CONCERT REPORTS: Sydney, Australia, November 8 & 9, 2010

July 25 - December 11, 2010. Concert reports, set lists, photos, media coverage, multimedia links, recollections...
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graham.putt
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Location: Hamilton, New Zealand

Re: CONCERT REPORT: Sydney, Australia, Nov. 8-9, 2010

Post by graham.putt »

Great photos Pete,

I had similar good fortune and sat middle of the front row, pretty much right in front or slightly inside the girls. We must have been sitting close by.
It was a fantastic night and a real buzz to hear Avalanche and A Singer Must Die, that section of songs at the start of act 2 with Tower of Song and him on guitar for Suzanne, Sisters and Gypsy Wife is absolutely fantastic and I thought especially so on this night with the extra songs. Everything is so brilliantly in place, right down to the lighting that is supurb. How a show can appeal to such a huge crowd but be so filled with subtlety and beauty amazes me at every viewing.
I am back from seeing 4 shows, 3 NZ and this one in OZ so I am struggling to get back to normal. . .. I actually wondered if I had gone too many but right now am sad it is over and looking rather longingly at Hanging Rock in Victoria! Is anyone else here going to this one. . ?

Long live the great man (and these fantastic shows)!

graham
If your life is a leaf that the seasons tear off and condemn
They will bind you with love that is graceful and green as a stem


Sydney Jan 09, Las Vegas Nov 09, San Jose Nov 09, Auck Oct 10, Wgtn Nov 10, Chch Nov 10, Syd Nov 10, Auck Dec 13
skipper1967
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Sydney, Australia, Nov. 8-9, 2010

Post by skipper1967 »

Thanks to all for the kind remarks on my snaps.

Graham, I was in seat 24 Sec B.

I am off to Hanging Rock next weekend, might see you there.

Cheers
Pete
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graham.putt
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Sydney, Australia, Nov. 8-9, 2010

Post by graham.putt »

Hi,

We were indeed very close! I was section B seat 22. Good spot!

I looked at tix for Hanging Rock and I saw one in row G was up for grabs. . ... I am not sure I will be able to tell anyone I am going they will think I am completely mad but the more I think about it!

graham
If your life is a leaf that the seasons tear off and condemn
They will bind you with love that is graceful and green as a stem


Sydney Jan 09, Las Vegas Nov 09, San Jose Nov 09, Auck Oct 10, Wgtn Nov 10, Chch Nov 10, Syd Nov 10, Auck Dec 13
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Mikeaus
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Sydney, Australia, Nov. 8-9, 2010

Post by Mikeaus »

Yes Graham, we are off to Hanging Rock. The venue is similar to Lissadell Ireland (i.e. outdoors) and if we get the same atmosphere we will be in for one of the most amazing concerts ever.
Sydney & Bowral 2009. Lissadell Sligo July 2010 (what a night!). Sydney & Hanging Rock November 2010. Bimbadgen Winery, Hunter Valley, Nov 2013. Sydney Opera House, Dec 2013.
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graham.putt
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Sydney, Australia, Nov. 8-9, 2010

Post by graham.putt »

My first time was Hunter Valley outdoor show, lovely day, sun going down and I have been absolutely hooked ever since.

It is a heady brew .. .

f
If your life is a leaf that the seasons tear off and condemn
They will bind you with love that is graceful and green as a stem


Sydney Jan 09, Las Vegas Nov 09, San Jose Nov 09, Auck Oct 10, Wgtn Nov 10, Chch Nov 10, Syd Nov 10, Auck Dec 13
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mutti
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Location: somewhere in the Pacific Northwest

Re: CONCERT REPORT: Sydney, Australia, Nov. 8-9, 2010

Post by mutti »

Greetings Graham and Mikeaus
Thanks everyone for all these posts and keeping us connected all over the world as we follow the concerts.
Graham! go for it!!! I will miss you in Las Vegas this year. I still remember emailing you and your reply when I had heard LC was coming back to Australia! and as Mikeaus (greetings to you too kind gentle man) Lissadell was great and so I imagine Hanging Rock will be too.
If you can at all do it Graham do it!
people likely already think you are crazy! (I know what that feels like)
how fortunate you have been to the recent 4 so either way it all sounds good.
Mutti/Leslie :D
1988 Vancouver
2009 Victoria/Seattle/Almost Red Rocks/Las Vegas/San Jose.
2010 Sligo x 2/Victoria/Vancouver/Portland/Las Vegas x 2.
2012 Austin x 2/Seattle/Vancouver/Montreal x 2.
2013 Oakland x 2/New York City x 2/Winnipeg...
jeanne
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Location: florida

Re: CONCERT REPORT: Sydney, Australia, Nov. 8-9, 2010

Post by jeanne »

Mikeaus....I have been following the tour, with all the wonderful pics and videos, silently thanking all of you for this fantasric trip...Your video put me right there, with the audience,clapping with them, feeling every emotion, overflowing with tears and marveling at this fantastic man.....he stands alone...no equal anywhere.....I thank you for sharing....and all the others who have shared their live experience with us...I will be in Vegas and hope to give a proper thank you to those who will be there... To those who will not, I stand and applaud you, as the wonderful messengers of Leonard............Thank you.......Jeanne
"there is a crack in everything.that's how the light gets in " Florence 2010 - las vegas 2010....hope for Hydra......Hydra no longer a hope......now a reality..
"when the gods want to punish you, they answer your prayers"
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sturgess66
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Sydney, Australia, Nov. 8-9, 2010

Post by sturgess66 »

Two good videos from 11/8/10 show -

Uploaded by "mgwfall" - Thanks!

"Ain't No Cure For Love"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE5oxY7baqI

"Hallelujah"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPYe7z4S7Vc
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AlanM
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Location: Adelaide, Australia

Re: CONCERT REPORT: Sydney, Australia, Nov. 8-9, 2010

Post by AlanM »

Tower Of Song A.jpg
LC is kneeling
LC is kneeling
2010 Sydney Angels A.jpg
Still got 1 more - will add it as another posting.
Alan
Too much Leonard Cohen is never enough.
London 1972, Adelaide 1980, 1985, 2009
Sydney 2010; Adelaide 2010
Sydney 2013 X2; Melbourne 2013; Adelaide 2013
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AlanM
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Sydney, Australia, Nov. 8-9, 2010

Post by AlanM »

Re dlc's report on page 1:
Closing Time: Leonard gave a brief spoken intro: "Thank you for climbing up to those high places, I really appreciate it ... I'd love to stay all night." He then quickly
checked his wrist watch before adding "I feel maybe we've stayed too long already. Now it's Closing Time". I'm guessing the latter referrs obliquely to working to a curfew. Leonard also gave a very touching extended version of the spoken outro to this song, giving the usual lines about how "they're stacking up the chairs" but also offering very gracious and sincere thanks to the audience. After the usual line about how they've turned off the Budweiser sign, he warned us "the parking lot's kind of dark so make sure you don't get into someone else's car. Then drive to somebody else's home."
All the photos, including mine, show LC's watch face on the outside of his wrist, but I'm pretty sure he looked at the inside of his wrist!
2010 Sydney LC A.jpg
Still got to work on my "Avalanche" video - might need some guidance to upload it. Stuffed up "A Singer Must Die" unfortunately.

I had another reason to visit Sydney, as well as catching up with family and friends.
Meet "Morganlea Roscoe On Bass". He comes home early next month.
Guess who chose the name! Hope Mr B doesn't mind.
Roscoe On Bass.jpg
Alan
Too much Leonard Cohen is never enough.
London 1972, Adelaide 1980, 1985, 2009
Sydney 2010; Adelaide 2010
Sydney 2013 X2; Melbourne 2013; Adelaide 2013
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sturgess66
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Sydney, Australia, Nov. 8-9, 2010

Post by sturgess66 »

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/enterta ... 17rtw.html
Eternal Allure of Sex, Creed and Rock'n'roll
John Mangan
November 13, 2010

Image
Rapturous reception... Leonard Cohen performs.
Photo: John Woudstra


LEONARD COHEN has never enjoyed chart success. Even his anthem Hallelujah was a flop when it was released – though it has since been hailed as one of the greatest songs ever written.

But now Sydney is basking in a sustained love affair with the 76-year-old Canadian, whose concerts have been greeted with rapturous applause and multiple standing ovations.

Last week Cohen played two shows at Acer Arena to swooning fans who described the show as like being "in heaven".
Advertisement: Story continues below

Cohen's songs have been covered by everyone from k.d. lang to the late Jeff Buckley, whose cover of Hallelujah was propelled to the top of the iTunes download charts in 2008 after a contestant performed the song on American Idol.

That Christmas, the British winner of The X Factor, Alexandra Burke, topped the British charts with her rendition. Many of his fans' parents were not even born when Cohen released his first album in 1967.

But former Sydney Festival director Brett Sheehy is no latecomer, his fascination with Cohen going back three decades.

"I've had a long personal journey with Cohen," he says.

At school, Sheehy's year 11 teacher allowed him to write about Cohen while all his classmates were doing Shelley, Wordsworth and Keats.

Cohen was born into a Jewish family in Montreal and later embraced Buddhism. Paul Cashmere, founder of Australian music website Undercover.fm, says Cohen transcends time and place. "In the music biz we see the overnight sensations, the one-hit wonders and the superstars all the time.

"Leonard Cohen was never any of those. He has never been in fashion, so therefore he will never be out of fashion. He has never been a music industry product. People connect with him because he's real."

Cohen's work has traversed themes of love, sex, religion, depression and music itself.

Singer Dan Sultan, who is supporting one of Cohen's Melbourne shows,

expects an emotional night: "[There'll be] humility and a lot of excitement, and a lot of nerves."

Clare Bowditch, the support act for Cohen's Sydney shows, says his songs are so enduring "because he puts so much love into it, because he wrote these songs as though he were tending to his prize roses, because of his heart, and the fact that he wasn't afraid to be sexy and broken his whole life. He is a master storyteller."

Cashmere agrees: "A hundred years from now people will still be listening to Leonard Cohen. I doubt they'll be listening to Lady Gaga."
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AlanM
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Location: Adelaide, Australia

Re: CONCERT REPORT: Sydney, Australia, Nov. 8-9, 2010

Post by AlanM »

I have a good (I think) video of Avalanche from 8Nov in Sydney taken from front row.
I have not uploaded before and need some guidance.
I have created a YouTube account and a Google account, but when I try to access either, all I get is a nearly blank screen with "Redirecting" on the tab title, and alternating messages "waiting for http://www.google.com" and "waiting for http://www.youtube.com" at the bottom left.
The indicator bottom right goes from empty to full in 1-2 seconds then starts again.
I have left it for quite a few minutes and it just keeps repeating.
Can someone help me, please.
Thank you in anticipation,
Alan

Thank you for the help from my Cohenite friends.
I have solved the upload problem - just sign up for gmail!
New problem with Picasa - when I create video for upload the lip sync gets lost.
Still working on that one!
Alan


Don't "create video" - just upload raw file from camera or file edited in another program.
Link in next post.
Alan
Last edited by AlanM on Wed Nov 17, 2010 11:28 am, edited 2 times in total.
Too much Leonard Cohen is never enough.
London 1972, Adelaide 1980, 1985, 2009
Sydney 2010; Adelaide 2010
Sydney 2013 X2; Melbourne 2013; Adelaide 2013
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sturgess66
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Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Re: CONCERT REPORT: Sydney, Australia, Nov. 8-9, 2010

Post by sturgess66 »

Hi Alan - I'm not sure about the problem you are having - but I would suggest clearing "recent history." That might end the strange behaviour! :shock:
If you click on "Tools" at the top right of your screen - there should be something that says "Clear Recent History"
You will have to reenter passwords again when you access sites - but it might clear up your problem.
Once you sign back into YouTube, you should be able to click on "Upload" at the top left side - and then find the video on your computer.
Worth a try.

We need to get that baby on YouTube. :lol: :lol: 8) :lol:
mark sawyer
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Sydney, Australia, Nov. 8-9, 2010

Post by mark sawyer »

(for the more general audience, but may yield insights)
Leonard Cohen, Acer Arena, Sydney
November 9, 2010
As two and a half hours of the most exquisite concert came to a close, the crowd at the Acer Arena were demanding more.
I turned to my wife to say there were still two songs that must be played. Within moments the Cohen ensemble were reassembled. A light strum of the guitar, and the thrill ran through me. So Long Marianne. At song’s end - not as sweet as on record, but sweet nonetheless - I told my spouse, one down, one to go. LC spoke as much as sang into the mic – ‘‘it’s four in the morning, the end of December....’’ Famous Blue Raincoat!
If only life was as perfect as this, although it would be life lived on an intense plane.
My expectations were a little low. The venue didn’t auger well.
Acer Arena isn’t cosy, it’s a long way from my place, and the seats faced people as lucky as us on the far side of the auditorium who had no better a view of the stage. Watching the miniature troupe of performers meant you had to crane your neck rightwards; even one of the video screens was blocked by a lighting rig.
I had anticipated a pleasant, luvvy-style runthrough of 43 years of merrie melodies for a bunch of comfortably off and socially aware people.
Cohen has undertaken his recent tours because of a financial crises involving embezzled funds, so he could have easily delivered a very safe, comfy, set of songs. And he made what I forlornly thought, having missed it, was a farewell tour of Australia as recently as summer 2009.
I didn’t count on a 76-year-old’s capacity to surprise.
Bird on a Wire, a celebrated lyric on a dull tune, was dispatched early; better yet, Hallelujah came and went with no grandstanding. This is a genuine modern classic about which much has been said; all I can add is that not one of Cohen’s peers – Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen, Brian Wilson, Paul McCartney – has written anything remotely approaching its impact after the age of 40, let alone 50 (it came out in 1984, when Cohen was 50).
Every album except the madhouse Phil Spector collaboration Death of a Ladies Man was visited. Dance Me to the End of Love opened, and the jarring aesthetics of the venue were quickly forgotten. Sisters of Mercy, so gentle. Avalanche, such self-loathing. New songs that match the old. Just a little reticence – Cohen doesn’t seem to still want ‘‘crack and anal sex’’ as he sang in 1992’s The Future.
There’s a touch of Mr Bojangles (the old soft shoe) in Cohen, when he does a quickstep and doffs his hat. It’s a shtick, but there seems to be genuine humility, shown in his frequent salutations to the audience and the generous and florid introductions (yes, two introductions) to the backing ensemble.
Grumps such as Reed, Morrison and Dylan could learn from the old stager before they turn 76. (‘‘I know it’s a school night,’’ Cohen jested towards the end, though most of the kids from this audience would have left school by now).
The back-up was sublime, and there were transcendent moments of interaction between Cohen and his guitarist, the Spaniard Javier Mas. No country for old men? I have rarely seen two men of such age so engrossed in their performance.
Cohen songwriting collaborator Sharon Robinson first toured with him in 1979, and takes pride of place in the three-woman choir, though the Webb sisters certainly deserved kudos for ‘‘acrobatics’’ – they did a backflip, unfortunately only once.
The Partisan, a WWII Resistance song, was more moving than on record. Was that a shiver running down my spine during the French verses?
My eyes got misty for just a moment as his face went into close-up during Suzanne (Leonard Cohen in here. Singing Suzanne. In the same room as me. In 2010.) But I’m OK now.
What more can I say ... this was a concert that delivered songcraft, entertainment, and even that much-abused word, hope. Cohen, jeeringly called Laughing Lennie when I was a kid, makes the world a happier place.
I never thought I’d want to thank the person who has forced him off the Mount Baldy Buddhist retreat and back to work.
He didn’t give us Hey That’s No Way to Say Goodbye – 2011 maybe?
- By Mark Sawyer
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sturgess66
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Sydney, Australia, Nov. 8-9, 2010

Post by sturgess66 »

Thanks for your recap Mark Sawyer.
And glad you didn't miss him this time 'round! :D

More video -

Uploaded by "petarss" - Thanks!

Not sure which Sydney show this is from - but it's a good video.

"First We Take Manhattan" :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_VUXM6mnJg
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