An account from a witness to beauty
Monday, June 16th, 2008After being absolutely blown away by Leonard Cohen on Saturday night, I knew I had to go again. He was just that good.
Let me explain.
Just before the gig on Saturday started my friend asked me how long I thought he’d play for. “It’ll either be 20 minutes or 3 hours”, I said, implying that it was either going to be a half arsed hit parade-type show (the kind a veteran artist might pull out when they’re only touring because they have to) or something very special - it wasn’t going to be anything in between.
To be honest had Cohen come out, coughed into the mic and then left I would have been happy enough just to be able to mark him off ‘the list’ and say “I saw Leonard Cohen live”. Thankfully he did a hell of a lot more than that.
Saturday’s gig was undoubtedly one of the best I’ve ever been to in my life - probably the best. Any fears I had - of a bad sound system which tends to blight every outdoor gig going, for example - were put to rest by the opening notes of the opening song, ‘Dance Me To The End Of Love’. Cohen’s voice was the same as ever, maybe even a little better, and his band and backing singers were fantastic. The charisma and charm just flowed from the stage making an atmosphere you would not have thought possible in an open-air venue.
It’s hard to say what the highlight of the night was for me - the whole night was a highlight of my week/month/year/life. In fact, looking through the set list now I’d find myself mentioning nearly every song if I were to list off the ones that really stood out, which is a bit of an oxymoron but there you go.
I would give particular mention to a couple of things, though.
Firstly, his spoken-word rendition of ‘A Thousand Kisses Deep’ was beautiful and charming and warm. I made a mental note to learn the words in time for my future wife’s 70th or 80th birthday, assuming I’m married and still by around then.
At the risk of sounding like a tag-along, ‘Hallelujah’ was an amazing and uplifting moment - anyone who heard it would surely agree that while Jeff Buckley’s version has its place, there’s no beating the nuanced brilliance of the original.
Finally - and a moment that took me by complete surprise - two of the backing singers (The Webb Sisters) gave a rendition of ‘If It Be Your Will’ which made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. By the looks of things they were filming the gig for a DVD and I implore anyone, fan or not, to check it out for that song if for nothing else.
The show was split into two halves, both around an hour each. As the second half came to a close I figured we’d get an encore to bring us up to 10:30pm; my thinking being that this was the curfew or at least a handy time to round things off. The encore when on until around 10:35pm and Cohen left the stage only to return again. This second encore brought us up to around 10:45pm and as he left the stage again I turned to my friend and suggested he may be back out to bring us up to 11pm. “No way”, he said and I figured I was being a bit optimistic. I was delighted to find that this optimism was warranted as Cohen wandered back on once more.
Overall he was on stage for almost three hours; not bad for a near-75 year old. If I can even stand up straight for that long when I’m 75 I’ll be a happy man. My girlfriend was at Neil Diamond on the same night and she text me at 10:30pm to say the gig there was just over. “Ha”, I thought, “in your face Diamond - and you’re only 67!” (In fairness I think the curfew there may be a bit stricter as it’s right beside so many houses).
As we walked out of the venue I wished it was 8pm again; I wanted to go through it one more time. This is when I started to think about coming back for Sunday’s show. But did I have the money? Was it a wise thing to do? Would I even get a ticket? I must have changed my mind a hundred times before we hit Heuston Station.
Later on I expressed my thoughts to my girlfriend and she said that she would be up for going in; she had just listened to me going on about such an amazing gig and didn’t want to miss out on such an experience. I himmed and hawed a little, dug around to see what the money situation was like and decided to give it a lash.
And so we went back to the Royal Kilmainham Hospital on Sunday evening, with money in our pockets and our fingers crossed. I knew we weren’t the only ones to have the idea of coming back for more so demand for spare tickets would be high.
But we got lucky and were sold two tickets at face value in the row directly in line with the stage. Having already been offered two of the cheaper tickets with a 70% mark-up on them (bringing them from €88.50 to €150 each) I was more than happy to pay €115 for the better tickets and equally happy to know that there were genuine people there who weren’t interested in ripping fans off.
Anyway, the second night. Well, all I can say is that it was just as good, just as sublime. The setlist was largely the same, bar one or two variations (as far as I can recall he didn’t play ‘So Long Marianne’ on Saturday, so that was good to hear) but it’s exactly what I wanted. I wanted to go through it all again and Cohen obliged.
So now when I draw up my list of ‘best concerts ever’, Cohen will be both the number one and the number two.
So to anyone who tries to say that Leonard Cohen is depressing, the first thing I’d suggest they do is pay attention to his songs. The second thing I’d suggest they do is ask anyone who went to the gigs and they will tell you what an uplifting experience the whole thing was.
They were nights of beauty in the truest sense of the word. I’m not expecting to see him play these parts again, which is part of the reason why I felt compelled to come back for Sunday’s show, but if he does I will be there.
Blogs elsewhere
June 16th, 2008 at 10:57 am
PS: I didn’t want to put this in the main article, but wanted to mention it all the same -
Considering the fact that the gig was so good and it was a living legend on stage, not to mention the fact that people paid so much money to see him, I was amazed to see so many people wander around during the gig as if they were listening to a CD in their living room. Even without the intermission, surely people could go without food or another drink for a couple of hours? To be honest it just seemed a little disrespectful to me but more than that it seemed like a waste of their time and money. It’s their loss, though, as the best thing about the gig was just sitting back and letting it wash over you.
Also, to the people with umbrellas, please cop on to yourselves. It’s just water and you’re at a gig - get over it and put the bloody thing down.
Likewise, to the people who decided to stand in their seats for the whole show. Getting onto your feet every now and then is not such a big deal to me but if you decide to take to your feet and block the view of the stage for the entirety of an all-seating gig don’t look so surprised when people behind you ask (and when you ignore them, tell) you to sit the fuck down.
Saying “I paid for my ticket” isn’t good enough, because we all did. Similarly, saying “You can watch it on the screen” isn’t good enough either. I didn’t pay in to watch television and I certainly didn’t pay in to watch you gyrate your ageing frame with all the grace of an injured rat.
June 16th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
[…] Adam Maguire […]
June 18th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Totally agree with everything you say…an incredible experience one of the truly greats. I tried to see him back in 73 (?_ ) or was it 72 at the stadium…finally got there 35 years on. The people who kept moving about were incredibly distracting and i know that for some it was actually distressing. I tried to be zen and ignore them…but for an artist like Leonard cohen surely it’s not impossible for people to wait for appropriate intervals before heading for the beer tents. That’s just a quibble …which I have erased completely from the actual memory of the gig.
Now..if we could get Dory Previn back for a revisit !!!
June 19th, 2008 at 10:32 am
A very accurate report, though I saw him only once, on Sunday. Comparing Saturday’s setlist on leonardcohenforum.com with what I recall from Sunday, I think LC made two changes, both in my opinion very much for the better. On Sunday he played Heart with no companion, I think as 7th or 8th song before the intermission. It was one of the highlights, a very uptempo version in which two or three members of the band played great solos. And as you mention there was So long, Marianne, I think as first encore, instead of Waiting for a miracle.
I did see some people standing, walking and going for a drink, but coming from the Netherlands I can assure you that it’s usually much much worse there. I’ve seen many concerts (movies, shows) ruined, one even by members of the warm-up band, another by friends and family of the musicians, who where constantly talking. In comparison, the Leonard Cohen Crowd was a very disciplined, admiring and silent one.