Six Greatest Live Shows I Saw In 2008

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2. Ben Folds Five - Chapel Hill, N.C. - UNC Memorial Hall - 9/18
One more word, to make it an even 2,700: Awesome.

1. Swell Season - Austin, Texas - Austin City Limits taping - 9/28
I've been watching Austin City Limits since I was little enough to think that was the actual Texas state house looming on the horizon, so just to be on the set in the KLRU studios was a huge, geeky thrill. (It was smaller than I ever expected, and that skyline so, so clearly fake.) Coupled with free beer and a stellar show from the Swell Season, the night was unbeatable. The episode doesn't air until Feb. 14, and I don't want to give too much away, so suffice it to say that the performance involved old and new material, a children's choir and a certain legendary Austin musician whose troubled life and career was the subject of a recent, popular documentary (but who's not Roky Erickson). Perhaps the greatest moment of the night probably won't make it on to TV, though: With the rest of the band off-stage, Glen Hansard tore into a rogue rendition of Van Morrison's “Astral Weeks,” beating it out of his ragged, skeleton-framed guitar like it was his-- or maybe the axe's-- last act. He said he knew they'd never get the clearance to air it, but my fingers are still crossed.