CONCERT REPORTS: Dublin, July 19, 20, 22, 23

Europe and Israel (July 1 - September 24, 2009). Concert reports, set lists, photos, media coverage, multimedia links, recollections...
bluebell
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Re: CONCERT REPORTS: Dublin, July 19, 20, 22, 23

Post by bluebell »

Here's a link to Whither thou goest on Monday night, Dublin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQfnKHL3sO8
Dublin 1988, 2008,2009, Belfast 2009, Bratislava 2009, Gent 2010, Dublin 2012
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burningviolin
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Re: CONCERT REPORTS: Dublin, July 19, 20, 22, 23

Post by burningviolin »

JudasPriest wrote: It's been a great few months for irish gig goers to have the likes of Bob, Neil Young, Bruce and Leonard all performing in the capital. Just who is going to replace these icons?? Nobody is coming through the ranks as far as I can see to carry on the torch. It's all very worrying....

JudasPriest,

there is nobody to carry the torch, its all been done, only imitations coming up now. Thats why they are such legends and I'm lucky to be around while they're around!
2009 Liverpool 14/07/09, Dublin 20/07/09, Belfast 26/07/09, Lisbon 30/7/09, Barcelona 21/09/09.
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O2 London 2013 O2 Dublin 2013
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Lumi2414
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Re: CONCERT REPORTS: Dublin, July 19, 20, 22, 23

Post by Lumi2414 »

Here are more reviews of the Dublin concerts:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/fea ... 95406.html

Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Review

TONY CLAYTON-LEA reviews Leonard Cohen at the O2, Dublin

WHEN LOU Reed – another master of life’s troubles and woes – inducted Leonard Cohen into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year, he said: “We’re so lucky to be alive at the same time Leonard Cohen is.”
It’s a good point, because there are very few music artists of Cohen’s age and status left by which to remind us that we are slipping out of the Golden Age of Popular Music into muddied waters of no small depth.
This is not to say, by any means, that there isn’t a wealth of brilliant new music around; it’s just that Cohen – unlike, say, Bob Dylan – appears to have no interest in deconstructing the blueprint or redefining the mythology.
He doesn’t mess around – his early material (some would say his best-loved, which has earned him the indelible title of The Bard of Bedsit) such as Suzanne , Sisters of Mercy and So Long Marianne has aged much better than those of most of his contemporaries because the work originally existed outside the usual parameters of folk rock.
Some 40 years ago Cohen was no musician scrabbling around for words to fit tunes; he was (and, arguably, still is) a poet, whose exacting, precise and subtle output was high on quality and low on ego.
More than 40 years on, and the song (as well as the casually strewn philosophy and the lugubrious baritone) remains the same – still as simplistic, sombre and sensual, yet also strangely, magnetically comforting.
Forced back into touring in order to stave off the onset of dire financial problems (caused by a period of mismanagement), there is, perhaps, a sense of lack of enthusiasm.
But only a sense – it flits in and out of the set like an aural aurora borealis, and before you know what has happened, you’ve slipped into the refined swing of things and you’re stuck there until the song finishes. The dignity, poise and graciousness of the enterprise impresses almost as much as the music, which is dressed up – like the musicians, singers and the occasional roadie – in a sharp suit and an optional smart hat.
Are there some tickets left? Yes, there are, so do yourself a favour.

Leonard Cohen performs at the O2 this Wednesday (sold out) and Thursday (see Ticketmaster for tickets 0818-719300).
This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times


http://www.independent.ie/entertainment ... 38290.html

Review of the week: Leonard Cohen * * * *
The O2, Dublin

By Ed Power
Friday July 24 2009

Leonard Cohen dashes from the wings, if not spryly then with more vigour than you expect of pop's 74-year-old laureate of angst, and plunges into Dance Me To The End of Love, his distinctive half-spoken croon brimming with wisdom, wit and bittersweet humour. Wearing a tilted fedora and a priest-like black ensemble, his features creased like faded parchment, Cohen cuts an elusive figure. His lyrics are often devastatingly bleak, yet his interaction with his sprawling band is playful (he's forever going down on bended knee), his few asides to the crowd imbued with grandfatherly charm.
He is in Dublin for the first date of an astonishing four-night stand (after which he skips up to Belfast) and, while you could slice through the air of reverence in the room with a knife, he still seems determined to win over fan and agnostic alike.
Flanked by a virtuosic eight-piece (including his songwriting partner Sharon Robinson and veteran Spanish guitarist Javier Mas), Cohen proceeds gracefully through a greatest hits set, moving from the Nick Cave-esque judder of Everybody Knows to the elegiac quasi-gospel In My Secret Life to the hymnal pathos of Hallelujah (a song desecrated so often Cohen has actually issued a public plea that fellow artists stop covering it).
Though the arrangements are immaculate, soul-sapping slickness never sets in, partly because Cohen himself is such an unusual performer, a raven-like presence who hovers over the music even when his players take centre stage during many of the instrumental breaks.
Red Poppy
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Re: CONCERT REPORTS: Dublin, July 19, 20, 22, 23

Post by Red Poppy »

Nod wrote:
"As i sit here on my couch with my ear plugs in, listening to leonard singing Famous blue rain coat on utube from the o2, I cant imagine that we will see the great man again in ireland."

It's not that bad is it? Is it totally out of tune?
Red Poppy
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Re: CONCERT REPORTS: Dublin, July 19, 20, 22, 23

Post by Red Poppy »

[quote="amcgee"]

A clever person sent an email to Irish times today

as follows

Madam, – Perhaps Leonard Cohen could be persuaded to loan his technical crew for any future Bob Dylan concert in the O2? The contrast in the quality of sound at their respective concerts could not have been starker. It was a delight to experience the rapport between the audience and an exceptional bunch of musicians who entertained for almost three hours. Hallelujah! – Yours, etc,

He is completely right, as i went to both Dylan and Cohen and there was no comparison. I think Dylan was a real disgrace compared to Cohen...[/quote]

Dylan is an overrated, dour individuual .
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bridger15
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Re: CONCERT REPORTS: Dublin, July 19, 20, 22, 23

Post by bridger15 »

Here is a blogger's report with a link to an amazing video of "Famous Blue Raincoat"
http://jamesmcinerney.ie/2009/07/23/leo ... at-the-o2/
Leonard Cohen at the O2Posted in July 23rd, 2009 by James in UncategorizedWent to see Leonard Cohen last night in the O2. It was my first time in the O2 - I have been to the Point Theatre a number of times before they put the shed-part on top and renamed it the O2.

Before, I get in to the review of the Cohen concert, I had this premonition once that soon the world would be taken over by Google. O’Connell street bridge in Dublin would be renamed Google Bridge and all along the sides would be LCD screens flashing personalised ads at you, depending on what products or services Google felt you needed - if you were on a bike you would see ads about puncture repair shops and doctors surgeries, if you were on a bus, you would see ads about cheap cars; if you were in a cheap car, you would see ads for cheap haircuts and tracksuits and if you were in an expensive car you would see ads for enlarging your penis.

But I digress.

First of all, the O2 is one of the ugliest buildings in Dublin, consisting in part of the beautiful Point Theatre and in part of an aeroplane hangar that some architect clearly told the Emperor who has the cash was a beautiful new outfit for the building. However, small children can see that it looks like crap.

Inside, the building is much nicer. Definitely much nicer than the point was. The bars are nice, the jam-packed restroom facilities are much nicer and the amphitheatre and its sound is definitely much nicer. However, some of the angled walls are clearly a tribute to the same architect who was given far too much freedom to make the place impractical for large crowds, with lots of corridors leading to small bottleneck junctions etc.

Anyway, to the concert.

The stage was very simple, with some floor-to-ceiling curtains reflecting the lighting. Other than that, there were the instruments and the band.

The band came on first and then Cohen skipped onto the stage (seriously, he skipped onto the stage), where he held court for almost three hours. The band were very tight - arrangments were so well worked out that I have no doubt that any one member of the band could have played their part for the entire concert in a sound-proof room cut off from the others. I guess they have been touring for quite a while now, by for sure they didn’t miss a beat for the entire night.

Cohen sang magnificently and he, like his band, didn’t miss a beat. He started a little cold, his voice took a couple of songs to warm up and for him to get into the swing of things, but when he got going he really had the crowd in the palm of his hand.

We heard all the old classics and Cohen made no attempt to do a Van Morrisson and only play what he wanted to play. We heard everything we went to hear - Suzanne, Dance me to the end of love, ‘Aint no cure for love, First we take Manhattan, Hallelujah and so on - I didn’t write them down.

However, two songs deserve mention. The first is the song Marianne. The crowd that were at the concert last night were overwhelmingly of the “parents of grown-up kids” variety. Indeed, many of the people in the audience were of pensionable age. This meant that for the song Marianne, some of the crowd started to sway in a way that you might expect if you were in the audience of a cruise ship cabaret. Cohen clearly noted this and when it started he had a little laugh at it.

The second song that I felt that deserved mention was “Famous Blue Raincoat”. This - for me - was the best song of the night. He sang it perfectly, the audience were transfixed, he was clearly in the mood for singing it and he gave it everything. I don’t think I was on my own in thinking that he had done a perfect job on that song, because it got the biggest cheer of the evening.

Cohen’s voice is as steady and as strong as ever. He hit every note and although, of course, he has a very different and less energetic show that Britney Spears (or so I am told), there was plenty of energy coming off the stage. I know I already said his band were excellent, but it is worth saying twice. Cohen introduced each band member to the audience twice, so clearly Cohen thinks they are good too.

I’ll hardly see him again, he is 74 now and will be 75 in September. However, it was really a great concert and when he finally skipped off the stage after three hours of performing, I felt that I had seen something pretty special.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njQaFhTp ... r_embedded
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Arlene's Leonard Cohen Scrapbook http://onboogiestreet.blogspot.com
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bridger15
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Re: CONCERT REPORTS: Dublin, July 19, 20, 22, 23

Post by bridger15 »

I don't know if mrdogwalker2009 is a Forum member, but kudos go to him for his youtube video of LC's closing words from July 19. Thank you. It was shot from on high showing the vastness of the auditorium and the out of synch screen. Although the stage is far away, the sound is excellent for LC's credits, thank you's and the Four Priestly Blessings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pdE3g1JsUc&NR=1
2009-San Diego|Los Ang|Nashville|St Louis|Kansas City|LVegas|San Jose
2010-Gothenburg|Berlin|Ghentx2|Oaklandx2|Portland|LVegasx2
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Arlene's Leonard Cohen Scrapbook http://onboogiestreet.blogspot.com
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tinderella
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Re: CONCERT REPORTS: Dublin, July 19, 20, 22, 23

Post by tinderella »

I am feeling jetlagged or lenlagged or something today. What a week!

I saw Leonard on sunday right up the front but I thought he looked fragile and tired but still a brilliant show.
Last nights one was the icing on the cake. I think he lost ten years in age in the couple of days. I cannot add more to what has been said already. Every single moment of the concert was magnificent. I could not single out even one song that was better than another.
The way he skips off that stage :) ... amazing!

We were so privileged here in Dublin to have him do four more shows.

A THOUSAND THANKS LEONARD AND A THOUSAND KISSES TO YOU TOO

thanks to everyone for the video clips!
Last edited by tinderella on Fri Jul 24, 2009 9:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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tinderella
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Re: CONCERT REPORTS: Dublin, July 19, 20, 22, 23

Post by tinderella »

btw.. Regarding Bob Dylan or Bland Boy as i call him, in my humble opinion, he wrote a few decent lyrics but he was certainly not born with the gift of a golden voice.
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musicmania
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Re: CONCERT REPORTS: Dublin, July 19, 20, 22, 23

Post by musicmania »

I was at the gig last night. Here is the review I wrote about it.

Thursday 23 July 2009 had finally arrived. I had waited with much impatience & anticipation for Leonard Cohen's concert at the O2 Dublin. I wasn't disappointed. At exactly 8PM Leonard & his band including The Webb Sisters & Sharon Robinson came out on stage to cheers from a delighted audience. They immediately burst into song even though there was still a lot of people waiting to take their seats. The stewards rightly made them wait a while so that those of us who had arrived on time could enjoy the start of the show.
The 1st part of the show lasted until 9.10pm & included a guitar solo from Javier Mas & excellent saxophone playing from Dino Soldo. I wasn't really familiar with most of the songs from this half except for 'Bird on the Wire', 'Dance Me to the End of Love' & 'Tried to Leave You'. I didn't mind not knowing some of the songs because the lyrics of Leonards song are sublime so even songs heard for a 1st time sound great.
After a 20 min interval the second half started at 9.30pm & this for me was just an absolutely brilliant set. Songs such as 'Suzanne' followed by 'Sisters of Mercy' were belted out. A couple of songs later the now infamous 'Hallelujah' saw Leonard really putting the passion into his singing. Of all the covers of this song & there are some good ones notably the late Jeff Buckley, nothing compares to hearing Leonard sing this live. During this song we were treated to a piano solo from Neil Larsen & Leonard on his knees as the song ended.
A couple of songs later came 'So Long, Marianne', one of my personal favourites & possibly my concert highlight. Watching Leonard sing this amazing song live in 2009 that he wrote in 1967 with a passion so raw we could almost feel it was one of those moments in life that I will never forget.
Also included in the 2nd half was another spellbindingly passionate performance of 'First We Take Manhattan' & the equally memorable' Famous Blue Raincoat' where the stage developed a blue haze.
Sharon Robinson treated us to a breath taking version of 'Everybody Knows'. Leonard was quick to remind us of her greatness & of the fact that she co-wrote a number of his songs including the aforementioned that she performed. Leonard introduced The Webb Sisters rendition of 'If It Be Your Wil'l by quoting the first few lines of the fabulous song before the 2 ladies delighted us by singing it. They also spontaneously treated us to cart wheels earlier in the night.
Other songs that we were treated to throughout the night included 'I'm Your Man', 'The Partisan', 'Ain't No Cure For Love', 'Take This Waltz', 'Closing Time' & 'A Thousand Kisses Deep'.
Leaving the music aside there was so much more that made this night so memorable. Seeing a legend & one of the best lyricists ever for me was something special. I always knew that I would enjoy this concert but the magnitude of how amazing it was came as a very pleasant surprise. What struck me from the moment he walked on stage is how humble Leonard Cohen is & of the deep respect that he gives his band, entourage & fans alike. At 2 stages during the gig he introduced us to each band member in turn & removed his hat & bowed to them. Also during any song where a band member played a solo he stood beside them hat removed. I was very moved by this & other artists should follow his example of respect. At the end of the concert he thanked everyone involved including stage managers & even the person who looks after the hats!
The concert finished up just after 11PM & we left to head for home I had a warm feeling inside that can only come on the rarest of occasions after a live concert. As someone who lives for live music it is the highest compliment I can give & I thank Leonard for a very moving evening & one that will give me lasting good memories for a long time to come.
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"
Lonesome Pine
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Re: CONCERT REPORTS: Dublin, July 19, 20, 22, 23

Post by Lonesome Pine »

Just one thing to add. Last night Rafael dropped the drumstick, making the final score 2.2 ! :D
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musicmania
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Re: CONCERT REPORTS: Dublin, July 19, 20, 22, 23

Post by musicmania »

Yeah that was funny. Didn't stop us cheering him though :D
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"
bluebell
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Re: CONCERT REPORTS: Dublin, July 19, 20, 22, 23

Post by bluebell »

Just wanted to add my thanks to Jarkko. I
It was due to the fans pre sale of tickets that I got excellent seats for Sunday and Monday nights shows in Dublin.

Link to blessings from Monday night, sorry it's sideways
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiGonyNbU-A
Last edited by bluebell on Fri Jul 24, 2009 10:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Dublin 1988, 2008,2009, Belfast 2009, Bratislava 2009, Gent 2010, Dublin 2012
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Happygirl
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Re: CONCERT REPORTS: Dublin, July 19, 20, 22, 23

Post by Happygirl »

Thank you Lonesome Pine for adding Rafael's final score, almost forgot ;-)

Here are a few more clips (please excuse some of the quality), enjoy!

20 July 2009
Hattie & Charley doing their 'angel cartwheel' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soHltGSW_UQ
Leonard skipping off stage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA0LJdps49M

22 July 2009
Lullaby (shortish but got it) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KkwGMYBxnA

23 July 2009
Anthem http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGS412qM5Wo
Hallelujah http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8svfbFiMh7g
Boogie Street http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEnBQaSNxqc

P.S. Some great tour pix (not any of Dublin yet) on the Webb Sisters blog and funny stories too...http://www.thewebbsisters.com/blog/
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IrishAL
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Re: CONCERT REPORTS: Dublin, July 19, 20, 22, 23

Post by IrishAL »

Two of my favourites from last night's concert:

First we take Manhattan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XcrmOjo ... re=channel


and a special Hallelujah for the Dublin audience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLiVE1vK ... re=channel


albert
2008: Dublin x2 London Helsinki London RAH M'chester
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