Dear Friends,
An article was published in one of the Hungarian musical portals about yesterday's event. This is not a word for word translation, I summarized the main points, tried to focus on the unique ones.
The link (Hungarian version, with pictures)
http://quart.hu/cikk.php?id=4111
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The musician's body is the song: Leonard Cohen in Budapest
An elevating, overwhelming experience.
The author talks about LC's origins, how his sound was unique even in the 60s, how he was not fashionable but had a hardcore fanbase. He fills the Arena easily (Papp László Sports Arena "The Pebble", can hold 12.500 people
http://en.budapestarena.hu/html/), while at a Britney Spears concert there was only half-house. The concert holds no surprises, the song list is the same as in Prague (with one exception), every moment is well-rehearsed, but it is to its advantage.
The event is like theatre, but in the good sense. It feels like the excellent band plays to support the reward performance of the actor king. One expects from a theatre performance no original texts, but that it should be inspired and inspirational.
The ensemble is accomplished: the instrument solos are beautiful, the three vocalists show a talent that is on the verge of being out of this world.
Cohen is irresistible: a lean, fragile, elderly figure, with eyes fixed downwards and his hat pulled into his eyes almost all along. Only when he bows, taking off his hat in front of the arena full of people who applaude standing up, does every individual feel that his bow is a response to their applause alone. I have never been to a full-house concert in the Arena which had so many intimate moments. ...
Judging from the applauses most of the audience understood and knew the lyrics....
When Cohen got to the point: "I've been dreaming about you, baby", in
Waiting For The Miracle, time and everything else stopped in the arena. That was the only time when he had his eyes wide open. ...
During the song "Halleluja", even my fried, whose soul is hard as a rock, smeared a teardrop in the corner of his eye.
Theatre, as we know, is a ritual. Certain words are said and sung in a specific order so that every member of the audience can connect to something that is hidden so deeply inside them that they have no awareness of it. And to connect to something infinitely large, that is impossible to communicate with in any other way. The bridge in between is the song, the people only operate it, even if they are the chosen ones. This role can only be played by someone who is perfectly identical with the songs he is singing. Leonard Cohen thanks the audience for keeping his songs alive for years: I must say, we are the ones who must be grateful.
These strange, sublime words are difficult to write down, but the concert was like that and this is what the performance deserves. I would like to participate once at an event held at a smaller place with an audience of only 200 people, but it I will only see that in my dreams. Yesterday was such a magnificent experience that I do not even regret that."
A touching report, I think
