CONCERT REPORT: Oslo, Norway, August 6, 2010

July 25 - December 11, 2010. Concert reports, set lists, photos, media coverage, multimedia links, recollections...
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Geoffrey
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Oslo, August 6, 2010

Post by Geoffrey »

jazz4111 wrote:
>If I knew this kind of ludicrous psychobabble speculation blah blah blah . . . Leonard and Marianne were and are both incredibly kind, loving and respectful people . . .


Not like you then, miseryguts.
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musicmania
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Oslo, August 6, 2010

Post by musicmania »

Geoffrey wrote: how would she feel to know that Marianne was "always the one"? Any thoughts?
Is what you said and my comment "And how would Anjani feel? I will be listening out for these lyrics in Katowice" was a follow on from that. I was only pointing out that you were leaving out Anjani in YOUR theory. Thats right Geoffrey, your theory, not mine. I was at the Sligo gig and don't recollect Leonard singing that line, maybe he did and maybe he didn't but lets get one thing straight I am not questioning Leonards integrity and never was and I do not appreciate the way you twisted your line of questioning back on me like that.
2009 Dublin 2010 Lissadell Katowice LV x2 2012 Ghent x2 Dublin x4 Montreal x2 Toronto x2 2013 New York x2 Brussels Dublin x2

Gwen's Leonard Cohen Journey: http://myleonardcohenjourney.wordpress.com/

"I did my best, it wasn't much"
Elsie
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Oslo, August 6, 2010

Post by Elsie »

What can I say?

I saw Leonard in Oslo in July 2008 and then again in Oslo Spektrum last Friday, and each time I thought it just doesn't get any better.... this can't be topped. But it happens over and over again, everywhere. It's amazing how they manage to turn each performance into a special one, I mean - so intimate, even with 8000 or 12000 people present - the songs come to you wrapped in velvet and silk - and there is silence, deep respect, joy and gratitude all around. How can they go on, night after night after night, creating heaven on earth? It's amazing! Leonard looks fit and happy, his charisma is beyond words, the band members are smiling, you've got to believe they are having a good time, too.

I just read Dino's note on Facebook: Dear Mom, thank you for my life.

I feel so privileged to witness all this beauty happening. And I don't know what I came here to say, and I don't even know what I said. But Thank You, Leonard. I love you.

....
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musicmania
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Oslo, August 6, 2010

Post by musicmania »

Elsie wrote:What can I say?

I saw Leonard in Oslo in July 2008 and then again in Oslo Spektrum last Friday, and each time I thought it just doesn't get any better.... this can't be topped. But it happens over and over again, everywhere. It's amazing how they manage to turn each performance into a special one, I mean - so intimate, even with 8000 or 12000 people present - the songs come to you wrapped in velvet and silk - and there is silence, deep respect, joy and gratitude all around. How can they go on, night after night after night, creating heaven on earth? It's amazing! Leonard looks fit and happy, his charisma is beyond words, the band members are smiling, you've got to believe they are having a good time, too.

I just read Dino's note on Facebook: Dear Mom, thank you for my life.

I feel so privileged to witness all this beauty happening. And I don't know what I came here to say, and I don't even know what I said. But Thank You, Leonard. I love you.

....
You said it all Elsie. Beautiful summary.
2009 Dublin 2010 Lissadell Katowice LV x2 2012 Ghent x2 Dublin x4 Montreal x2 Toronto x2 2013 New York x2 Brussels Dublin x2

Gwen's Leonard Cohen Journey: http://myleonardcohenjourney.wordpress.com/

"I did my best, it wasn't much"
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sturgess66
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Oslo, August 6, 2010

Post by sturgess66 »

Another good video uploaded by "itriedtoleaveyou" - Thanks!!

"The Future" -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZFgjycq_9k

I think this is "Anne R" ?

The other two most excellent videos were already posted here in the thread -
"If It Be Your Will" - beautiful video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZFgjycq_9k
-and-
"Tower of Song"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3mmxlp5ngE
KjeXXXer
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Oslo, August 6, 2010

Post by KjeXXXer »

I can not recall any alternative lyrics being sung during Waiting For The Miracle.
Having seen LC three times now, I think this last gig falls short of the two previous, mainly due to the lack of a dance floor and audience participation during the great sing along moments such as Hallelujah. Still a good show!

Geoffrey, I find your pontifications both pointless and insipid, and also a little insulting to the women involved - as if they were vulnerable, insecure and weak little girls who are unable to accept that there have been other women in his life. These are grown women who's world does not collapse just because the man loved others before or after their own involvement. Also I'm sure Lenny has done what he should to put them at ease.
Now you've got the gist of what my lettuce meant.
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Anne R
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Oslo, August 6, 2010

Post by Anne R »

sturgess66 wrote:Another good video uploaded by "itriedtoleaveyou" - Thanks!!

I think this is "Anne R" ?
:D I have uploaded those, but "someone close to me" has filmed. I'm hardly able to handle myself during a concert, not to say any camera. Glad you enjoyed them. Have some more, but have problems with the uploading. Will try again later.
1976 Oslo | 1979 Oslo | 1985 Oslo x 2 | 1988 Oslo | 1993 Oslo | 2008 Manchester, Oslo, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Helsinki | 2009 New York, Langesund, Barcelona | 2010 Oslo, Helsinki, Las Vegas x2 |2012 Helsinki, (Verona)| 2013 Oslo
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lizzytysh
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Oslo, August 6, 2010

Post by lizzytysh »

What might the inaccuracy be if "you were always the one" was Leonard's reference to G-d... in spite of the women who have been in his life?

Or, perhaps, in one way or another, EACH and EVERY woman was always "the one" in some particular way, unshared by the others?

Maybe... yes, there was the one who Leonard feels to have been "the one" ~ as most of us have in our lives, a fairly well understood phenomenon.

I've just backtracked to find your anecdote, jazz. It is lovely, indeed. From what I've heard many men say, many women have played the role that Geoffrey describes with regard to the men close to them in their lives with their inherent wisdom. A lovely attribute that seems fairly widely appreciated by men.

You're right, of course, how neither of these people, whom you knew and interacted with personally way back then, and at least some since, deserve the dissection. [Of course, that doesn't allow for one of Geoffrey's favourite pastimes, does it Geoffrey ;). On that note, Geoffrey ~ Please don't be insulting to jazz4111. She's an intelligent and good woman undeserving of your harsh, inappropriate, and unfitting words.]



~ Lizzy
"Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken."
~ Oscar Wilde
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Geoffrey
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Oslo, August 6, 2010

Post by Geoffrey »

'KjeXXXer' wrote:
>I find your pontifications . . . a little insulting to the women involved

'lizzytysh' wrote:
>Geoffrey ~ Please don't be insulting to jazz4111.


So you wish to continue looking at these two songs 'Bird on the Wire' (BotW) and 'So Long, Marianne' (SLM). All right, let us do so, and perhaps try to ascertain who might be insulting who.

The price of a woman's 'love' is imprisonment of the soul, the proverbial 'ball and chain'. A man loses his freedom to an unstable creature who suffers huge monthly hormonal swings and generally plays havoc with his life. Having sex with them is nice, but boy does one pay for it - and Leonard knows this. A man is just a worm, saved from the beak of a bird only to be used as bait for a fish - hence the line from (BotW): "Like a worm on a hook I have tried to be free". And in the second song (SLM) he likens woman to an insect, an arachnid: "I'm standing on a ledge and your spider web is fastening my ankle to a stone." He uses an insulting metaphor to acknowledge that she is 'saving' him. But perhaps, as the intelligent poster called 'jazz4111' insultingly commented (without expanding, naturally), all this is just "ludicrous psychobabble" - and Leonard's descriptions (like mine) were merely an unfortunate choice of words.
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TipperaryAnn
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Oslo, August 6, 2010

Post by TipperaryAnn »

Geoffrey wrote: he likens woman to an insect, an arachnid: "I'm standing on a ledge and your fine spider web is fastening my ankle to a stone." He uses an insulting metaphor to acknowledge that she is 'saving' him.
Geoffrey, it's interesting how interpretations of lines can vary. I've never thought of him being "saved" here; my image is of a bird poised on a ledge, ready to take off, but being restrained and prevented from doing so by the fine spider web which fastens his ankle to a stone, the proverbial "ball and chain" you mention. One of the many things I admire about Leonard is his honesty, and most men AND women would surely have to admit that a sustained relationship invloves curtailment of liberty. Which is better, freedom or love? You win some you lose some... Leonard is still pondering that in his recent song "Feels so good" : freedom is "flying off the shelf", but love is "something else".
I don't see the spider metaphor as insulting ; just a recognition of reality. Unless of course you hate spiders, which I don't - I gather you're not too fond of some creepy crawlies....the hammer?!!!..... :shock:
Forget your perfect offering -
There is a crack in everything...
terok
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Oslo, Sweden, August 6, 2010

Post by terok »

CONCERT REPORT: Oslo, Sweden, August 6, 2010
I don't want to split hairs, but I think some Norwegians might have a little problem with the title of this thread.
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sturgess66
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Oslo, Sweden, August 6, 2010

Post by sturgess66 »

terok wrote:
CONCERT REPORT: Oslo, Sweden, August 6, 2010
I don't want to split hairs, but I think some Norwegians might have a little problem with the title of this thread.
Re: CONCERT REPORT: Oslo, Sweden, August 6, 2010
Good point terok. What has happened????
Did Sweden become a rogue nation during the night?
And what about Norway?
What has happened?
Does Norway even still exist?

I just rushed and turned on my TV to FoxNews where I knew I could get a fair and balanced perspective about this.
But - there was nothing!
Nothing about this in the news!!
Not a word.

Last night, Leonard and the UHTC took Berlin.
Now Sweden has taken Oslo?

Aha!!! I think I get it.
Norway just shook the dice - was not allowed to pass go, and could not collect $200??
It's Monopoly!!! :lol: :lol:
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Geoffrey
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Oslo, Sweden, August 6, 2010

Post by Geoffrey »

TipperaryAnn wrote:
>One of the many things I admire about Leonard is his honesty, and most men AND women would surely have to admit that a sustained relationship involves curtailment of liberty. Which is better, freedom or love? You win some you lose some.

All right, let us continue our examination that began earlier in this thread when a poster called 'clo' (after learning that Marianne was in the Oslo audience) wrote that she would "dearly love to know what it must have felt like to hear, not only Leonard, but 10,000 people passionately singing the chorus of So Long, Marianne". I subsequently pointed out that in the usage of words, Leonard is a master of precision, and that in the lyrics he chose to call Marianne a spider, one of the most abhored of all insects. Not an oxygen mask, a liferaft or a safety belt, but a black, hairy-legged, venomous creature that captures and sucks the very life out of anything that passes by. I am a person who shuns controversy, who takes a wide berth at the slightest hint of troublemaking, but I also reluctantly confess to being one of the most intuitive and perceptive people around. I have a natural flair for knowing when one person is having a little 'dig' at another, and this is one such 'dig'. People react when I point out that there could be a flaw in their 'perfect' vision, and the ensuing discomfort created by my wisdom is for me an unpleasant experience. But I take solace in the belief that though I stand alone, perhaps I am the crack where the light gets in. The fact is that Leonard wrote this song at the end of his affair. It is not a song that says "Hello", but a song of "Farewell" - a song that says "Goodbye"! It is a song of celebration, a dance song, written in three beats to the bar, waltz time - Leonard's favourite dance. So, to the question: "What must it have felt like to hear 10,000 people singing So Long, Marianne?" I suppose the answer would depend upon whether or not one likes spiders.
KjeXXXer
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Oslo, August 6, 2010

Post by KjeXXXer »

Geoffrey wrote:
The price of a woman's 'love' is imprisonment of the soul, the proverbial 'ball and chain'. A man loses his freedom to an unstable creature who suffers huge monthly hormonal swings and generally plays havoc with his life. Having sex with them is nice, but boy does one pay for it
Maybe. If one doesn't know how to handle women in the right way, one could certainly end up in a situation like that.
Now you've got the gist of what my lettuce meant.
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Geoffrey
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Oslo, August 6, 2010

Post by Geoffrey »

[please excuse the number of editing this little message of mine has been afforded. long story involving a siamese cat tired of waiting for a hug, who jumped onto the computer keyboard]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TipperaryAnn wrote:
>a sustained relationship involves curtailment of liberty. Which is better, freedom or love?

Cate wrote:
>you may not get bitten but you will most likely get spit upon.

make no mistake. leonard - like any person locked for a decade in the same relationship - was happy to get his freedom back. probably marianne too. let's say it was mutual. after ten years the dry rot sets well and truly into any relationship. there's no excitement any more, one knows what the other one is going to say long before they say it. i've heard of couples being together for donkeys' years, who lie through their back teeth claiming they're still in love, but don't hand me a glass of goat's piss and tell me it's lemonade because i am not the blue-eyed little half-wit people seem to take me for. familiarity breeds boredom, the essential ingredient to any war. either all conversation ceases and a cold silence prevails, or else there is constant arguing and spitting. rest assured, love is a notoriously ephemeral piece of lego upon which to build a house.
Last edited by Geoffrey on Sat Aug 21, 2010 12:44 am, edited 5 times in total.
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