CONCERT REPORT: Fredericton, NB (May 11)

[zintman61]

One surprise of the Fredericton show was that there was no "official merchandise" for sale. At least, I didn't see any.

There is merchandise coming - but it may take some time until the items are available (until the European leg of the tour begins????)

what??


nooooooooooo

[Bela]

Oops, my flight is on the 21st and in my head it's the day when it starts... but you are right, one day longer to wait...

Say hello to Nice for me: I spent my adolescence there. It's so beautiful!

[DBCohen]

Of the 20 songs performed on the first concert, three quarters are from the later albums (1984-), and only very few songs are from the first half of LC’s carear.

1. Songs of Leonard Cohen
Suzanne
So Long, Marianne

2. Songs from a Room
Bird On The Wire

3. Songs of Love and Hate
[None]

4. Live Songs
[None]

5. New Skin for the Old Ceremony
Who By Fire

6. Death of a Ladies’ Man
[None]

7. Recent Songs
Gypsy Wife

8. Various Positions
Dance Me To The End Of Love
Hallelujah
Heart With No Companion

9. I’m Your Man
First We Take Manhattan
Ain't No Cure For Love
Everybody Knows
I'm Your Man
Take This Waltz
Tower Of Song
[6 out of 8 songs on this album!]

10. The Future
The Future
Closing Time
Anthem
Democracy

11. Ten New Songs
In My Secret Life
Boogie Street

12. Dear Heather
[None]

Just like in The Essential Leonard Cohen, the list is heavily in favor of later rather than earlier songs, and for me this is somewhat disappointing (I’ve written about this at length way back on the thread “My own private Essential LC” - viewtopic.php?f=9&t=8280). There are ten, twenty or more songs I would have liked to hear rather than “Democracy” or “Closing Time”.

Well, there will always be reasons to complain about something or other… The main thing is that the tour will be successful, and I’m looking forward to my own chance of seeing LC on stage, with hopes for a somewhat changed play list.

[Joe Way]

Hi Doron,

Thanks for that accounting of the songs. As someone who saw LC very early, it was apparent that many of the original songs were too quiet to be effective in a concert setting. It wasn't until he sang, "Tonight Will Be Fine" with Charlie Daniels playing fiddle that the concert really appealed to the sensibilities of the audience.

I have a copy of Jim Devlin's great book, "Is This What You Wanted" that accounts for all of his concert appearances. In 1993, he toured with a total of 29 songs in repetoire-generally it was 20 to 22 songs a night. Since he started with 20 last night-I think we are doing really well!

Here is the list of songs from 1993:

A Singer Must Die
Ain't No Cure For Love
Anthem
Avalanche
Bird On The Wire
Chelsea Hotel
Closing Time
Coming Back To You
Dance Me To The End of Love
Democracy
Everybody Knows
First We Take Manhatten
Hallelujah
I Can't Forget
I Tried to Leave You
I'm Your Man
If It Be Your Will
Joan of Arc
One of Us Cannot Be Wrong
Passin' Through
Sisters of Mercy
So Long, Marianne
Suzanne
Take This Waltz
The Future
There is a War
Tower of Song
Waiting For The Miracle
Whither Thou Goest

These are all good songs with a good band-as Leonard mentions in an interview with Stina.

Personally, I would love to hear a few more songs from "Ten New Songs" and "Dear Heather"-though I understand that they are not the "crowd pleasers" that his greatest hits stuff represents. Still I understand the direction that this tour has taken. Here's hoping for a few surprises-I thought "In My Secret Life" sounded wonderful on the Youtube segment. And I really look forward to hearing, "Boogie Street" live. If I had a wish, it would be "The Faith."

Joe

[lizzytysh]

I love this, DebS.

Leonard was witty and charming and superb - a true unique poet for our generation; and the voice......nostalgia, discovery, and observer/participant of all that is beautiful and sad - truly ageless.

Thank you, again for the continuing reports everyone. I think I may try to stay away from YouTube for now, too, John... and come back to it after I've seen Leonard Live. For me, the best part of all this is just how happy LEONARD seems in doing it. I agree that there is likely noticeable chemistry between he and Sharon. They've known each other and worked together for so long. Close friends in a family way, as well.

A final thank you to all those who registered when the tickets became available early for Forum members and still stuck around, or at least came back to give us your report. As we know, the scalpers and touters were many and it's heartening to see names here and read unquestionably real accounts by people who obviously love Leonard and wanted the tickets for themselves .


~ Lizzy

[Ken]

I thought the set list was perfect, I could not have imagined the night being any better. I picked up a set list on my way out, it was on the floor in front of the stage. The list matches those played, but there are other songs listed after closing time that he obviously didn't play. Does this mean that there wasn't enough time or something along these lines? If so, people in other cities may in fact get to hear famous blue raincoat, waiting for the miracle, along with a couple of others, if he follows the same list throughout the tour.

whoa, do you remember the titles on that page after closing time?

Memories or Waiting for the miracle by any chanche?

[lizzytysh]

The Future
Closing Time
Anthem
Democracy

Ah, but these are very relevant for what's going on in the world; the latter two in the U.S. and the first with the U.S.'s involvement elsewhere. Closing Time is such a fun song... and relevant, too. I'm very pleased to see these four included.


~ Lizzy

[Cate]

I was at the show and took several videos, some of which I've posted on YouTube and on the RansomNoteMusic.com page for the Fredericton show. I'm going to post the remaining videos over the next 24 hours.

http://www.ransomnotemusic.com/view-show.aspx?id=1478

I will not look, I will not look, I will not look - okay just a peek, then I will not look.

Steve thank you so much for the set list - I hope this is close to what he plays in Montreal, I love so many of these songs.
I'm not as familiar with some of his older material - I probably shouldn't admit to that here, but it took me a while for me to get used to his younger sounding voice on many of his older records.

Eek, I'm going to have a hard time falling asleep tonight, I'm much to excited.

[DBCohen]

Joe,

Thank you for the list of songs from the 1993 tour. Quite different from the current one (I’ve counted at least 16 songs he didn’t sing this time), although, as you said, we can expect more songs to be added along the way as alternatives. Also, two more albums appeared since then. Like you, I would have liked a few more numbers from Ten New Songs, and perhaps also some from Dear Heather.

The biggest surprise to me in your list was the absence of “Famous Blue Raincoat”. Did he really drop it back then already? I would really love him to add it back again, at least at the sole concert which I hope to attend (that is Lucca, Italy, if all goes well), but I'm sure many other fans would be of the same mind. Also, there so many other songs that it would be great to hear live, and which he did on the 1993 tour – “A Singer Must Die”, “If It Be Your Will”, “Waiting For The Miracle”, etc. etc. (We would have loved a 5-6 hours concert, wouldn't we? But then a singer would surely die, sooner rather than later).

I am also surprised that he did not offer any new material. Is it possible that he has nothing ready yet? I wouldn’t have thought so. Perhaps that too will be changed along the way.

[patsned]

He has done so many fantastic songs that it would be impossible to please everyone. I would sit for days listening to everything he covered. So no matter what he sings I am going to be a happy happy person. Like someone else said, we have tickets for Dublin 13th and 14th and sold our tickets for the Edinburgh show and i am now wishing we had held onto them.

[Dream Warrior]

Hey Andrew,

If you go to the Pre-Tour page in the Forum and peruse the first two pages of enties, you will find, at least, two threads that deal with both band members and back-up singers. If you go back further, you will find even more information on some of them. Hope that helps.

Liam

[richardrj]

As someone who saw LC very early, it was apparent that many of the original songs were too quiet to be effective in a concert setting. It wasn't until he sang, "Tonight Will Be Fine" with Charlie Daniels playing fiddle that the concert really appealed to the sensibilities of the audience.

Yes, but of course many of the old songs (e.g. Joan of Arc, One of Us Cannot Be Wrong) were reworked into full band treatments in both 88 and 93. So there is no particular reason why old songs shouldn't feature more heavily in the setlist than it looks like they will be doing this time round.

[amcgee]

Hi

I think most Leonard Cohen fans prefer his older stuff and would prefer to hear them instead of songs from his recent albums which are not the same in terms of quality and in terms greatness.

As a few people mentioned already, it is essentially the "Essential Leonard Cohen" that people want to hear.

From listening to the few clips in youtube from the concert, Leonard certainly is still in great voice and his sense of humour is still topclass.

Aidan

[tomsakic]

Hmm. I'd prefer new songs. I am little dissapointed by the setlist, it's basically the same 1993 setlist, with one older song returned from 1988 setlist (Who By Fire, skipped in 1993 because there was no oud player), plus two 1993 setlist songs replaced by two 2001 songs (i.e. instead of Waiting for the Miracle we have In My Secret Life, and we have The Gypsy's Wife, returned after more than 20 years). I am surprised by that there's The Future, and Manhattan, I was sure he will never perform it as he has many great new songs, and in 2001 he stated that Ten New Sogs is the album of reconciliation after the darkness and hate of The Future (the album) and that he doesn't quite feel those songs anymore. He also said that Recent Songs is his best album and I expected more songs to resurface from that record. Also, there's no Dear Heather songs, probably because Anjani's not on the tour with him. The general impression is that LC wasn't really ready for radical change in setlist and concert planning...

But that's maybe only the problem of the man (that's me) who heard dozens of 1988 and 1993 recordings (and all tours - and think that 1993 setlist was little ... boring, compared to 1988 or 1985) and who browse Jim Devlin's tours book and contributed to JF's website http://www.leonardcohenlive.com ...

Anyhow, we will see what the future brings, with bigger halls, longer shows and more public demand, plus the inevitable changes in playing, condition, band's fluency etc.

Also, it's goot to see him singing and performing again, it seems he found the way again ))

[tomsakic]

I don't know is it already linked: "Everybody Knows" from Fredericton:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66n-CowFMgw