CONCERT REPORT: Oberhausen, November 2

[Wybe]

It was great again. The Set list and a picture from Wijbe and Willy

1st Set
Dance me to the end of love
The Future
Ain't no cure for love
Bird on the wire
Everybody knows
In my secret life
Who by fire
Hey, that's no way to say good bye
Heart with no Companion
Anthem

2nd set
Tower of song
Suzanne
Gypsy wife
The Partisan
Boogie Street
Hallelujah
Democracy
I'm your man
Take this waltz

1.Encore
So long, Marianne
First we take Manhattan
2.Encore
Famous Blue Raincoat
If it be your will
Closing time
3.Encore
I tried to leave you
Whither thou goest

[Womanfromaroom]

Yes, it was REALLY great, I am still not quite back to earth... AND I managed to give Leonard a long stem rose, which he seemed to like, and a box of - well, "Constant Comment"!
I have also got some nice photographs I would like to share with you; however, I seem to be unable to upload them directly on the forum, as I keep getting the message that the files are "too big"... Do you have any idea, any of you, if there is any other place on the internet where I can make the lot (37 pictures) available to you?

[adr]

Set List

[RickT]

Drei Stunden Entspannung:
Leonard Cohen in Oberhausen

3 houres Relaxing:
Leonard Cohen in Oberhausen

Oberhausen - Respekt! Ganze drei Stunden stand Leonard Cohen am Sonntagabend auf der Bühne der Oberhausener Arena. Vor 9000 begeisterten Fans bot er bis spät in die Nacht eine kurzweilige Reise durch die Jahrzehnte seines Schaffens. Natürlich fehlten auch die größten Hits wie "Suzanne" und "First We Take Manhattan" nicht.

http://www.westfaelische-nachrichten.de/aktuelles/kultur/musik/780999_Drei_Stunden_Entspannung_Leonard_Cohen_in_Oberhausen.html

[Wybe]

In Oberhausen a banana was throw at the stage. Here you see Leonard with the banana in his hand. The picture quality is not so good, but I thought it nice to post it here.

LeonardCohen met banaan (Medium).jpg (103.6 KiB) Viewed 6206 times

Wijbe

[PoD]

Our report of yesterday's concert in Oberhausen with many pictures is now online here:

http://www.reflectionsofdarkness.com/in ... &Itemid=43

[Florian]

Wow, my first Leonard Cohen concert...
A moment I've been waiting for about half my life and of which I ones thought it would never happen anymore
Now, what could I say to descripe it ?
Others wrote about that experience much better than I ever could with my poor english,
so just let me tell you it was a great and wonderful, extremly moving concert, somthing really special,
absolut great!
Thank You Leonard Cohen!!

If that was not enough, I went to the meetup afterwards, knowing nobody and I was welcommed so warm and
friendly and met some of you from this forum in person. Another great experiance of this evening in Oberhausen.
So thanks to You too!!

Florian

[tina]

What an evening!
A great man with a great voice!
Thank you Mister Cohen for this unforgettable evening!

I already have seen Leonard Cohen in Brugge and yesterday in Oberhausen - both concerts have been fantastic, and sadly my english is not good enough to describe my feelings and emotions...
I just wanne say thank you for the the music and the lyrics - it was a great honor to participate to this events!

[Womanfromaroom]

OK, I have found a way now to create a concert photo album on facebook.
Here is the link, and I hope it works:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4 ... =760302879
Some of the pictures are not as clear as I would wish, but I have added them anyway...

[neo]

Thanks for your great pix Womanfromaroom!

That's a funny one!

[RickT]

Tief in den Abgrund geblickt

Von Hans-Willi Hermans, 03.11.08, 19:10h, aktualisiert 03.11.08, 19:11h
Bei seinem einzigen NRW-Konzert begeisterte Leonard Cohen das Publikum. Die 9000 Besucher in der Oberhausener König-Pilsener-Arena freuten sich über stolze dreieinhalb Stunden, in denen sie gebannt den vielen Klassikern wie "Hallelujah" oder Suzanne" lauschten.
OBERHAUSEN - 15 Jahre war er nicht mehr auf Tournee, und sie haben ihn offensichtlich sehr vermisst. Die rund 9000 Besucher in der Oberhausener König-Pilsener-Arena jedenfalls erheben sich spontan, als Leonard Cohen die Bühne betritt.

Es folgen fast dreieinhalb Stunden, in denen der 74-Jährige seine Songs mit der Hingabe eines zärtlichen Liebhabers angeht: Er streichelt sie mit seiner rauen, tiefen und warmen Stimme, scheint ihnen ihre Geheimnisse abzulauschen - meist gebeugt, häufig kniend. Und ganz am Ende wird er sich gerührt beim Publikum bedanken: „Danke, dass ihr meine Lieder all die Jahre am Leben erhalten habt.“ Aber lebendig sind sie schon durch ihre oft verstörende Poesie, die vor keinem Abgrund zurückschreckt.

Die Suche nach Schutz und Erlösung

Gleich das erste Stück, „Dance me to the End of Love“, handelt von jüdischen KZ-Musikern, die nur überleben, weil sie für das SS-Pack zum Tanz aufspielen müssen. Es ist das Prekäre der Existenz, das sich durch die Lieder des Sängers aus Montreal zieht. Da geht es um die Suche nach Schutz, um „Herzen ohne einen Begleiter“, um die Unzulänglichkeit der Liebenden, die sich in Teil-Erlösungen wie Sex, Drogen, Religion, Einsamkeit, Musik oder Selbstmord flüchten.

Letzteres ausgenommen, hat sich Cohen selbst zeitlebens intensiv diesen Dingen gewidmet. Nun kann er gar nicht genug bekommen vom „Du dam dam dam, da du dam dam“ am Ende von „Tower of Song“: „Danke, ihr gebt mir einen wunderschönen Hintergrund für mein schäbiges Leben“, lobt er die Sängerinnen. Das ist ganz ohne Ironie gesagt und könnte lächerlich wirken. Doch der schmächtige Herr mit den markanten Zügen, dem stilvollen grauen Anzug und dem flottem Fedora-Hut ist seit 1996 offiziell Mönch eines Zen-Klosters und zeigt glaubwürdig, dass Demut am Platz ist, wo es um die letzten Rätsel geht. So scheint es, als habe Cohen diesen Hut nur aufgesetzt, damit er ihn immer wieder ziehen und vor sein Herz halten kann: Eine Geste, mit der er sich gern und oft bedankt. Und seine Lieder klingen lange nicht so überreizt und depressiv wie noch vor 35, 40 Jahren.

Sanft wiegende Rhythmen herrschen vor, zu denen Cohen auch mal tänzelt, selbst wenn er in „The Future“ sarkastisch wird: „Gebt mir die Berliner Mauer zurück, gebt mir Stalin und St. Paul. Ich habe die Zukunft gesehen, Brüder, sie ist mörderisch.“ Es verblüfft, wie gut auch die eher prophetischen Texte noch in unsere Gegenwart passen. Wo doch so viel passiert ist: „First we take Manhattan&“ Ja, ja. Man könnte bemängeln, dass die Arrangements für die sechs Begleitmusiker zu perfekt und poliert seien. Doch hier ist ja nicht der Rock der Maßstab, sondern das Chanson. So darf man jubeln über herausragend schöne Versionen von „Famous blue Raincoat“ und sogar „The Partisan“. Nur „ If it be your Will“ gerät kitschig, und ausgerechnet bei „Suzanne“ verhaspelt sich der Meister an der Gitarre ein bisschen mit dem neuen Arrangement.

Aber das sind nur kleine Ausrutscher. Immer wieder reißt es die Besucher von den Sitzen, wenn Klassiker wie „Hallelujah“ oder „So long, Marianne“ verklungen sind. Rührung ist fast mit Händen zu greifen, weil man spürt, wie da einer oft wütend und verwirrt gerungen hat. Wie es ihn vielleicht nicht zur letzten Wahrheit, aber zur Gelassenheit geführt hat. Ja, er hatte was von einer Meditation, dieser Abend auf einer Tournee, die Cohen in Nordrhein-Westfalen nur nach Oberhausen führte. Aber vielleicht kommt er doch noch mal, die Zeilen: „Hier ist ein Mann, der immer noch für dein Lächeln arbeitet“, singt Cohen jedenfalls ganz zum Schluss.

http://www.rundschau-online.de/html/art ... 3634.shtml

google translater

looking deep into the abyss

Hans-Willi Hermans, 03.11.08, 19:10 h, updated 03.11.08, 19:11
During his single NRW Leonard Cohen concert enthusiastic audiences. The 9000 visitors in Oberhausen King Pilsener Arena rejoiced proud about three and a half hours in which they banned the many classics such as "Hallelujah" or Suzanne "listened.
OBERHAUSEN - 15 years, he was no longer on tour, and they have made him very obviously missing. The visitors around 9000 in Oberhausen King Pilsener Arena any rate rise spontaneously, as Leonard Cohen takes the stage.

It followed nearly three hours, in which the 74-year-old with his songs of devotion is a tender lover: He strokes it with his rough, deep and warm voice that seems to them their secrets abzulauschen - mostly bowed, often kneeling. And at the very end, he will thank stirred the audience: "Thank you, that you are my songs all the years have kept alive." But they are already living through their often disturbing poetry, before any zurückschreckt abyss.

The search for protection and salvation

Equal to the first piece, "Dance Me to the End of Love" is about Jewish concentration camp musicians who only survive because they are for the SS-pack aufspielen need to dance. It is the existence of casual workers, characterized by the songs of the singer moves from Montreal. As concerns the search for protection to "the heart without a companion" to the inadequacy of the lovers who are in proceeds as part of sex, drugs, religion, solitude, music or suicide flee.

The latter exception, Cohen himself has his life intensely devoted to these things. Now he can not get enough of "You dam dam dam, since you dam dam" at the end of "Tower of Song": "Thank you, you give me a beautiful backdrop for schäbiges my life," he praises the singers. This is said without irony and could be ridiculous. But little Lord with distinctive features, the stylish gray suit and the fleet Fedora hat is officially since 1996, a Zen monk monastery and credibly shows that humility is the place where it is the last puzzle goes. It seems as if Cohen this hat just set up so that he repeatedly drawn before his heart can hold: A gesture with which he likes and often grateful. And his songs sound so long as overwrought and depressed before 35, 40 years.

Gently undulating rhythms prevail on which Cohen also tänzelt times, even if he is in "The Future" is sarcastically: "Give me back the Berlin Wall, give me Stalin and St. Paul. I have seen the future, brothers, it is murderous. "It amazed how well the more prophetic texts still in our contemporary fit. Where so much has happened: "First We Take Manhattan &" Yes, yes. One could argue that the arrangements for the six accompanying musicians were perfect and polished. But here is not the skirt of the scale, but the song. How can I cheer on outstanding beautiful versions of "Famous Blue Raincoat" and even "The Partisan". Only "If It Be Your Will" gets slushy, and precisely at "Suzanne" verhaspelt the master of the guitar a bit with the new arrangement.

But these are only small slip. Again and again it breaks the visitors of the seats where classics such as "Hallelujah" and "So Long, Marianne" verklungen are. Emotion is almost with hands to grasp, because you feel like as an often angry and confused has struggled. How it might not last for truth, but managed to composure has. Yes, he did what a meditation, this evening on a tour, which Cohen in North Rhine-Westphalia only led to Oberhausen. But perhaps he still times, the lines: "Here is a man who still works for your smile," Cohen sings in any case at the end.

[Womanfromaroom]

Thanks for the link! Interesting article, too; but "If it be your will" of all songs "slushy"??! No way!
The google translation is really funny though, a sort of poetry in itself... I wonder whether our English speaking friends will be able to guess all the meanings? But it is definitely better than nothing!
@ neo: Thanks for the compliment!

[Feel at home]

Leonard made me feel at home on this planet this evening. He was giving a deep expression of humanity and humbleness. And he made me aware that everything we love is fragile and temporary. But at the same time he gave solace with the serenity he exuded. I am very grateful that I could be part of this wonderful concert.

All the musicians who joined Leonard were also very special. From the beautifully dancing, playing the harp and the guitar and chanting Webb sisters to Javier Mas who performed the guitar with virtuosity. The whole performance was a unique and very emotional Gesamtkunstwerk. When Leornard was saying good-bye before he left the stage it was a very affecting and sad moment because it was like a beloved close friend was leaving. Something about him was like the appearance of a little boy you want to hug.

[Black_Cat]

Hi,

my pics are now online as well. See http://www.black-cat-net.de



Ciao
Dani

[tinderella]

Absolutely wonderful photographs... Thanks for sharing Dani.