leonardcohenforum.com

Never mind, Diane.

I do recall the last hiking trip from Colwyn, along Llandudno, Conwy, Bangor, Bethesda, Capel Curig, Llanberis and then Snowdon during constant rain very well There was a place called "Devil's Kitchen" that frightened us a lot because we had to climb down the rocks which were terribly slippery.

But - your idea sounds great! I'll keep that in mind and stay tured to any of your upcoming plans.

K.

Getting back to the subject of the thread.

Last night was the final concert in the current leg of Bob Dylan's Never-Ending-Tour.

The venue was the wonderful Chicago Theatre in Chicago, where else?

Ticket prices were $47,$67,and $87

The opening act was no less than an acoustic ELVIS COSTELLO

Anything that LC and his management decide to charge higher than these prices would be a complete exploitation of fans.

However reading this post from some silly bugger that I assume believes in what they write:-

Alan Alda wrote: in the past I have dropped 500 bucks on primo seats. Like those prints of recent history, I do hope that Leonard, if he tours does realize his value and make the best seats very expensive (Yes, very expensive). We are for the most part an older generation and have more disposable income and he is worth it.

it maybe if management picks up on such thoughts then anyone who wants to see LC live next year is going have to pay through the nose for the privilige.

The best we can hope for is that the men in suits don't insist that all tickets sold must be framed in one of those famous 12x15 £75 frames. Then again if anyone is prepared to pay $500 for a ticket what's an extra £75 for a frame. Hey ho.

If such a Rolling Stones/Barbara Streisand type tour does indeed happen then I wish the best of luck to those of you that decide to fork out mega bucks to listen to LC play his golden oldies for the an affluent stadium crowd.

Looking at LC in London last week I couldn't but help think how frail he looked.

For LC at this time in his life to embark on a major world tour would be like sending your grandad out on a paper round to earn few extra bucks.

If only he had recorded the songs on Blue Alert himself rather you know who then maybe it would have made enough dosh to tide him over until his next project.

Then again I was always a dreamer.

All this on a night when our very own wonderful daveyliver got me the best seat in the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall for a John Prine concert and all for free.

Thanks Dave.

Ta Ken







Ta Ken

I didn't think Leonard looked frail, I thought he looked quite healthy. I don't think he'd embark on a tour if he's not in good health.

Joney

Joney wrote:I didn't think Leonard looked frail, I thought he looked quite healthy. I don't think he'd embark on a tour if he's not in good health.

Thank goodness you are not my doctor.

Leonard was most definitely physically frail and besides from suffering from a hearing problem dare I say that he was faltering and slightly confused in his conversation on the Barbican stage. Glass is only a couple of years younger than LC and the difference between them both showed up quite spectacularly.

I'm sure if LC decides, or is forced, to undertake a gruelling Streisand/Rolling Stones pension fund type world tour it would be for financial reasons only.

Don't forget he is 73 years old and hasn't toured since 1993.

However I'm sure I'm pissing in the wind with such thoughts.

Ta Ken

Hi Ken -

I am hopeful that Leonard would be able to tour. However, if that is not possible, any release of new material, would be great. (Or the presentation of previously "unreleased" materials/recordings - similar to the Dylan 'bootlegs') Leonard's health is more important than a new tour.

After all the 'remasters' are issued, I'm hopeful that Sony won't do a continual Greatest Hits re-shuffle with one or two new, previously unreleased songssimilar to Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel.

BTW, I'm a Cohen and Dylan fan.

Warm regards,

kokenpere

Hi Ken ~

Leonard is a giant in many ways. One of the ironies is that the body he chose, or was placed in, for this time around [reincarnationally speaking], has always been slighter in size. I don't recall ever having seen a photo of a hefty, or even overweight, Leonard. As you may have noticed, as people get older, the tendency is for them to lose weight, become smaller... regardless of how large they ever were. Simply a part of the aging process. When I was in New York, I watched Leonard walk from the dressing room to the rear of the stage. He was hurrying and his walk was purposeful, steady, and strong. As he stepped up onto the darkened stage, he did so very carefully. In a crowd of people or in any other environment, it is wise for anyone, and particularly for older people, to be cautious about their physical space. If I had exercised greater caution in Berlin, I wouldn't have found myself virtually immobilized on Hydra. A minor twist of my foot while dancing here left me wrapped and hobbling for weeks. With Leonard nearly 10 years my senior, I feel it's a superfluous point to keep disrespectfully discussing his physicality at this point and stage of his life. He has always been far more than that to many/most/all of us; so why shift perspective now, when your idea seems to be only to diminish? His strength of purpose girds into irrelevance the rest, that which is simply a part of his humanity.

I remember reading Anjani's account of her performance at the festival in Ireland and how the sound system made it very difficult to hear each other and, as I recall, even herself. So, it seems to me, she was extremely fortunate to have done so well with her singing. I don't recall in which article/review/commentary I read that noted the sound difficulties at the Conversation at the Barbican, but there were some there, as well, including when questions were taken from the audience. If someone asking a question speaks unclearly or quietly, it will complicate things even further. If people are having a problem hearing each other, their facial expressions, their voices, and their responsiveness are going to be de facto altered. They may hesitate; their face may take on a questioning or pondering look; and they may hesitate again before responding, as they try to make certain of what's been asked before they do. All are reasonable reactions when a sound system has created interference with the normal flow of verbal exchange. If a person has compromised hearing in one ear [as I believe someone once noted that Leonard has said] this will only add to the overall effect. In listening to Leonard's recent interviews or watching this video of Leonard's recitation, from memory, I can't imagine that anyone would question Leonard's clarity of mind. Leonard is as brilliant as he's ever been.

In the interviews I've watched with Leonard, it's in his nature to hesitate before answering. As a norm, he doesn't blurt out answers to questions. He engages the interviewers as well as the viewers by considering the question carefully before he responds in the most comprehensive/relevant/obfuscating way with what he chooses to say. He's never been at the mercy of interviewers; just because they ask questions quickly does not compel him to do the same and he knows it. Sometimes Leonard is light and quippy, and quick with his answers, and those times are equally clear as to how he's, by choice, approaching the questioning. Many of us should be so fortunate as to be able to engage in interviews in such splendid fashion.


~ Lizzy

liverpoolken wrote and quoted:

Anything that LC and his management decide to charge higher than these prices would be a complete exploitation of fans.

However reading this post from some silly bugger that I assume believes in what they write:-

Alan Alda wrote:
in the past I have dropped 500 bucks on primo seats. Like those prints of recent history, I do hope that Leonard, if he tours does realize his value and make the best seats very expensive (Yes, very expensive). We are for the most part an older generation and have more disposable income and he is worth it.
it maybe if management picks up on such thoughts then anyone who wants to see LC live next year is going have to pay through the nose for the privilige.

Ken~

IF Leonard tours at anything other than "rare bird" prices it would be an exploitation of him. He is not Dylan. He hasn't been out touring and selling himself (in person) non-stop like so many others. I can only imagine the level of exhaustion a tour would take. Even One concert must be pretty damned exhausting. He should come first. Fans (griping or not) second.

Yes, it would be a "privilege" and don't forget it.

regards,
Laurie

One trip overseas on a plane is exhausting. Jet lag is exhausting. I can't even imagine how exhausting a single performance, much less a tour, might be; when just staying up late can be exhausting for me. A tour will be difficult as tours are for most everyone I've ever read or heard talk about doing them, even younger people find that the continuous demands take a toll on their stamina.

If Leonard tours, I hope for a 'happy medium' in pricing... prices that will afford Leonard the compensation he deserves for such an endeavour; with ones that will still allow for lesser-incomed or savings [regardless of age] people to attend. Even though $500 feels too high, the prices of $47, $67, and $87 would be too low for what I'd expect for a Leonard Cohen concert [just seeing those three words aligned creates a feeling and an image that underscore what I'm saying]; as this will indeed be a "rare bird" tour and likely an only one, as well.


~ Lizzy

I never said Every seat should be 500 bucks. The Best should be...with incremental lessening. I don't think even the worse seats should be less than $100. I can't believe anyone would be bitching and moaning about wanting Dylanesque prices.

Lyz, thanks for reiterating what I had just said.

I've said all I have to say about this subject.

cheers,
Laurie

Not in total agreement with you, Laurie, but enough to reiterate in my own thinking and words that with which I am... and to leave the door open on that with which I'm not. Right now, I'm more focused on hoping to hear that a concert tour has actually been confirmed. Meanwhile, beginning to save, as I know that with the costs of travel, lodging, and meals, the number of concerts I'll be able to attend will be limited, anyway... regardless of prices. If it comes down to only one, so be it. Unlike what I did for the Glass production, I'll be spending the higher amount for a better seat.


~ Lizzy

What I would like to see are two-tier tickets on sale. That is to say, tickets for each concert priced at levels accessible to all, but with the option to upgrade (at a hefty premium) to include a pre-concert conversation.

Based on how rapidly tickets to the Philip Glass concert sold-out once the pre-concert talk was announced, I suspect that there are a lot of people out there like me who, at this stage of Leonard's life, are more interested in reminiscences from him, and those delightful pearls of wisdom that we all treasure ("Have you thought of writing a Book of Fulfilment?" "What's fulfilment got to offer? It would be a very short book"), than in hearing him sing live.

Strange to tell, I don't believe I have heard Leonard live since the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 (and I went there to hear Melanie!) For me, his albums are enough. But questions... Ah, I have so many questions I would love to hear him answer...!

Imagine if included in the price of the pre-concert talk was the right to submit one written question ... and that on the day a couple of dozen questions were drawn at random from a drum and answered. Now that really would be a lottery worth winning ... and worth paying for.

Hi Hydriot ~

Yes, I agree. MANY would love to be able to just sit and listen to Leonard talk and answer questions from the audience. Even if it came down to a speaking tour, I believe he would still be sold out. Yours is an interesting and satisfying way of upping his income. I don't know how that would work with the need for rehearsal, set-up, sound checks, and all that. Not that he'd be setting up his own equipment, but he'd definitely be checking the sound. It could be a long day, if both happened on one. Maybe the talk the night before and then the concert the next. That would double the time in any given place, though; but, it might also allow for a night of rest... as long as he didn't give in to after-Conversation meetings. Hard to figure it, isn't it? I'm still hoping to see a tour of any kind be confirmed.


~ Lizzy

Lizzy

What about his breakfast and his evening meal after the concert?

Sounds to me that this tour is very poorly organised indeed.

Ta Ken

What about his breakfast and his evening meal after the concert?

That's Anjani's department.

At this point, everything from $47 to $500 and all possibilities in between are pure fantasy.


~ Lizzy

lizzytysh wrote:

That's Anjani's department.

Lizzy

Tut, tut.

Of all the fine ladies I've met from the Forum you are the last one I would have expected to come out with such a sexist remark.

If you are indeed assigning Anjani to kitchen duties only for the up coming world tour then I for one will not be putting up a fight on that score.

Could I now suggest a name for the tour?

The Leonard Cohen Keep The Wimmin In The Kitchen 2008 World Tour.

Ta Ken (who had to make his own breakfast this morning)

Ta Ken