Leonard Cohen: TOUR 2008

[bigdee]

I don't know if it's the same in the UK as it is here in the USA, but, Ticketmaster usually prints and ships their tickets about 1 month prior to the event. I almost always get my tickets about 3 weeks before the event no matter how far in advance I book them. If you don't get them by the time you leave you can call Ticketmaster and explain that you can't get your tickets because your away from home or that they were lost in the mail. They should be able to void out the old ones (assumeing the O2 uses the newer coded tickets with the bar code on it which they should) and have new ones waiting for you at the ticket booth the night of the show. Just make sure you bring your identification and the credit card you used to purchase the tickets with. I had to do that once with a Elton John show I went to see far away from home when the tickets didn't come before I left.
By the way for thoses people thinking about buying tickets from someone standing outside the venue the night of the show, DON'T DO IT!! Two common scam used by scalpers/touts here in the USA are based on the above mentioned process. What they do is buy tickets online using credit cards that are issued to a fake/stolen name and have them shipped to a PO Box address. When the card company gets wise they put a stop on the money to Ticketmaster. They in turn cancel the tickets and they are marked as stolen if they have been shipped already. The tickets are sold to unsuspecting people outside the venue who either get turned away when they try to use them, or worse yet, are held by security and turned over to the police for having tickets purchased with a stolen card. Sometimes to get around having to come up with a stolen credit card they use another similar scam. In this one they buy the tickets online with their own real name and credit card. They wait until just before the show and call Ticketmaster to report them lost/stolen in the mail and request to have new ones waiting as mentioned above. They then take the first set of tickets (which are now voided and no good to get in) and have someone sell them at or above face value to get their money back. They then go to the venue the night of the show and pick up the new good tickets and get to see the show for free. If the person who buys the bad tickets calls the police/security at the venue and they question the people sitting in the seats those people are safe since they reported the tickets lost/stolen with Ticketmaster. The burden of proof then falls back on the person with the bad tickets who can't prove anything since they bought the tickets from someone in the street. They also can be arrested for having stolen goods. Usually they're not arrested instead they're just told how they were scammed and told they're out the money they paid and let that be a lession to them not to buy from scalpers. For those who are asking how I know these scams, I'm a police officer myself and have seen it done to people many times at my local venues.

[el-nico]

el-nico said:

.there were lots of invitations

I know I sent you one!!

I know, dear
And I thank you

I really do

Here: Thank you

But I was waiting for a miracle

(how long should I wait?)

[linda_lakeside]

Tks for the tks.

On the miracle, how long should you wait? ... well, given the 'probability' that you won't be hit by a bus - as long as you like. I hope your Miracle arrives. Btw, I never sent you any invitations, but it just seemed to 'fit'.

Good luck to you - we all need a Miracle now and again. Even once would be good.

Ciao, and take good care of your Miracle wish list.

[Felicia]

Does anyone know if there will be a US leg of this tour (late summer or fall)? Thanks in advance! Felicia

[richardrj]

Welcome to the forum Felicia. May I tactfully suggest you read or search the existing threads before posting a question like this, which has been asked and answered many times already.

[jondi]

There may be a concert hall in Vienna Richard but there seems to be very little tolerance or humour

[richardrj]

There was nothing intolerant about my post. It was worded politely and tactfully. And IMHO (I'm sure the moderators would back me up) there is nothing wrong with gently pointing out to newbies how this forum is supposed to work. This is a self-regulating community and it is not too much to expect people to observe basic netiquette, think and read before posting.

[jondi]

Ha ha ha ha think I will slip into my pious blue raincoat .... ah yes it has been borrowed by someone, time to move on I think

[Paula]

Richard as someone famous once said "you are dammed if you do and you are dammed if you don't". You try and make a polite suggestion to someone and suddenly you are the bad guy.

[Yankovic]

ROLLINGSTONE
http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/i ... n-toronto/



After 15 Years, Leonard Cohen Proves He’s Still Got It in Toronto
6/9/08, 11:02 am EST

Walking into the Sony Centre for Leonard Cohen’s Toronto concert on June 6th people had plenty of reasons to think the show might be a disappointment. The 73-year-old songwriting legend hadn’t performed a single concert in 15 years before this tour kicked off a few weeks back. He’s rarely been seen in public since then, and when he showed up at his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction earlier this year he looked pretty meek and refused to perform. Also, it’s quite clear the only reason he agreed to do this tour was the fact his manager stole nearly all his money during his five years Buddhist retreat on Mount Baldy in California and he needed a nest egg for retirement. Yet, like a master bank robber forced out of retirement for one last gigantic score, Cohen poured everything he had into a stunning performance.

Cohen walked onstage with a nine-piece band promptly at 8:00, wearing a dark, double-breasted suit and a fedora — he looked like he just stepped out of the Dick Tracy retirement home. From the first seconds of “Dance Me to the End of Love” it was apparent that his deep baritone hadn’t deteriorated a bit since the 1993 tour. It’s a far cry from the tender voice that sang “Suzanne” 40 years ago, but he’s sounded husky for a while now and it suits his dark material perfectly. The band — featuring an amazing Hammond B3 organist and his longtime back-up singer Sharon Robinson — re-created the spooky atmosphere of his albums down to the smallest detail.

Cohen played a handful of his 1960s/early-1970s classics such as “Suzanne” and “Bird on a Wire,” but the set list was heavily tilted towards material from the second 20 years of his career. He featured six of the eight songs from 1988’s I’m Your Man, along with five from 1992’s The Future and four from 2000’s Ten New Songs. It was a drag not hearing “Famous Blue Raincoat” or “So Long Marianne,” but the later songs have always sounded better live. A double shot of “Waiting for the Miracle” and “First We Take Manhattan” towards the end of the night were clear highlights and “I’m Your Man” remains one of the horniest songs ever written — though delivered with the class and wit only Cohen can bring.

The biggest applause of the night came in the early part of the second set when he launched into “Hallelujah.” Since his last tour, the 1984 tune has been covered by just about everyone on the planet (including American Idol hopeful Jason Castro) and has become his most famous composition. John Cale, Rufus Wainwright and (of course) Jeff Buckley all managed to eclipse the original, and tonight Cohen sang it like he was trying to reclaim it for himself. The lines “Even thought it all went wrong I stood before the Lord of Song with nothing on my lips but Hallelujah” were belted out with stunning force and conviction. Equally powerful was the title track to The Future, though for some reason “Give me crack, anal sex” has become “Give me crack, careless sex.” “Democracy” took on new meaning during the weekend Hillary Clinton suspended her campaign, and the line “Democracy is coming to the USA” earned huge cheers from the Canadian crowd.

“My friends are gone and my hair is grey,” Cohen sang in “Tower of Song.” He wrote those when he was merely 53, and 20 years later those words are truer than ever. But the Leonard Cohen onstage didn’t seem anything like an old man pining for the past. After two and a half hours, he still returned for the encores with a huge grin on his face. The man may be older than Jerry Lee Lewis and John McCain, but other than the times he sang verses while awkwardly squinting at the ground (presumably at a teleprompter) that was very easy to forget. His touring schedule is brutal (this was night one of a four-consecutive-night stand) and pretty soon he’ll be bouncing around Europe like a madman. When it’s done he’ll probably return to Los Angeles with a dump truck full of money and never perform again. Still, it’s a hell of a way to go out.

[Photo: CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Harris/AP Images]

Andy Greene

CommentsKDelphi5950 | 6/9/2008, 8:13 pm EST

Cohen is one of the best musicians of this–or any other–age. If you don’t get it–don’t listen.
RDog | 6/9/2008, 4:02 pm EST

SVUF…

“Give me crack” is just a line in the song “The Future”. In that song, Cohen does indeed look into the future, despairs at what he sees, and concludes that the future is “murder”.

You might want to consider not taking music (or Cohen’s, at least) quite so literally or simplistically. A song called “Hallelujah” isn’t automatically a “Christian” song. Cohen himself was born and raised Jewish, and is now a practicing Buddhist.

Cohen is one of those unusual artists whose work is revered the world over, but who many, many people have never heard of. It’s pretty inaccurate to suggest that Cohen sold out, either on the basis of one song lyric or in general. Bear in mind, it’s been almost a quarter century since he released his song “Don’t Go Home With Your Hard-On”.
SVUF | 6/9/2008, 2:37 pm EST

I don’t get it…how can someone old-schooled like Leonard Cohen sing a song titled “Give me crack…” and then sing a Christian song like “Hallelujah”?
That’s like Black Sabbath playing “Raindrops keep falling on my head” then ripping into “Paranoid”. Weird. Mr. Cohen, if you keep singing songs like “Give me crack…”, you’ll be earning much more than what your former manager had stolen. I guess its true: Sex really does sell!
gabo | 6/9/2008, 1:49 pm EST

i don’t think he’ll come to Mexico to play, i hope they put this show in a dvd and make more money, i’ll buy it!
D Moriarty | 6/9/2008, 1:41 pm EST

Plenty of acts shouldn’t be touring and taking peoples’ money for what they do on stage.

In contrast, Leonard Cohen is better than ever in concert. Making lemonade out of lemons with a tour is a gift.

“Hallelujah” is part of the popular songbook for all generations. My favorite version is by the young Canadian artist Allison Crowe. It’s a magnificent song and one that belongs to everyone now. And, there’s plenty more in Leonard Cohen’s repertoire.

Thank you, Mr. Cohen.

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[reets]

I was lucky enough to be at Lenoard's concert in Manchester on the 17th, Lenoard came on to the stage to a standing ovation that rocked the Opera House, he started of with one of my favorites "dance me to the end of love", to say I had tears in my eyes was an underestimantion, the whole place was full of emotion..I went thinking don't expect miracles the man is now 73, I got more then a miracle, I have waited since the 60's to see him, and it was well worth the wait, he was fantastic, I am still reeling, I wanted to go back the next night and the next...his backing singers lead by Sharon Robinson was brilliant as was the "Webb Sisters" from the UK...all I can say folks if you can get there go and see him...one of the highlights of the night was Lenoard making "1000 kisses deep" into a poem his voice is so wonderful...it has not lost any power..I can't wait until the next tour..the amount of standing ovations he got was unreal..well worth every minute...
Reets (yorkshire)

[el-nico]

Seven days left.....

[silage]

Its such a shame that there are absolutely no effort to include the southeren hemisphere in this tour. There are thousands of Leonard Cohen fans down here in Latis America and South Africa that would love to see him live.

I just hope that his advisors and management would think about such a possibility.I have been a Leonard Cohen fan since 1972!!! and never had the opportunity to see him in concert.

[reets]

I hope it happens for you, he is an extrodinary man who gains in humility and years...wish we could get some concerts on dvd, upto now have only documentries..
Reets

[Yankovic]

This week's Rolling Stone Magazine, Barack Obama on the cover. Leonard Cohen London concert photo on page 48.