CONCERT REPORT: London, RAH, November 17-18

September 21 - November 30, 2008. Concert reports, set lists, photos, media coverage, multimedia links, recollections...
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LastRose
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Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 6:30 pm

Re: London RAH, 17-18 November 2008

Post by LastRose »

confetti wrote:i would like to see the photo taken of Mickey_one's friend with the band in the background.

So would I...if/when the member of Leonard's crew sends it to me, I'll post it here. (Obviously he has no idea that I'm the talk of the forum)

mickey_one's friend
p.s. I think Leonard was also in the background during my "photo-shoot"
MaryB
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Joined: Sat Mar 08, 2008 5:40 am
Location: Columbus, Ohio USA

Re: London RAH, 17-18 November 2008

Post by MaryB »

Ditto and more to all the positive comments re:Monday's concert!!! Was it just me or did LC and his ensemble seem to be just so very, very, very happy during this performance, especially in the second half after the intermission? It was as if a lot of Dino Soldo rubbed off on everyone :lol:

Kindest regards,
Mary

P.S. Jarkko, it was indeed a pleasure to have met you at Janet's Bar. I wish I had had the guts to introduce myself to the other forum members there :( - maybe at some later date. Barry and Maggie - it was indeed a joy to have met up with you again! To the guy from Utah who sat to my left in Stall O, how did it go with the exquisite LC painting?
1993 Detroit 2008 Kitchener June 2-Hamilton June 3 & 4-Vienna Sept 24 & 25-London RAH Nov 17 2009 NYC Feb 19-Grand Prairie Apr 3-Phoenix Apr 5-Columbia May 11-Red Rocks Jun 4-Barcelona Sept 21-Columbus Oct 27-Las Vegas Nov 12-San Jose Nov 13 2010 Sligo Jul 31 & Aug 1-LV Dec 10 & 11 2012 Paris Sept 30-London Dec 11-Boston Dec 16 2013 Louisville Mar 30-Amsterdam Sept 20
jhiggins
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Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2008 9:06 am

Re: London RAH, 17-18 November 2008

Post by jhiggins »

imyourwoman wrote:Had the extreme good fortune to bump into Leonard after last night's amazing show. He signed our books and told us to "give the old guy a hug" during the photo. What a gent!

I don't know how you girls managed to keep your cool.

Saw Mr L.C. at Glasto and had to see him again, I went to the O2 gig last Thursday.

I was hoping he would sing FBRC but as it came towards the end I kisssed the Buddha I wear on a necklace and let it go, just felt so blessed to have seen him again. He came back and started playing the chords... slowly, I said "this is it, yes!" I had a sister either side of me debating whether or not it was... I knew. I felt like I imagine a Beatles/David Cassidy/Osmonds/Bay City Rollers Fans must have felt back in the day when I was young and they were fainting! I was so ecstatic my body seemed lost, I was shaking like a leaf... thought I was going to faint! I know this is the RAH thread but I was amazed at how good the O2 was, Mr C. was on fine form. If I wasn't a buddhist he would be my Guru.

Am in plaster at the moment, back to work Tues, spending so much time listening & reading Leonard. Tempted to go to Paris but need to temper this Mr C. obsession!

Anyway my point is I think I would have broken down with tears of love had I met him.

I also think that it doesn't matter where you see L.C. he is magical and great!

'Love is the only angel of survival'

J x x x
John Etherington
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Re: London RAH, 17-18 November 2008

Post by John Etherington »

Hi J,

it's actually "love's the only engine of survival", but the angels are definitely around!

All good things, John E
jhiggins
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Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2008 9:06 am

Re: London RAH, 17-18 November 2008

Post by jhiggins »

John Etherington wrote:Hi J,

it's actually "love's the only engine of survival", but the angels are definitely around!

All good things, John E
Thanks John,
I have a habit of getting words to songs wrong! I think I need to listen more and not just 'make' them up.
Although in this case I think my version is not too bad.
Blessings, x
SuzanneC
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Re: London RAH, 17-18 November 2008

Post by SuzanneC »

Hi to everyone!!!
I am total beginner in this forum, but I also would like to send my comment to this fabulous fantastic experience, that surrounds all of us few past months. I am from Prague, Czech republic and it was my big dream to see just once Leonard to play and sing his beautiful songs. This dream came true in September in Prague, it was absolutely amazing and unbelievable evening. Next day I was like in ecstasy, but the second one I realized that I had to see him again, that it was just the question of life and death :D . So I went to Berlin (even better concert) and history repeated again. This Monday I was in RAH. For me it was absolutely the top of Leonard's concerts I saw. So intimate, powerful and emotional. When Leonard "sang" A Thousand Kisses Deep, the audience was so still and I couldn't even breathe. My head turned around (like Web sisters by theirs cartwheels :D ) from that beauty of words and Leonard's voice.
But unfortunately as tinderella said: "Ah well... back to reality! :cry: ". It woun't come any other concert after this for me, only if Henning was right with Leonard's Europe tour in 2009 :D . Please Leonard! Have a pity to your desperate europe fans :D
Anyway next chance for us is Australia and New Zealend tour in 2009. I'll be there as soon as I recover my bank account balance from this autumn :D I am looking to meeting you all there!
And John and J, you are right, the angels are definitly around. I know about one of them :D

LEONARD thank you very much for this autumn. I am so happy I could live this time with you and your songs that bring so many happiness to my life! Long live Leonard!

Suzanne

Prague 27th September / Berlin 4th October / RAH 17th November / New Zealend ??th ?? 2009 :D
Last edited by SuzanneC on Tue Nov 25, 2008 11:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
Habie
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Musings after the RAH concert, on private vs public emotion

Post by Habie »

Hi all,
Just some random thoughts....

I was in downtown Washington on Nov 4th when Obama won; strangers hugging, bus drivers punching the air, grins to break faces open, wild dancing, people literally screaming hope and joy, hugging some more... endless communicating.

On Tuesday I was at Leonard's concert in London; such a different kind of ecstasy. I was thinking about how the experience of a Leonard concert, however many thousands of people are around you, and whoever you go with, is something so personal, private, emotional - and almost impossible to describe.
Reading some of the topics on this forum, eg the passions continually aroused by whether or not it's OK to sing along or indeed to breathe at all during concerts, reminded me of that. I guess it's true of all art/poetry/music - the political is shared with bear hugs, the personal we cherish with a private smile.
Because of that, I always feel a kind of amused indignation when I read a comment on here from someone whose emotions mirror mine... Hey! Leonard sang Raincoat for ME last night! That was ME weeping until my soul cleaved, remembering my whole life with every line, giving thanks to the angelic engine of survival and the howling at beauty and... what do you mean, you were crying and trembling too??! I could have sworn Leonard looked straight at me, put on his fedora, and sang me, 'It's four in the morning, the end of December...' just as he has on vinyl and CD for the past 25 years whenever I've needed cheering up...

But then again, how lovely that he was looking straight at you too. (And Maarten, next to me, and Henning, somewhere outside the building, and Jarkko and Eija, in the third row with their wonderful calmness and gently shining eyes).

Poets, and the ways we love them.... How we share-but-can't-share those messages, with their direct line to our gut (OK, I mean soul, but it would be pretentious to use the word soul twice in one post). OK OK, I AM pretentious. Anyone trying to define Leonard's appeal ends up getting stuck in word-traps - aren't the best parts of his greatness those that can only ever be unspoken? (So what am I doing here, you ask? Well, I'm punch-drunk on Leonard, and going to my final concert tomorrow night, and this Forum is so much fun to be part of, and I've always taken the risk of being called pretentious when I'd prefer to be called passionate, especially here in the UK - so never mind...)

One last thing : is it just me, or is Leonard's music made even more personal/universal/sublime by the fact that he himself happens to be the most gracious, graceful and dignified human being in the history of popular music? I am an atheist, and not keen on idolatry, but with Leonard, I feel... worshipful. On Tuesday outside the Albert Hall, a woman in a pink dress said to her companions, 'He makes me want to believe in God'. My younger French friend, who had previously listened only to 1960s Leonard, came to the concert on a whim, paying a tout £110. She said afterwards, 'I thought he was a good singer, but what I saw tonight was a Great Man. Wow.'

As usual, someone on the Forum has said it better than me. (On the RAH thread, Jhiggins says, "If I wasn't a Buddhist he would be my Guru").

Here's to gurus and heroes, and we who love them always. x
shaunagh
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Re: Musings after the RAH concert, on private vs public emotion

Post by shaunagh »

Beautiful, Habie. You're spot on. Spot on. And hey how dare you be spot on - it was supposed to be ME and ONLY ME having those thoughts about Leonard's work...!! ;-)
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Womanfromaroom
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Re: Musings after the RAH concert, on private vs public emotion

Post by Womanfromaroom »

And once again, Leonard has already found the perfect expression for the mood we all seem to be in (and it is just so much the better that he has, too, because I am well aware that it is definitely more than a mere "mood" we are talking about here, but I am no good at finding exactly the right words for that specific after-concert state of mind and the nature of our affection for Leonard, which indeed leaves me more or less speechless as well; if it didn't, I would either be a pompous git - mind you, Habie, I am not implying that you are, because you are just so right; just speaking for myself here - or maybe even a poet, too! But as I am not, I am not even going to try to go into these very private and yet shared feelings any further! ;-) . So let the master have his say instead):

I loved you for a long, long time
I know this love is real
It dont matter how it all went wrong
That dont change the way I feel
And I cant believe that times
Gonna heal this wound Im speaking of
There aint no cure,
There aint no cure,
There aint no cure for love.

Im aching for you baby
I cant pretend Im not
I need to see you naked
In your body and your thought
I've got you like a habit
And I'll never get enough
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure for love

There ain't no cure for love
There ain't no cure for love
All the rocket ships are climbing through the sky
The holy books are open wide
The doctors working day and night
But they'll never ever find that cure for love
There ain't no drink, no drug
(ah tell them, angels)
Theres nothing pure enough to be a cure for love

I see you in the subway and I see you on the bus
I see you lying down with me, I see you waking up
I see your hand, I see your hair
Your bracelets and your brush
And I call to you, I call to you
But I don't call soft enough
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure for love

I walked into this empty church I had no place else to go
When the sweetest voice I ever heard, whispered to my soul
I dont need to be forgiven for loving you so much
It's written in the scriptures
It's written there in blood
I even heard the angels declare it from above
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure for love
...
"You thought that it could never happen / to all the people that you became"...
Love Calls You By Your Name
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hydriot
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Location: back in the UK

Re: London RAH, 17-18 November 2008

Post by hydriot »

Poor old Leonard! It looks like none of us is going to let him retire. That'll teach him for breaking into the prison...
“If you do have love it's a kind of wound, and if you don't have it it's worse.” - Leonard, July 1988
raywebster
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Location: Leicestershire, England

Re: London RAH, 17-18 November 2008

Post by raywebster »

I apologise for being sour, but am I the only one who thinks that the Webb Sisters' cartwheels are the tackiest thing ever seen at a concert?

ray
(there's only one)
davies30cat
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Re: Musings after the RAH concert, on private vs public emotion

Post by davies30cat »

Habie, You have said all there is to say!

Unfortunately the first three songs someone talked all through and by the time I decided that something had to be said to stop the spell being broken I was in no mood to relax and enjoy. :cry: Not until the second half was I really able to enjoy. The RAH was really spoiled for me. I am so glad I had been to Manchester in June and Bournemouth a week before where the spell was unbroken and I was able to wallow in the sheer pleasure of seeing and hearing the Great Man.
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Henning
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Re: London RAH, 17-18 November 2008

Post by Henning »

Hey Ray - I am sorry to have missed you again since I was telling everybody that this time I am going to meet my one and only Ray Webster. Yes you are right the cartwheels are a bit tacky but believe me they would be the ultimate highlight on a Bob Dylan show. I hope to see you next time.
IT'S DARKER NOW
1979: Frankfurt | 1980: Frankfurt | 1985: Wiesbaden - Munich | 1988: Munich - Nuremberg | 1993: Frankfurt
2008: Dublin - Manchester - Amsterdam - Loerrach - Berlin - Frankfurt - Oberhausen - London
2009: Cologne - Barcelona | 2010: Wiesbaden - Dortmund
2012: Ghent - Moenchengladbach - Verona - Lisbon | 2013: Oberhausen - Mannheim - Pula
Doctor Bob
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Re: London RAH, 17-18 November 2008

Post by Doctor Bob »

hogan wrote:I'm pretty sure he didn't do the "Maybe there's a god above ...." verse on Monday. It was back in on Tuesday though.
Yes, and on Tuesday I thought he left out the "You said I took the name in vain..." verse. And the second verse of "I tried to leave you" too I think...
We weren't lovers like that and besides it would still be alright...
mickey_one
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Re: London RAH, 17-18 November 2008

Post by mickey_one »

Henning wrote:Hey Ray - I am sorry to have missed you again since I was telling everybody that this time I am going to meet my one and only Ray Webster. Yes you are right the cartwheels are a bit tacky but believe me they would be the ultimate highlight on a Bob Dylan show. I hope to see you next time.
Henning stop being shy, Ray was challenging you to insist that you were the tackiest thing at the concert not them World Wide Webb sisters, nor even Ray Webbsister himself. You can be sure my vote is for you, Henning but I would like you to be a bit more assertive.
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