What is going on ?

[burningviolin]

Ok, so every time I read the title of this thread, this goes round my head...enjoy and I think we should heed his advice at the start to 'hang in there baby'...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzPA-FrVu3I

[gilly-rjd]

A final thought (or two) for the day....
If there were serious concerns over Leonard's health, there would be nothing to discuss or make us wait extra days for: Tour Cancelled.
However, if the Tour dates are 'postponed', AEG seem to be spending some time maybe negotiating alternative dates/venues. It would have been better/kinder to us all here who have been anxiously waiting for something since Saturday, to have been told, "Tour cancelled / postponed - details will follow shortly." There would still be pages of speculation, but at least we would KNOW. Knowing alternative dates/venues at this point is not important, especially to those people who still don't know if they are travelling to France in 27 days time or not. They might even just have time to get refunds??
Gilly

[phreil]

Knowing alternative dates/venues at this point is not important, especially to those people who still don't know if they are travelling to France in 27 days time or not. They might even just have time to get refunds??
Gilly

Well, I know it's a waste of money and everything, but I'm going to France anyway whether Leonard plays or not. I'm going to a little war cemetery not so far from Lille and I am going to remember about people who spent each day between 1914 and 1918 wondering if they would see the next day. Most of them didn't of course at least on one day before 1918. I know I know this is big for a lot of us, but next to those poor chaps ... well, it's small actually...

Un vieil homme dans un grenier
pour la nuit nous a cache',
les Allemands l'ont pris;
il est mort sans surprise

[cohenfreek]

[quote="da2008"]There's a few things in here that are far from being entertaining.

I totally agree, but as a die-hard Cohen fan, I can understand the concerns of fellow ardent fans...personally, I'm really hoping for news of the new album and can't wait for the "Bird on a Wire" film release later this year!!!!!! I took in 3 shows during the 2008-9 tour, and only a major overhaul of the set-list would make seeing another show #1 priority. Either way, Leonard doesn't have anything else to prove--he's done it all already!

[antipodean heart]

The main gist of the upcoming announcement is that Leonard is moving to Australia where he can have sold out concerts for as long as he chooses!

Mikeaus! You weren't supposed to let the cat out of the bag - now the secret's out!!!! And the first Aussie BBQ for Leonard, the Band, and Jarkko will be at our place! "Ah there's drinkin' and there's dancin' and the band is really happenin'"

All this waiting - the upside is that it's character building!!!!

J and greatsouthernlandfan

[danslenoir]

If this announcement is concerning postponing the dates, I wonder if it could have anything to do with ticket sales?

if you look at my posting on page 4, I also commented on this.
Gilly

So you did

If this is the case, and i'm increasingly starting to think it is the by far and large the most likely scenario (the announcement concerns the tour, it is not to do with adding new dates, the previously announced dates have been removed, there still seem to be loads of unsold seats for these shows, Jarrko's signature suggest there will be more unspecified shows in 2010 and tells us not to make unchangeable travel arrangements, cancellation due to ill health would surely have been announced straight away without delay) , i'm not sure how I feel about it. Obviously it would be difficult to play these big concert halls with a crap load of seats empty, but why not run promotions on discounted tickets to try and sell some more (like they did with the Weybridge show last summer), or attempt to find smaller venues to play at? The only people who would be hit financially by such a postponement are those of us who have already shelled out 100s of Euros for non-refundable travel and accomodation, and I can't help but feel it would be a bit unfair to postpone at this stage for the sake of hoping to increase ticket sales/profits a few months down the line.

[khayya]

"Ill health" is not a thing you can always define do precisely. I'm afraid that something might have occured somewhere in december when adding new concerts to the schedule stopped. It may just be the situation that things are not clear, as it often is with health problems. I hope so much that I'm wrong.

[davidrichards]

If this really is a case of promoters/ticket sellers trying to make additional profit then I feel no sense of sadness for them whatsoever, only for the real fans who yet again are being penalised.It is typical of any organisation that loves it when the going is good then cries foul when times get a little bit harder. One thing is certain, the "organisation" will make more money from any tour than the artists themselves. Remember all the information from Forum members about Ticketmaster making excessive profits, saying that all seats in a particular section were sold then miraculously finding some to be sold at many times their face value because they were classified as "VIP". Tour promoters are an unfortunately necessary evil but they should remember how they make their money - by providing the opportunity for musicians with real talent to play to their fans.

[jarkko]

The present state of affairs has nothing at all to do with the ticket sales of the March concerts.

[yoeri]

Thanks for the updates, Jarkko.
I'm still holding my breath. Hope I will still live to see what the announcement is.
But I am a bit more optimistic than a few days ago. Could be of course due to lack of oxygen

[danslenoir]

The present state of affairs has nothing at all to do with the ticket sales of the March concerts.

I stand corrected

That is welcome news, however I can't for the life of me now think what all of this might be about. Hurry up AEG!

[Suemerlyn]

Ah...! Was just about to post in reply to davidrichards' post about Leonard's possible ticket sales and have a little rant about the lovely Ticketmaster, but Jarkko has completely changed what I was going to say...

So it's not to do with ticket sales, whatever 'it' is (that was one of my theories)... Jarkko, I know you will tell us all as soon as you know or are able to reveal the news.

As there seems to be a further delay, by your changed message with a non specific date, I'm wondering whether we will know by the weekend - just a tiny thought that I will be away all weekend and may not have access to the internet...guess I'll find a way to visit the Forum somehow...IF we still don't know what this is about by then.

To be honest, I now have absolutely no idea what this is all about..

[danslenoir]

"Ill health" is not a thing you can always define do precisely. I'm afraid that something might have occured somewhere in december when adding new concerts to the schedule stopped. It may just be the situation that things are not clear, as it often is with health problems. I hope so much that I'm wrong.

Mmmmm, but if it was cancellation due to ill health, why wouldn't they have just come out straight away and say "The shows are cancelled due to ill health" and either "The tour will now not be happening, please contact the ticket agency for refunds" or "The dates will be rescheduled for a later (tba) date, please keep your tickets as they will be valid for the rescheduled shows" as any other artist who I have ever seen cancel/reschedule due to illness has done?

The mystery, and the delay in making whatever this announcement is, is most confusing, because the fact that they have stated a major announcement will be coming means whatever it is is definite, and if it is cancellation or postponement due to ill health it would be stupid to keep it under wraps and allow ticket sales to continue. In fact, it doesn't make sense for them to continue selling tickets to a show they know will be cancelled/postponed for any reason, and if they are it would be very unfair on anyone who buys a ticket after AEG knows for definite a concert isnt going to happen.

[yoeri]

well, my guess is that:
1. they rearrange/shorten the tour so that it will be the final leg, with maybe only a few concerts, not a lenghty tour and
2. this will leave more time to record the new album and finish it this year

[Ange Musicien]

I was very pleased, Vince, to hear that it was the HSBC. If it had been the RBS, for example, it would have been lost one more time, only to be replaced again by me and you as UK taxpayers(...well...I assume you pay tax too). Then not only would I have paid the money to draw Leonard to Lille, but I would also have paid the money that prevented Leonard from being drawn to Lille.

Indeed, the lyrics spring to mind:

bought and sold
and bought again

Oh how this terrible agony of waiting seems to reduce, and the ironies become more delicious, as we continue to drink.

Thanks for making me laugh with fine humor - it's so rare these days.

Being french and reading the french forum, the prognostic are more pessimist (nobody really thinks it will be good news), but also less pessimist (nobody thinks it has something to do with LC's health).

And in fact, more than cynical or ironic, I feel a little pissed by the "drama climate" that floats around this thread : it sometimes looks like a "People Press" (I don't know how you name these stupid magazines talking only about everyday's life of paris hilton). A lot of users here seems to wait, to be delighted about some disaster that would happen... Perverse and sad, in my opinion.

LC's talks about "finished line" as he always do, as I did when I was 15 (and now as well - which is not long later ). Finished line is a reality, what's the problem with that. Being afraid every second after someone turns 70 contributes to give the impression that life ends at 70 ; in fact, life ends when it ends. You'll rarely know when by the way, so maybe you should accept it and go wondering about more useful things.

( Do not misunderstand me - I'm not attacking anyone, in fact I'm very modest in my propositions, though the language barrier will ineluctably make me sound more stupid and bitter than I am. ^.^ )

Un vieil homme dans un grenier
pour la nuit nous a cache',
les Allemands l'ont pris;
il est mort sans surprise

Of course this is about the 39-45 war (WW2). For people who do not know it (there's not going to be a lot here I suppose), WW2 has a different meaning for french people than WW1. Like drinking coca-cola and writing a poem is different, mostly (please note that I practice each one). This is maybe why it's disturbing to see them related. WW2 is more recent, and a traumatism for basically every familly here (even those - like mine - which were not persecuted). It is something that Japanese people have difficulties to understand for example - for a lot of cultural and historical reasons.

Every word of "The Partisan" reminds me of Hitler and Vichy - not really 14-18 topics. :p

If you understand a little french - or if you like french song -, there's an old and beautiful song on the same topic than "the Partisan". It's "L'Affiche Rouge", a poem from the french poet Louis Aragon (1955) and sang by the french singer & poet Léo Ferré (1959). Talks about the manouchian group, a group of strangers and partisans who helped liberate paris and were killed a few monthes before the end of the war.
The song : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HLB_EVtJK4
You can find a translation here : http://arewelostintranslation.blogspot. ... oster.html

( Sorry for my bad english by the way. ^.^ )