a little bit of sadness that I say The Swell Season's set was good, but not nearly as great as the short set they played in Philadelphia last summer. It would have been far better if it had ended half an hour sooner or if it had been a Friday night in a more easily-accessible neighborhood.

I can't yet call them sell-outs, and I'm sure I'll be in the audience next time they roll around, but The Swell Season's most recent Philadelphia performance had more promise to it than it had success. Which is, sadly, a little less than swell.

Image used with permission from Sony BMG.