Is it becoming slightly stale?

[comehealing]

Absolutely!

This is the beauty of the forum. It seems that some folk agree with you
but reading back through the thread I would suggest that most do not.

Good to have a reasoned debate. Am sure the great man would be impressed.
After all, debating was one of his fortes when at school.

Thanks for starting this thread though because it does make one think why one likes
and appreciate art, whatever form it takes, and the various way it impacts on
our lives.

[dari]

I must be missing something at the shows as a fail to see anything theatrical about it. Same songs, same lighting, same backdrop, same backing singers, same outfits, same stage position, same solos, same patter night after night.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. I respect them all.

But I find this one amusing in the sense that you listed all the theatrics about it and then said it wasn't theatrical.

[Rodin]

No surprise that a guy from a town that regards a deep fried Mars bar as a delicacy can't understand real culture.
Mr Hunter, I'm sure Wet Wet Wet will soon tour.

[Athnuachan]

This is the beauty of the forum. It seems that some folk agree with you
but reading back through the thread I would suggest that most do not

You mean most of those who bother to post here?
Who knows how many others, bored reading about "the same songs, the same lighting, the same backdrop..." etc., have drifted away by now.

I agree that if you are actually at a Cohen concert it is/seems to be great. (As Shakespeare wisely says: "There's nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so"! )

But unless you have all the time and money some forum members seem to have, that privilege depends on concerts being available in one's own country - especially for those of us living on an island.

Maybe it's consoling in a way to think we're not missing anything new...

Anyway, thank you LHHUNTER for a thread worth reading!

[Rodin]

Lucky for you he's not playing Ireland now, you won't waste your money or be bored.
The rest of us will wallow in the splendour of an evening spent with a master performer.

Is Joe Dolan touring this year? I'm sure he will play a few different tunes.

[Franks]

I think when LC embarked on the 2012 tour there was an opportunity to make significant changes to the band line up. It was good that the woodwinds were changed to Violin and a new guitar sound was added but I think it should have gone further. I think Roscoe and the Webb Sisters should have been let go to make way for a new musical direction and vocal harmony. Roscoe's arrangements of the tunes have hardly changed at all since 2008!

I don´t think the guitar sound changed that much. Bob Metzger was replaced with Mitch Watkins. Mitch uses some of his own guitars but he plays a lot of the song on the same type of guitar Bob used on the 2010 tour, a Fender Telecaster Thinline. As a matter of fact Mitch bought the Fender for the 2012 tour because Leonard likes the sound of these guitars. There are some differences between the Telecaster Bob used and the one Mitch uses but I don´t think you would be able to hear the difference.

[Franks]

Lucky for you he's not playing Ireland now, you won't waste your money or be bored.
The rest of us will wallow in the splendour of an evening spent with a master performer.

Is Joe Dolan touring this year? I'm sure he will play a few different tunes.

If you would actually read this thread and try to understand what people are saying and not immediately jump to your usual mocking and ridiculing, you would find that nobody dislikes LC´s concerts or thinks he/she is wasting money or is bored. I am sure that also Athnuachan would buy a ticket and fully enjoy the show should LC come to Ireland.
And yes, thank you LHHUNTER for a thread worth reading!

By the way, what is the culinary highlight of your home town?

[Rodin]

Pea wet.

[real-alan]

Is Joe Dolan touring this year? I'm sure he will play a few different tunes.

Bloody hell Rodin, if Joe Dolan is touring this year, I'm booking for that right now..... you sure? It will be a bloomin' miracle (literally... )

.... and put Leonard's "comeback" tour into the shade...

[Athnuachan]

I am sure that also Athnuachan would buy a ticket and fully enjoy the show should LC come to Ireland.

How right you are, Franks - delighted to have that opportunity now!
No doubt I'll be won over again. Attending concerts is so much more entertaining than just reading about them.

[johnos]

very interesting thread

see link re. Neil Young Dublin June 13

http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music ... -1.1430607

Oh for a bit of repetition

[Mabeanie1]

Thanks for the link johnos. It only goes to show how one man's meat can be another man's poison and, taking the article together with the comments, sums up this thread perfectly. It sounds as if the Dublin show was very similar to the one we went to - and we thought NY and Crazy Horse were amazing, lengthy feedback and all.

Wendy

[somewhat_nifty]

Interesting to read this thread, as I approach my eleventh concert this Friday. I know (pretty much) what I'm going to get. It would be fab to hear some of my particular album favourites, but I know it's not going to happen. And why should it? As has been said upthread, 95% of the concert goers will not have attended multiple shows, and won't have their favourite bootleg recoring that they'd love to hear recreated (I'm a particular fan of Montreux 76, since you ask ). I often wonder how the band, and Leonard himself, manage to keep their enthusiasm and joie de vivre going after hundreds of performances of the same songs. And yet they do. So many of the songs are ones that I would have on my favourite setlist anyway, the fact that I am not moved in the same way that I was when I first saw the show is down to me, not the setlist, not the band. I'm probably in a minority here, but I'm not that fussed about hearing all the new album songs, and if I'm not that fussed, you can guarantee that the casual concert goer really doesn't want to hear that many of them

(Edit: in spite of the above though, I too would like to hear some of the alternative setlist songs that never make it to the show - why do you tease us like this, Leonard... )

[comehealing]

[quotethe fact that I am not moved in the same way that I was when I first saw the show is down to Me, not the setlist, not the band][/quote]

@somewhat_nifty I couldn't agree with you more! Some of the wisest words I have read on this thread.

In comparison, I am a mere sapling (!), approaching my fourth concert later on in the year. However, the excitement remains undimmed.
Not just because of the excellence, not just because of the palpable sense of wonder, not just because of the mystery but, above all,
because of the timeless quality of the songs.

Great art does not wither on the vine, no matter how oft it is repeated

[TommyJ]

Strong points, somewhat_nifty. Such a personal thing, but I am amazed that I always seem to find something that moves me at these concerts, even as I too approach my 11th gig tonight (with my 12 year old daughter - it's her 3rd Leonard concert). While that continues, I'll keep on gratefully attending. Maybe I'll run into you there?

TommyJ