“Cactus”
by Glen Hansard (originally by The Pixies)
from the Acoustic Lakeside Festival, Austria
2012

Ok, I’m breaking convention a little here, since I posted a different cover version of this last week, but the Wikipedia page for the song mentioned that Glen Hansard and The Frames had covered it in concert once, so I went on a search, and found this. I said I didn’t love the Bowie version, but this version is fantastic, so I thought it deserved its own post.

Like most people, I found out about Glen Hansard and The Frames because of Once, and I love his voice and guitar playing (it’s the exact kind of singing and playing and songwriting that I want to do, just as soon as I learn to sing or play guitar or write songs). I don’t have everything he’s done, but do have the deluxe version of the Swell Season “Strict Joy” album, which contains a cover of the Pixies’ Gigantic (hello, future #CoverFriday post), so it’s clear he’s a fan of the Pixies.

One of the big reasons I love most everything I hear or see of him is that he lays his heart out and puts his entire soul and being into every song he sings, and this is no exception.

Same show, different angle (and a link on the YT page to the full set):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAJXBfi_uJs