CONCERT REPORT: San Diego, April 7

[jasmine]

My daughter and I were able to get in about half an hour early with our pre-sale tickets and there were a couple of band members in the lobby--I shook hands with Dino, the saxophone player, and Raphael, the drummer, was also there. We were able to hit the Merch area before the crowd and there were nice venue specific posters--I bought one for each of us. Leonard skipped onto the stage at the beginning of the show and skipped off over three hours later! He sang all the wonderful songs and with such feeling. He started with Dance Me To The End Of Love and ended with a rousing Closing Time. He was in great voice--the audience gave a standing ovation after Hallelujah as well as at the end of the evening.We loved it!

[jasmine]

Oops, I see Raphael is really Rafael and his last name is Gayol and Dino's last name is Soldo as many of you probably already know. Leonard was very respectful of the other band members onstage, watching them intently whenever they soloed and introducing them during each of the two sets so I should at least get their names right.

[famousbluepedro]

It was a staggeringly good show. i'll leave it to others to post setlists and stuff like that since i was too busy being awed, moved and overjoyed to even think about writing anything down.
i was actually overcome with emotion during chelsea hotel and that feeling lasted for quite some time.
i was so impressed with leonards stamina and energy, literally skipping back and forth across the stage. he seemed very happy. three hours is a very long time to perform for anyone and he did it with ease and even seemed to get more energetic as the night went on.
during the intermission, Lorca stopped by our seats to say hello (she knows my gf, not me) and was very nice and seemed surprised and happy by the adoration everyone had for her father.
she thanked us for sitting in the expensive seats last night and this coming saturday and said we were helping put her children through college.
i cant wait for LA on saturday night!

[yentek]

What a show! I think San Diego audiences are a bit more subdued than those in other cities, but in the second half of the show the audience really got into it. Leonard spoke very little in the first half - in fact, I think he performed the first 7 or 8 songs without speaking once. Is this the norm for all of the shows, or was he just a bit tired last night? Can't wait for LA now.

[MKB]

Tried to register on my iPhone from the concert, regrettably could not. The best show I've seen in over a decade and I go to TONS of shows! What a man, what a band.

I counted eight "encore" songs before my friend had to head home (up at 6AM the next day!). Can anybody confirm whether he did nine or ten or if he's still down there singing?
The "encore" was as long as the "sets" so I would consider this a third set with Leonard occasionally dancing off- and on-stage to a standing ovation.
Pretty sure the first two sets were as off the "Joey road manager" list from Austin, I wrote 'em down so I'll double check. Not totally sure I have the first two encore songs in the right order:

First We Take Manhattan
So Long Marianne
Famous Blue Raincoat
If It Be Your Will (haunting!)
Democracy (rocked!)
That Don't Make It Junk (not on the "Joey" list of possible encore songs)
Closing Time

Then he danced back off and on and sang most appropriately
I Tried To Leave You

[MKB]

Ah I see some of our posters thought Closing Time was the last song! Lots of people left BEFORE the first encore, guess they had to work pretty early. I was stunned after we got past encore song 4, since I'd been reading the posts about Austin shows and that seemed to be the norm. Who does an entire set as an encore?
Leonard did seem to really enjoy San Diego, and the second and third sets were amazingly personal. I'm still crying this morning!
By the way, Leonard got a standing ovation on the way in too, before singing a note.
And yes the band was in the lobby simply relaxing and chatting before. I got to meet Lonnie the tour manager too. What nice guys! Think I may have to drive to LA...
Another thing (my only rant about this incredible show): "Official" tour shirts are very cool looking, too expensive at $35, and are made of about the thinnest cheapest t-shirt quality you can find. Ouch!

[MEB]

Ah I see some of our posters thought Closing Time was the last song! Lots of people left BEFORE the first encore, guess they had to work pretty early. I was stunned after we got past encore song 4, since I'd been reading the posts about Austin shows and that seemed to be the norm. Who does an entire set as an encore?
Leonard did seem to really enjoy San Diego, and the second and third sets were amazingly personal. I'm still crying this morning!
By the way, Leonard got a standing ovation on the way in too, before singing a note.
And yes the band was in the lobby simply relaxing and chatting before. I got to meet Lonnie the tour manager too. What nice guys! Think I may have to drive to LA...
Another thing (my only rant about this incredible show): "Official" tour shirts are very cool looking, too expensive at $35, and are made of about the thinnest cheapest t-shirt quality you can find. Ouch!

Are you sure that was the tour manager I thought I read somewhere else his name was Mike? Anyway nice to read everyones experiences of the show.

[MKB]

Not sure if Lonnie ever used the term "tour manager," but he was definitely in charge of the "house" end of the show for the touring crew (e.g. telling the local house crew when to dim the lights for second act). I asked if he was with the touring crew and he said yes, and talked to me a bit in a very "tour manager" way about how bands often start or end tours in San Diego because of our physical location (lower left corner!). I meet a lot of touring crews that end up here for a couple days after one tour ends, and pick up another one to head off into rock and roll bliss (e.g. Tom Petty -> Sting during the start of the latter's "Dream of the Blue Turtles" tour). Lonnie is a big guy, white hair to his shoulders, goatee or mustaches if I recall correctly. Black fedora, super nice gentleman.

[Anastasia]

The show was basically the same show described before here on the forum and in that article about the Austin show and other shows. He basically says the same things and does the skipping and the very long and wonderful encore. What's a amazing is how he and his band and singers all make it look like it's original, and that it's not a mundane routine. They put all of themselves into it and look like they are all really having a great time and enjoying every moment, even though they are doing basically the same thing night after night.

I bought my ticket in the fan pre-sale, so I, too, got to get in early and meet Dino and Javier. They were very kind and gracious when I spoke to them, like they really enjoyed coming out and chatting with some audience members. I bought a San Diego show poster, a tour programme, and a t-shirt. Someone above said the t-shirts were made of cheap material, but my t-shirt, the official tour t-shirt, is made of organic cotton and it's great. It runs small, though, the large is too small for me, and I usually wear a medium.

My seat was terrible. I was in row W, and the guy sitting in front of me kept tilting his head from left to right. He wasn't moving it in time to the music, he was just randomly moving his head, and it was constant: left, middle, right, back to the left, all the way right, back to the middle, right, left. I kept having to move with him because I was unable to see over his head. Every time he moved, which was every second or so, I had to move, too. Then he started slapping his face in time with the beat. Who does that? It drove me up the wall and was ruining the show for me, not to mention my seat was so far back LC and co. were basically featureless dots. I hate that the pre-sale fan seats were like this. I met one man who bought his ticket just a few hours before the show, he wasn't sure if he was going or not and just decided on the day of the show to see what was available. Well, he was way closer to the front, in the center section. He paid the same price I did, but I got mine weeks ago and I was in hell, he got his a few hours before the show and his seat was great.

During the show I saw that a seat 4 rows ahead of me was empty, so at intermission I moved there. I figured if anyone came to claim it, I'd just move back to my crappy seat. But no one did, and I was a little closer and didn't have weird head moving guy in front of me. I could actually see everything.

When the encores started, I saw people getting up and going down front to sit on the floor in front of the stage, so I joined them. Then some people in the very front orchestra pit chairs left during the encores, so I moved there. I spent most of the encores just feet away from LC, and it was absolutely fantastic. At the beginning of the show I was literally near tears while I was in row W behind weird head moving guy, and then that changed to pure joy by the end of the show. So I guess it worked out in the end, but I'm going to have to wonder about fan pre-sale events for other shows from now on. Maybe I should always wait until Ticketmaster opens up the better seats later, but how could I not grab a seat as quickly as possible when that show was LC?

I'm so glad he came to San Diego, most artists skip over SD and just do LA and San Francisco, as if the nearly 3 million people in the San Diego County area don't count. It was wonderful to see him here and it such a beautiful venue with excellent acoustics.

[MKB]

Didn't notice my shirt had a tag saying "Earth Positive - Climate Neutral" on it, that's definitely cool.
But it just feels very lightweight, and it's black but I can see right through the material. Guess I'm spoiled on Beefy-Ts.
The print is beautiful, I'll definitely wear it a lot, but not on my runs (I'd sweat this thing to shreds way too fast).
Working on getting to LA this Fri and/or Sat!

[MKB]

Somebody on "the Strip" (Newport Street, it's Market Day!) in Ocean Beach told me that he read an article that said Leonard did TWELVE encore songs last night. I had to leave during number 8. What'd I miss?!?
If I go to LA I ain't leaving until they are sweeping up the venue...

[bridger15]

Yesterday I drove down from L.A. to San Diego because I wanted to experience the concert in an intimate setting, a 2200 seat symphony hall. Through various degrees of machinations, I ended up with an aisle seat in the first row of the Pit. What I did not know was that Pit seats are just stack chairs tied together. The evening was so incredibly awesome, I never even noticed whether I was uncomfortable.

The On Call fan pre-sale ticket pick up went quickly and smoothly. I was one of the early Fans to enter the Merch section and bought a few things, including a poster specific to San Diego. As I was about to leave, one of the crew, a nice girl from Toronto wearing a fedora and the Unified heart security badge around her neck, kindly suggested I hang around for a while as there will be a surprise. And the surprise was – some band members came out to the Merch area to meet Fan members.
The first two were Dino Soldo and Javier Mas. She introduced me to both and suggested they sign my San Diego poster. She provided them with a black pen. Dino wrote “Arlene, Thank you” (signed his name) and Javier wrote underneath that, “Con amor” (signed his name.) As there were not many fans there yet, I was able to chat with them at some length. Both are wonderful and charming gentlemen. I was thrilled. When Rafael Bernardo Gayol came out later, I was able to converse with him too. I was so in awe, I forgot to ask him to also sign my poster.

When I chatted with them I mentioned how excited I was to have a first row Pit seat. When the band members were leaving the stage after the final set of encores (but prior to “Whither Thou Goest”) , Javier Mas turned and waved to me. That was such a sweet gesture.

Towards the end of the concert, dozens of younger people came down to the front and crouched before the stage. After the concert ended, they were asking for the set lists. That same nice crew girl in the fedora gave them the ones left on stage and then came out again with a new batch.

As for the concert, I can only refer you to the Grand Prairie report by ProfNowlin, the most exquisite LC concert review written, in my opinion. I can not describe it any better that he did. San Diego specific: No Lullaby, Yes cartwheels, Much fewer band introductions.

One discovery for me at the live concert, is the very important contribution of BOB METZGER to the success of the band. I never picked up on this in all the youtube tour clips, the London Live DVD and CD set. He is an amazing talented musician. He is their solid foundation.
LC has referred to him as the ”Signature of Steady” and the “Architect of the Arpeggio”. I can now understand why LC has wanted him in his troupe all these many years.

[Anastasia]

...Through various degrees of machinations, I ended up with an aisle seat in the first row of the Pit...The On Call fan pre-sale ticket pick up went quickly and smoothly....

Arlene, how were you able to get an orchestra pit seat through the fan pre-sale? They weren't on sale until a week or so before the concert. My fan pre-sale seat was terrible, as were other fan pre-sale people seated around me.

[agonist]

i got a front row center ticket just behind the "golden cirlce" (row bb, seat 109) using the pre-sale. the golden circle was three rows of chairs they put down on the floor just in front of the stage and i was told by a friend that they were selling for $300+ or so and included some extras apart from just a seat. anyway, ticketmaster is always just the luck of the draw. it will be even worse when they merge with live nation.

i don't have the words to adequately describe how amazing and moving the show was, but here's a link to a good write-up which also includes the set list (which i've copy/pasted below).

http://www.signonsandiego.com/entertainment/street/2009/04/senior_moment.html

LEONARD COHEN'S COPLEY SYMPHONY HALL SET LIST
APRIL 7, 2009

First set
1. Dance Me to the End of Love
2. The Future
3. Ain't No Cure for Love
4. Bird on the Wire
5. Everybody Knows
6. In My Secret Life
7. Who By Fire
8. Chelsea Hotel #2
9. Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye
10. Anthem

Second set
11. Tower of Song
12. Suzanne
13. The Gypsy's Wife
14. The Partisan
15. Boogie Street (Sharon Robinson solo)
16. Hallelujah
17. I'm Your Man
18. A Thousand Kisses Deep
19. Take This Waltz

First encore
20. So Long, Marianne
21. First We Take Manhattan

Second encore
22. Famous Blue Raincoat
23. If It Be Your Will (the Webb sisters duet)
24. Democracy

Third encore
25. That Don't Make It Junk
26. Closing Time

Fourth encore
27. I Tried to Leave You
28. Whither Thou Goest

[surfergirl]

Sweet! Bridger -- incredible!