The Spell of Leonard Cohen
Sunday • September 29, 2013 - 2:46 a.m. - Miriam Channels
On September 15 last presented at the 02 Arena London was Canadian singer-songwriter, who at nearly 80 years still seduces with his unique voice, his songs and his music - both fans who have followed him from the sixties and those who I just discovered.
Photo: Messe Congress Graz
London • It was believed that the show was over, that his life was going to a Buddhist monastery, but fate-or embezzlement from his former representative, charged him again on the way to continue offering music concerts around the world. First he conquered Manhattan, then Berlin ... and this time London at the O2 Arena.
"I do not know when we will meet again, but tonight give everything you have." Cohen was sincere at the beginning of his only date in that city before heading to the Netherlands and Australia and promoting his album in the fall of 2012 Old ideas. Latin America is not among geographic plans. His advanced age and his desire to leave the suit and tie by meditation could once again divert his musical vocation, as it did in the mid-nineties. That night belonged and was In Love and catch it with their best weapon: her voice.
During those days the British capital was wrapped in cold, rain, news about the threat of invasion of Syria and the premiere of the biopic of Princess Diana and the monarchy fruitful scandalous gossip. The rapid and pervasive tourism everywhere pervaded the city despite the bad weather and the end of the season. It was a September 15 that Mexico celebrated his Grito de Independencia and listen to Cohen in the UK was at least patriotic. Maybe its ancient and loyal fans should thank Kelley Lynch, his former manager, by stealing all their assets escape and forcing him to return to the stage to regain its status and earn the right to be a monk.
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"Dance me to the end of love" was the first song that came from his experienced throat to pour the tears of some attendees and did not stop at the next three hours. Began at 19:45 and 22:20 at night, after 27 songs, the outcome never seemed to arrive. In the Federal District, The Cure achieved a similar feat during his presentation in April at the Foro Sol Cohen is 25 years older than Robert Smith and is able to undertake a long concert proportions, but with 39 minutes intermission. Not wanting to say goodbye to a town where his recitals have been numerous, but more and more sporadic. In Mexico there has never been any hint of their lights ... and it seems that there never will be.
The Canadian singer looks dashing at 79, who turned 21 last September. Fragile-looking, but with a powerful voice able to move and excite an audience of mostly middle age. It was a conventional rock concert or boys headed for Mexican circumstances that would make any kind of scandal. None of stridency or din ... at least until the second half, after intermission, when the euphoria exploded and some shouted words like "I love you". Still others imitated their dress and black hats and ties predominated. The British veterans are phlegmatic and serious and need some beer to elaborate and put aside shyness, unlike the younger audience and casual that you received in the spring of 2008 during his presentation at the Coachella Festival in Indio, California , right in your return period. Awards as the Prince of Asturias of letters waiting for him for three years acquis.
There are "old ideas", but a renewal in his career and a number of new songs waiting to be touched and memorialized on par with their old songs like "Hallelujah", "Take this waltz" or the perennial "Suzanne". In Old ideas can be found high bill issues and sophistication as initial "Darkness" or "Come healing" and sweet female vocals and portentous ballads like "going home" and "Amen": "Tell me again when I'm clean and sober / Tell me again When I've seen through the horror / Tell me again, tell me over and over / tell me that you want me then / Amen, amen ". (Tell me again when you are sober and clean, tell me again when you have seen the horror, tell me again and again that I want. Amen).
Cohen is not English nor irreverent rocker, but has been a strong influence for many of them and some of his contemporaries who have been about to reach its most extreme age and libertine like the Rolling Stones. Bands like U2 or REM have paid homage on albums like I'm your fan (1991). Other recent concerts have offered lived on British soil, as Roger Waters with a new facet of the tour The Wall, also Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen. Perhaps he had not died 20 years ago, his contemporary Serge Gainsbourg had reached their level. Canada has continued to present at the scene with novice artists like Justin Bieber, Grimes and the band Arcade Fire for different audiences, youth or even hipsters can not ignore the image of his godfather though not share the same musical trend.
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What moves us today to see if Cohen is not fashion artist and has been redesigned to accommodate the new trends for the youth? Maybe just a little bit of nostalgia, appreciating a masterpiece made by a real artist or just the feeling of knowing that at any moment will be the last time you're standing, singing and not filling stadiums modest sums of money, as a £ 70 ticket, and a trip of over 11 hours and airlines flights unpredictable questionable services. Listening implies then a price beyond economics, but a huge reward, as a rite of passage.
The O2 Arena has great dimensions, had hosted a concert of the farewell tour of Michael Jackson, scheduled in July 2009, not for his untimely death. To get there you need to use the metro (underground, as it is called in London) and get off at North Greenwich, that despite the rain and cold is quick and tidy getting crowds. In September, the meeting was also expected to Fleetwood Mac in the same enclosure, but Cohen transformed him that night in a small intimate place, like the living room of a house where they meet old friends who have stopped frecuentarse.
In certain intervals took the opportunity to recite some of his poems in a calm, melancholy and a touch of subtle sexiness. "Like a bird on a wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir, I have tried in my way to be free". (Like a bird on a wire, like drunk in a midnight choir I try to find a way to free "). Words of "Bird on a wire".
The songs on this Canadian emanate feelings. Although he maintains little eye contact with the audience, he prostrates to him by way of reverence, reflecting his passion and appreciation. "Thank you for not going home," he said. Cohen has a dry sense of humor to joke, you can be funny without losing an iota of seriousness. "You think this is the best that I can do? Then see this other ". He referred to his impetuous style of playing the keyboard with his elbow while the English public burst into laughter and celebrating his jocularity. His years are not an obstacle if it is a joke ... or the distance between Mexico and Britain in witness. "Everybody knows" is remembered for the scenes of the film in which the actress Exotica Mia Kirschner schoolgirl uniform danced and acted Cohen's voice of leitmotif accompanying.
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Love and women are another critical piece of its history, songs and muses that have come his life as "Suzanne", inspired by Suzanne Verdal, the wife of sculptor Armand Vaillancourt and "So Long, Marianne" created by the influence of Marianne Jensen , "the most beautiful woman he had known" and who found his way through the Greek island of Hydra in his transition from poet to singer. His relationship with actress Rebecca de Mornay seems to be trail or homage ... or his film career, although the memory of Janis Joplin and her song "Chelsea Hotel".
The band accompanying Cohen on this tour consists of musicians of different nationalities, little known but skilled and experienced, as American bassist Roscoe Beck, the chorus of voices deep and enveloping: Sharon Robinson and sisters Charley and Hattie Webb English; Spanish guitarist Javier Mas, the Moldovan Alexandru Bublitchi, whom he addressed as "the best violinist in the world", and percussionist Rafael Bernardo Gayol, originally from Mexico City and raised in Los Angeles, who has participated in groups such as Tito & Tarantula and movie soundtracks as Sin City and Kill Bill Vol. Two. Some younger than others and each new entry has known festivals such as San Remo. On that night of memories and their clever new instruments played equally classic notes of "I'm Your Man", "Tower of Song," "First We Take Manhattan" and "Lover, lover, lover" as the recently opened seeking transcendence.
What will be the life of Leonard Cohen in subsequent years when crossing the threshold octogenarian? Maybe it's random, bad plays, his failed relationships and managers treacherous deceptions that have led him to continue to get wins now, old beyond their sixties Mediterranean utopia of living on an island writing poetry girega. Still, today demonstrates that the power of his voice is still able to bewitch and cause tears and joy of some women moved by its present strength. The time is not wasted, but he is still "our man".