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CONCERT REPORTS: Toronto (June 6, 7, 8, and 9)

Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 1:34 pm
by jarkko
Image
Photo by Linda & Dick

Re: Toronto (June 6 to 9)

Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 10:26 pm
by dick
Thanks for posting LInda's pic Jarkko. Just a few hours till showtime!

Poster shows roman numerals -- 2008-2009 --

Have they always been there?

Re: Toronto (June 6 to 9)

Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 10:38 pm
by izielle
Yes, the tour has always advertised a 2009 leg. John the merchandise guy confirmed with me that the tour will continue and in all likelihood will include US dates. But nothing has been hammered down yet. Personally, I would not pin my hopes on some vague future dates. As they say in spanish, "la luz de alante es la que alumbra" the first light is the one that shines. the equivalent in english might be "a bird in hand is worth more than two in the bush"

Re: Toronto (June 6 to 9)

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 12:25 am
by phreil
Have a great time those of you who are going to see LC in Toronto. I have to wait till he comes to london.

Re: Toronto (June 6 to 9)

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 1:47 am
by playwithfire
Just a few more hours woohoo I have fifth row dead centre for tonight and front row dead centre for tomorrow night I am almost positive that I will not forget these two nights. I cannot wait it should be a blast. I will post a report when I get back tonight.

Re: Toronto (June 6 to 9)

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 6:27 am
by Vauxhall
Don't have time to write a full report, but it's worth noting that I saw a printed setlist after the show and there is a list of song-titles in smaller text than the rest of the set and I assume these are a shortlist of songs available as audibles for the band. These contain many of your favorites.

From memory:

Famous Blue Raincoat
Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye (which we've seen once now)
The Partisan
Passing Through
One of Us Cannot Be Wrong
Sisters of Mercy

There might have been a few more, can't recall now. Hopefully we'll see some of these spring up soon,

Re: Toronto (June 6 to 9)

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 7:30 am
by krewechief
like hopefully tomorrow!

great show tonight, very intense.
i was in the balcony tonight...8th row center tomorrow.

Hallelujah from a couple hours ago

http://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/1tohz7

Re: Toronto (June 6 to 9)

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 7:40 am
by libraryref
Just back from the show. My daughter (25 years old) and I sat 18 rows back on the right hand side. Great show. After 'Hallelujah' she turned to me and said, "That's the most amazing thing I've ever seen." Oh, and then the show got even better.

I had been to the Fredericton concert. I'm really glad I had tickets to a later show as well. 'A Thousand Kisses Deep' and 'If It be Your Will' were not performed there. I'm really glad I got to see them performed.

Re: Toronto (June 6 to 9)

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 8:10 am
by Dasia
Just back from the Toronto show too, having enjoyed every moment. Mr. Cohen was so generous with his time and energy! My 22-year-old daughter, a frequent concert-goer, was very impressed with the time LC spent onstage: three hours with a short break. Yet it flew by! And one could take a drink to one's seat; it added to the occasion to be able to sip a glass of wine while savouring the music and emotion. Must say "thank you" to my fellow audience members, who were there to listen and not chat with their friends or on their phones as happened when I saw Simon and Garfunkel. And thanks to to this site, for guiding me in buying tickets (seems like ages ago now), to one of the best concerts I have ever experienced.

Re: Toronto (June 6 to 9)

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 9:48 am
by Judith511
I just bought tickets today for Mondays show. There are still some left. The show in Hamilton was wonderful but I just didn't get enough. I had to go again. :)

Re: Toronto (June 6 to 9)

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 9:52 am
by cordelia
Just home from an amazing experience in so many ways.
One thing I wonder if anyone else caught was when he did "Waiting for the Miracle" and sang this..
"You wouldn't like it here Vanessa, there aint no entertainment and the critics are severe>"
WHO IS VANESSA???
I thought Sharon Robinson looked surprised but I might have been projecting my own surprise.

Re: Toronto (June 6 to 9)

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 10:51 am
by mirka
cordelia wrote: "You wouldn't like it here Vanessa, there aint no entertainment and the critics are severe>"
WHO IS VANESSA???
A woman who send LC a gift before the Toronto concert ?

Re: Toronto (June 6 to 9)

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 3:04 pm
by playwithfire
Wow is all I can say, this was the first time I ever had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Cohen live and the man did not disappoint. What a band, what voices and what a show. The quality and sound of the music was nothing short of brilliant. My brother is a sax player and he sat in awe as we watched Dino play not only the sax, but also a handful of instruments.

The sisters have incredible voices, as does Sharon Robison. When they sang if it be your will Leonard froze on the stage he did not move a muscle. Their voices are very beautiful. Leonard voice was also amazing, and this is at 73? Awesome just Awesome! I am so thankful that Mr. Cohen is touring I mean 3 freaking hours now that is not only a show but a memory.

I caught the Vanessa line as well??. I loved hearing “That don’t make it junk” love that song!. During first we take Manhattan… I noticed at one point Leonard went to sing the chorus a little early he said a few words and then chuckled it was like darn ha ha! I took some pic’s and video but will only be able to post when I return home.

Leonard’s genuine smile and the warmth that is projected from him is pure pleasure for me to observe. I can see why women lust after that man. He is smoking hot! I enjoyed watching the sultry exchange of looks that the singers had with Leonard. Especially one particular sister, she said it all with her eyes every time she glanced in his direction. Looking forward to tonight. I want to watch the passion unfold as the music plays on.

P.S they now have hoodies on sale for $80.00. They are light Grey and look really sharp!

Re: Toronto (June 6 to 9)

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 3:29 pm
by krewechief
by request

If It Be Your Will
http://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/pbq032

Re: Toronto (June 6 to 9)

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 3:37 pm
by chleobean
Here is a great review of Mr. Cohen's show last night in Toronto, taken from the Toronto Star. Enjoy!
Icon Cohen breathtaking

Love-in at Sony Centre as aging poet seduces audience with his ageless, gorgeous verse
Jun 07, 2008 04:30 AM
Ben Rayner
Pop Music Critic

It's a humbling thing, being in the presence of true greatness, especially when you get the gnawing sense that this is the last time you'll share an audience with it.

Leonard Cohen hasn't toured in 15 years. At 73, he's as dapper and as handy with a bon mot as he ever was, but there was a slight frailty evident in the legendary poet's suited-and-fedora'd frame as he serenaded a rapt crowd at the Sony Centre for two-and-a-half entrancing hours last night that suggested he can't have too many more world tours in him.

This was a love-in, where standing ovations sprang spontaneously from the floor with some regularity – heck, "Hallelujah" had a few bodies up after the first chorus – and not just because Cohen's admirers can't be sure when he's likely to emerge again from the ascetic California Buddhist retreat where he's been living in recent years. No, this was a love-in because the man is the real deal, a songwriter who's contributed so much ageless, gorgeous verse to the English language that he makes one wonder why anyone else even bothers.

Flanked by a nine-piece band that brought a flawless, finely nuanced backdrop of groove – what you get when you employ a bass player like Roscoe Beck as your musical director – to two full sets of career-spanning favourites, Cohen politely doffed his hat and folded himself into the band to allow generous solo spots for his accompanists at regular intervals and gave a prominent role throughout to the angelic backup vocal trio of his sometime co-writer Sharon Robinson and sisters Charlie and Hatty Webb.

Cohen's own signature, tectonic baritone was in tip-top shape last night from the opening lines of "Dance Me to the End of Love" to the jubilant version of "Closing Time" that brought a lengthy encore to climax. At times, it sounded a little more weathered than we might have remembered it, but that only brought extra nihilist gravitas to "The Future" and "Everybody Knows," and only made the blues of "Bird on a Wire" and the weary bossa nova questing of "Tower of Song" that much more resonant. The infamous ladykiller could still have had his pick of any of the women in the room after the mildly lewd "I'm Your Man" or the heart-stopping version of "Suzanne" he unleashed over his own quiet, acoustic-guitar accompaniment during the second half of the show.

It was his words, Cohen's wonderful, romantic, breathtakingly perfect words, though, that were the true stars of the evening.

Indeed, the highlight of the night might have been when the music all but stopped and he intoned the spoken-word meditation on aging and mortality "A Thousand Kisses Deep" with all the weight of a man who's staring both in the face.

Breathtaking.
And here is the link:

http://www.thestar.com/article/439151

Michelle