Leonard Cohen run times for tonight.
7.00 pm External Doors Open
8.00 pm Leonard Cohen – First Half
9.20 pm Intermission
9.40 pm Leonard Cohen – Second Half
11.30 pm Conclusion of show (approx)
@the_hollands - @wollongong_nsw: Musical LEGEND Leonard Cohen takes the stage @WINSportsEnt 4th Dec!" Love Leonard. Love Australia!
@mmm_brie - no one told me Leonard Cohen is playing in Wollongong tonight. THESE ARE SUCH IMPORTANT THINGS.
@IWIB_illawarra - a night at the WEC with Leonard Cohen
@doessheeek - I AM GOING TO BE IN THE SAME ROOM* AS LEONARD COHEN IN AN HOUR AND TWENTY-THREE MINUTES - *okay, stadium
@pjgoodman - @doessheeek I'm reading this exactly 23 minutes later, so that must mean NOW! Hope it's as exciting as you expected.
@littlehenrylee - en route to a bonus 4th leonard cohen show tonight cause the people i work with are THE BEST
@LukeDolahenty - Awaiting Leonard Cohen!! http://fb.me/2fseoHihe https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos ... 6733_n.jpg
@EastsFan 0 Leonard Cohen better be on his best behaviour tonight.
@veebee87 - At WIN Stadium waiting for Leonard Cohen to come on stage. Take 2!
@doessheeek - This is the consensus! I am nervous abt being in a stadium but honestly it is 5 mins walk from our flat and LEONARD COHEN.
@PeterLangstaff - The words. Oh the words. Leonard Cohen live. @ WIN Entertainment Centre http://instagram.com/p/hfyGiOs4u7/
@stringer1956 - Having a great time with #leonardcohen
@tanbrown1 - Leonard Cohen giving a masterclass in the Gong tonight on how to hold an audience captive #legend #goldenvoive
@battledinosaur - my aunt went to see Leonard Cohen tonight and I therefore hate her forever
@_SamuelBraz - Leonard Cohen in #wollongong tonight. Great concert & very impressive considering he's 79! pic.twitter.com/cLZ2EE3qhM
@lamusicamiforma - Last time I let life rip my ticket to see Leonard Cohen out of my hand. This time I dragged all the insurmountables with me....
@lamusicamiforma - He sang and played and talked....no support act.....more than three hours on that stage.....putting younger men to shame...
@lamusicamiforma - He made my heart explode with his warmth and intellect and humour.....what a man...... #LeonardCohen
@lamusicamiforma - Goodnight Leonard....
STATIGRAM -@roseg - Leonard Cohen, started on time, great band, 3.5 hrs, pure class.
5 December, 2013 9:35AM AEDT
Leonard Cohen And The Art Of Ageless Music
Review by Justin Huntsdale
One of the most influential lyricists of the past 50 years delivered a marathon performance of his classics in a voice that gets richer by the year.
Leonard Cohen performs in concert. (Adrian Thompson - Flickr.com)
Music Details
Venue: Wollongong Entertainment Centre
Duration: 210 minutes
Rating: 5 stars
Leonard Cohen addressed the elephant in the room early last night at his concert in Wollongong.
"Friends, I don't know when we'll meet again, but I can promise you tonight we're going to give it everything we've got".
But at 79 years of age, still jogging on stage for a three and a half hour show and now on his third Australian tour since audiences thought they'd never see him live again, no one is game to suggest he won't be back.
And it becomes apparent over the course of the night that a three hour show is virtually required to properly honour his endless suite of music.
Surrounded by a carefully chosen band of virtuoso musicians, the touring Cohen of today is out to provide a smorgasbord of quality to accompany his poetic lyrics.
His voice has never been his trump card, and while it seems to have found even richer depths with age, it's the exquisite harmonies of his female back-up singers (Sharon Robinson and the Webb sisters) that lift and complement the Canadian poet.
As expected, the set-list was a greatest hits onslaught, each drawing a new round of applause from the almost full Wollongong Entertainment Centre.
From his opening 'Dance me to the end of love', then 'The future', 'Bird on a wire' and 'Everybody knows', it was a concert drawing on tracks from the 1967 'Songs of Leonard Cohen' to last year's 'Old Ideas'.
But you soon realise it doesn't matter when a song appears in a Leonard Cohen set - there's always another trick up his sleeve.
While most bands save their biggest hits until last, Cohen has amassed a career of them he can afford to drop in anywhere.
'Suzanne' early in the second set? No problem - simply go straight into 'Chelsea Hotel no. 2'.
'Hallelujah' before the first encore? What about following it with 'Take this waltz'?
While the crowd was varied in age, it was largely baby boomers enjoying the soundtrack to their adolescence and early adulthood played by a man who can still do his songs justice, but oozes humility.
And there is the enduring beauty of Leonard Cohen - his strength is his lyrics, each word carefully chosen and dripping with imagery and meaning, while he brings in a brilliant band half his age to carry those words.
And as he comically dances and jogs off stage after a third encore, you get the sense it'll be Cohen's decision rather than his body that tells him when it's time to say 'so long' for good.
Thank you for posting John. It's good to hear from someone who was there.John Stringer wrote:Best concert I have ever been to.
Thanks, John - and I made the correction in initial post!John Stringer wrote:Best concert I have ever been to!
Small correction: Wollongong is SOUTH of Sydney.
Leonard is one of the biggest names ever to tour here.
Andrew (Darby) wrote:Wollongong, December 4th (according to setlist.fm)
Set 1
01 Dance Me To The End Of Love
02 The Future
03 Bird On The Wire
04 Everybody Knows
05 Who By Fire
06 Darkness
07 Amen
08 Come Healing
09 Lover Lover Lover
10 Anthem
Set 2
11 Tower Of Song
12 Suzanne
13 Chelsea Hotel
14 The Partisan
15 Alexandra Leaving (Sharon Robinson)
16 I’m Your Man
17 A Thousand Kisses Deep (recitation)
18 Hallelujah
19 Take This Waltz
Encore 1
20 So Long Marianne
21 Going Home
22 First We Take Manhattan
Encore 2
23 Famous Blue Raincoat
24 If It Be Your Will (the Webb sisters)
25 Closing Time
Encore 3
26 I Tried To Leave You
27 Save The Last Dance For Me
