Tori Amos Covers “Falling Slowly” in Boston Tribute to Glen Hansard

The music world absorbed the shock of Glen Hansard’s death this week—the Irish singer-songwriter and actor killed in a motorcycle crash at 56—and has since seen tributes from close collaborators and admirers. Bono offered words on social media. At Boston’s Leader Bank Pavilion last night, Tori Amos let a song do the speaking.

Amos, currently touring behind her May album In Times Of Dragons, paused her set to cover “Falling Slowly,” the Swell Season’s centerpiece and Hansard’s most recognized work. The song, originally released in 2006 with Markéta Irglová, took on a second life through the 2007 film Once, winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2008 and earning a Grammy nomination that same year.

There was no elaborate introduction, no onstage eulogy. The performance itself carried the weight—a brief, direct nod to a musician whose folk-rooted songwriting crossed into broader cultural view without asking for it. For an audience still processing the loss, it was a restrained but unmistakable moment of acknowledgment.