CONCERT REPORT: Lörrach, July 25

[geschirschbuehl]

Hello,

i just got back from Leonard's show in Lörrach. It was a very beautiful evening in a very nice location with Leonard and the band being friendly as always. I quite liked that Leonard gave so much credit to the musicians. They played the songs very sympathetically and beautifully.

Greetings

Rolf

[svennybenny]

Yes, it was a very nice evening. No surprises concerning the setlist. Leonard and his band were wonderful and they seemed to have fun.
In my opinion the permanent introduction of the musicians is the only point of critisism. Of course it's very nice of Leonard to put the other musicians into the focus. But, sorry, I don't need to hear 10 times the name of the saxophone player. Sometimes less is more. I think everybody in the audience would have had applaused because of the great instrumental passages. Leonard often broke into them and took a little bit of the atmosphere.

After the soundcheck I met Leonard shortly. I asked him, if he will publish a life cd of this tour. He answered:" Yes, we can!"

No, that was a joke of mine. He answered: "I hope so." I answered:" We hope so, too." He was very friendly.

[Newforest]

Must agree that this was a superb show and also agree that the repetitious introduction of the band members became slightly tedious, but then it was a convenient way to end the song and don't forget that giving compliments reflects favourably on the giver.

All on stage appeared to be having a good time, the usual two encores and finally an unusual ending with a chorus line of thankyous, driving safely and God be with you. Unusual, but totally sincere in the presentation.

Leonard obviously being older now, I last saw him fifteen years ago, seemed in excellent health, occasionally dancing around the stage. Not mentioned so far is the bonus concert we received at 4.00 p.m. when the entire band did a four number sound check, a really sharp entree for the day and may have found some new fans.

There was a good report on SWR radio today about the show, the only derogatory comment being that he looked fragile. Tonight Paul Simon will be playing on the stage. The radio reported that
there were 5000 fans in the audience for the show which was held in the marketplace which is my biggest criticism. We queued for an hour and a half before getting in and then there was a further four hours standing inside, some of his fans are not as young as we used to be! Another criticism was (attempting) to be charged 9.60 euros for two small bottles of water after the show.

Lorrach is not a particularly attractive tourist town and I wonder if it was chosen as a 'cheap' venue knowing that the Swiss from Basle would invade, we certainly heard enough of them. We also heard Australian, Irish, English, Belgian and French. A great show!

[Nostalgia]

Leonard Cohen's songs are my favourite songs for more than 30 years, but I've never seen him live on stage. At Lörrach, yesterday, the day had finally come. I was very excited, and I eagerly anticipated the beginning of the show. The show startet on time, at 8:00 p.m., and he played until 11:00 p.m., with a short break of about 15 minutes. I'm very impressed by his performance. The audiance cheered for him. Most songs were recognized after a few notes, and people clapped and sang along. He sang so many of his beautiful songs, some of them brought back memories to me. He and his band are very friedly and nice. My favourite song was "Anthem", the performance of this song really moved me. And also "So long, Marianne", which is one of my favourite songs ever.

The sound check at 4 p.m. was a surprise. Leonard and his band appeared on stage and sang a few songs, they seemed to be good-humored, and they sounded great.

I must agree that the circumstances of the show could have been better. Yes, we have to queue, and we have to stand from about 6:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. That was very exhausting. It was hot, 30 degree Celsius. In my opinion, the venue was too small, people stood close-packed. I prefer reserved seats, but there were no reserved seats in Lörrach.

But for all that, it was a wonderful show. And I'm grateful that I had the possibility to see Leonard Cohen live and to listen to all his beautiful songs.

@ svennybenny: A live-cd would be amazing

Greetings from Germany
- Sorry for my bad English -

[neo]

A friend of mine took some pictures at the soundcheck and the concert. (Thank you ebbbi!)

http://www.ebbbi.de/loerrach_2008/LC_Loerrach2008.html

[neo]

Some more pix from Lörrach. (Thanks you mam!)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kapuziner/ ... 385741474/

[Henning]

Salute. Just back from a fantastic weekend in the south of Germany. I arrived at the market place at 5.15 p.m. Many people already there sitting outside the cafes and bars. The weather was wonderful and people looked happy. I spotted Ute Egle who waved from her hotel window. This smart girl had a view from her room on 5th level 20 meters away directly to the stage. I bumped into another friend who told me that Leonard had soundcheck at 4.00 and the market place crowd was watching it for free. I was so excited by the beauty of the day and the venue and I was asking myself how will 5000 people find space there. But then I was distracted by beer. I grabbed a few beers and was just happy. More familiar faces showed up, and the happening got even bigger. So how would be the procedure of the check in. The whole market place was already busy, people with tickets and without tickets. Then an announcement broke through. The market place has to be emptied by 6.30, people with tickets had to find their place in the queue outside the barriers. Life is always one step back then two ahead. I already had had a splendid hour of hi's and hello's and cheers. I went behind the barrier where people were already waiting in a long queue. WOW, I said to myself, that's a really long queue. To make it short, people were let in at 6.30 and I got in at 6.35. I went back to the place where I stood before, good view to the stage, good people around me, another cold beer in my hand. Show started exactly at 8.00. Leonard played a perfect show as he did the past two months. So here is a short summary of jokes and reactions at Leonard's one and only German show of his summer tour.

- Band and Leonard climbed the stage. No applause, nothing, one guy was heard who sang aloud "How many roads must a man ..." (not true)

- The white man dancing - no reaction (true)

- Leonard's short keyboard intro to Tower of Song, spontaneous applause from the crowd, Leonard's comment : "Thanks a lot, music lovers" - big laughter in the audience (true)

- the gift of a golden voice - applause (true)

- The ultimate truth and the key to all mysteries - Doo Dum Dum - Big laughter (true)

- The Lörrach Special. When Leonard began his first encore and people recognized the song, there was little applause and a little singing. When it came to the refrain, something really special occured. As if there had been a rehearsal before, the refrain was supported by five thousand throats at volume max. for "So long, Marianne". When it happend for the first refrain, Leonard himself was so surprised by the power of the people that he put on his happiest bright smile. (true)

Closing time was 11 p.m. exactly like a clockwork. It was not easy to meet all the announced forumers and to organize a place spontanously for about 25 people. The Burghof was crap, but we found another outside place and had some drinks together at still nice and cozy temperatures around midnight. Here are some names I recall: Andrea Dolfino with sister and Marco, Ute + 2 friends, Ulla Piecha and brother Peter, Adi Heindl, the sublime Cras family with Natascha, Chantal, Jean Baptiste and Suzanne, Frauke plus friend, Barnara Mayer, Dolores, Swiss Chris + sister.

It was my last concert of this summer tour and it culminated into the concert with the best atmosphere for me. From the five shows I saw, Dublin was the one with the best sound quality, followed by Amsterdam.

I am looking forward to more shows in the fall, with a different setting of the songs probably (a violine is annonced). The Hammond B3 will be destroyed by the Athenians hopefully. I count on you guys !!!!!

Meetup pictures were taken by Ulla and Andrea. I hope they will post some of those here soon.

[Heike]

Hi everyone,

Need I mention that I immensely enjoyed my first Leonard Cohen concert?
It was a great performance, the musicians were fabulous, Leonard was just delightful, and even the weather played along.
(I would have welcomed a larger venue for 5,000 people though.)

I just wanted to add how much I liked the ad lib in Hallelujah:
"I told the truth / I didn't come all the way to Lörrach to fool you"

Now I'm looking forward to the autumn !

Best wishes,
Heike

P.S.: To anyone who was in Lörrach, did Leonard really sing "Who by something blonde" instead of "blunt" or was it just the heat and the excitement getting to my head?!

[svennybenny]

You can find a nice review about the Lörrach-concert in the german newspaper "taz" .
The headline can be translated with "He is not cult, he is church" . Unfortunately the article is written in german.

http://www.taz.de/1/leben/musik/artikel ... rn-kirche/

Greetings Sven

[Sophia]

The Hammond B3 will be destroyed by the Athenians hopefully. I count on you guys !!!!!

Rest assured, Henning!

Sophia

[Nostalgia]

There are three more excellent reviews in German newspapers about Lörrach:

Eßlinger Zeitung - ez-online
Frankfurter Allgemeine - FAZ.net
morgenweb.de - Nachrichten-Portol Rhein-Neckar

They all praise Leonard, his band, and the concert highly. (They are all written in German)

Greetings

[jeremek]

Hello!
I went across 1/3 Poland and entire Germany.
Hello! I went across 1/3 Poland and entire Germany. I am sure that it was worthwhile. I know that it is nothing innovative. And every word won't convey content ! It is little said... When I am reading slothful claims, I am surprised at such fans. A lot said cases of the surname are becoming established with the one which for the first time can see musicians. It is possible to appreciate them with applause. I don't know, whether there would be an applause for the wonderful solo of each of musicians. Leonard Cohen is putting them ahead of himself. It is valuable. Not frequent at of "stars". And so very characteristic of the Master Leonard. For men of High Calibre. Apart from that these presentations gave a breather to very LC. Long concert. The last stage. It is possible that's all to understand. Simply. Not to gripe. ((In the square such a complaining guy stood in Loerrach before me)
Different matters. As for example a price waters are completely a "different fairy tale". He concerns neither the concert, nor LC.
It is my observation. Don't be angry friends. Nothing could disturb me. 23 years I waited for this virtuoso performance. I was! I could see! I could hear! How it is possible not to be pleased totally ?
And to it still this wonderful chance. Attempt into the day. I could stand poid with very stage. Almost to touch Leonard. So much joys of one day!
I already travelled far farther than to Loerrach. More than 2000 kilometres. But no travel was so far sink for my soul.
I never reached so far: Sink for my soul. To the bottom of the heart. In the memory - forever.

With the boundless gratitude and love to Mr. Leonard Cohen.
With the friendship for you everyone.
Jeremek

[jeremek]

I can see that from the impression I started stuttering.

[Henning]

Thanks, Sophia !

Here's the view that Ute had from her appartment. Her friend took the picture will she was standing directly in front of the stage.

[svennybenny]

@jeremek

If you had read my review of the Lörrach concert correctly, you must recognize that I wrote only about my poor, small PERSONAL VIEW of the concert. Did you ever heard of freedom of opinion and free speech?
So, when I write, that from my point of view (and that's maybe another point than yours)the constant introductions of the musicians were a little bit too much, than is this true-for me. If you were not my opinion, fine by me.
That has nothing to do with being a "real" fan, that's kindergarten stuff.
Yours Sven