Review from the local rag, though I think the setlist is a bit off (I certainly don't recall "Sisters of Mercy" but maybe the euphoria is scrambling my memory):
http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/mus ... eview.html
Legendary Leonard Cohen energetic at the Doge
by Tracy Collins - Apr. 6, 2009 09:45 AM
The Arizona Republic
Less than a week after releasing a terrific live concert on CD and DVD, poet-cum-musician-cum-Buddhist monk-cum-resurgent performer Leonard Cohen recreated the experience for a fawning Dodge Theatre crowd Sunday night.
But while the set list was nearly identical and even some of the between-song banter was the same, Cohen trumped the show recorded nine months ago in London with more energy and decisively better vocals.
Accompanied by six virtuoso musicians and three beautiful backup singers, the 74-year-old Cohen held the stage for 3 hours and 16 minutes, pausing only for a 27-minute intermission just over an hour into the show, and again for about 2 minutes offstage before the encore.
From the opening bars of "Dance Me to the End of Love" to the benediction of "Whither Thou Goest," Cohen showed more energy than most of his audience, whose ages ranged an impressive seven decades. He often began songs on one knee, at times played organ and guitar, and left the stage only briefly several times late in the show, skipping or dancing offstage only to return a moment later.
In the process, he outlasted the tolerance of many in the crowd for more babysitter pay or, in some cases old and young, for bedtime.
Cohen's performance included droll humor, enchanting poetry readings, and his noted role as the lusty Barry White of the Greenwich Village set. His plunging baritone delivered his often-Hemingway-esque takes on the trials and triumphs of passion and lust, with lines over which he is known to spend weeks and that often brought murmurs, chuckles or even applause from the appreciative audience.
Equally impressive was his band. Javier Mas played an assortment of 12-string guitar and bandurria that gave much of the music an old Spanish flavor. Dino Soldo played an assortment of wind instruments to great effect, and Bob Metzger's electric guitar solos were brief but exquisite. Bassist Roscoe Beck, drummer Rafael Gayol and keyboardist Neil Larsen joined the others in not only getting their own solos, but being introduced in both the first and second sets by Cohen.
The singers were led by Cohen's longtime collaborator, Sharon Robinson, who also took a sultry solo turn on "Boogie Street." The Webb Sisters, from England, filled out the sound with angelic voices, including a performance of Cohen's "If It Be Your Will," which he opened with a spoken-word intro.
The lighting was low-key and gorgeous, the sound perfect, and the interplay between musicians so precise yet casual that even looking hard for flaws turned up nothing. In his fifth decade as a performer, Cohen didn't miss a beat.
The crowd saved its biggest cheers for songs from Cohen's album "The Future," including the title track, the rousing "Anthem" and a rollicking "Closing Time." If the singer, who had to leave his Buddhist monastery and return to performing after being swindled by his accountant, had any doubts about his relevance to fans nearly 17 years after that career landmark, their reaction laid those to rest.
STE LIST:
***(Set list removed because it was not complete -- scroll down for a more accurate one / Jarkko)***