Leonard Cohen World Tour: “been there, bought the T-shirt”
Yes, really!
Cohen took Belfast by storm when his World Tour came to town, and such was the effect it had on me, I even went to the promotional sales point and bought a T shirt – something I never do!!
Judging by my friends’ reactions when I said I was going to the concert, the debate over whether Cohen is just music to slit your wrists to is still ongoing. All I can say is this:
Go and hear the man sing. Listen to his backing musicians and singers (all great artists in their own right), and then decide. You’ll be pleasantly surprised. In fact not just surprised, uplifted.
‘Dance Me to the End of Love’ was echoing enticingly in the entrance hall once we’d finally made it into the Odyssey building (I’m sure that I’m not the only one who will have complained about the appalling queues for car parking), and it was the signal for the start of an enchanting night with a singer / songwriter who still packs a punch on the emotional metronome.
The 74 year-old sang with perfect pitch; his rich gravelly voice reaching deep down the octaves, and never missing once.
He’s got to be the only septuagenarian I know with more sex appeal than singers a quarter of his age. Each time he left the stage he skipped off it like a spring lamb, just to show us there was plenty of life in the old dog yet – and also, I suspect, to poke fun at those who think Cohen incapable of anything further up the emotional scale than ‘less than happy most of the time’.
Those who don’t ‘get’ Cohen are missing out on a massive scale.
Yes, there’s an element of bleakness to some of his music, but sometimes that’s life, and that’s what Cohen sings about – the big things – religion, power, sex, spirituality; throwing up a very raw mixture of emotions that also include hope, an instinct for survival and yes, even a love for life.
He also has a genius for blending rhythms from a wide variety of backgrounds – folk, blues, jazz, a hint of gospel, it’ all there. His poetic prose enriches his lyrics in a way few others have been able to rival and his backing musicians provide not just a solid platform for the singer but superb solo performances in their own right.
His backing group – Sharon Robinson and the Webb sisters, Patti and Charley – sing with the voices of angels who have seen life and come out the other side. This is the kind of concert you want to listen to with a whisky in one hand and a cigarette in the other without feeling guilty.
When Cohen knelt at the front of the stage singing “I’m your man” the unspoken reply from an emotionally charged audience was – “and you always will be”.
PS I’ve now been inspired to resurrect my copy of his novel ‘Beautiful Losers’, first read in my student days. Let’s just say I’m concentrating hard and working on it. Hey, I didn’t say he was easy!
Click here to see Cohen’s July performance at the Belfast Odyssey Arena