I had a chance to see Leonard Cohen last night in Waterbury, Connecticut. I love his poetry and music, but considering that he is in his 70's, I went into the concert with relatively low expectations. Plus, my seat was waaaay at the top - Yes, (relatively) cheap seats, but then I could almost see the shuttle astronauts working on the Hubble Space Telescope. However, it turned out to be an amazing experience. The concert was very well produced and he played for over 2 and a half hours. His voice is as good as ever and the concert was full of energy. However, the most delightful part was to see his mannerisms (he would dance his way on and off the stage) and the way he introduced and thanked not only his band members (by aptly listening to their solos, and then bowing his head to them in respect), but also those responsible for lighting, instrument tunings, and stage management (he brought all of them on stage and individually thanked them by names). Very classy. I don't know how he did it, but at the end it felt like Leonard Cohen gave me a small, informal, and private concert. If you get a chance, check him out live.
For a flavor, here are couple of snippets from his concert in London late last year and he performed all these yesterday:
First a promo (with The Future):
here is Suzanne:
and his wonderful poem, A Thousand Kisses Deep. In fact, it was incredible to see him captivate couple of thousand people in a concert hall with the recitation of a poem. Here is the audio from London:
Also...here is a Fresh Air interview with Leonard Cohen, where he talks about his (fantastic) Book of Longing.
I saw him in Zurich last fall and it was one of the greatest concerts I have ever seen!
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