CONCERT REPORT: Coachella, April 17

USA and Canada (April 1 - June 4, 2009). Special concert for fans in NYC (February 19). Concert reports, set lists, photos, media coverage, multimedia links, recollections...
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MarieM
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Coachella, April 17

Post by MarieM »

Never saw LC so easy on stage. Even waving with his hand like a prophet during Everybody Knows.
I agree, Tom, 100%. There is something very different about these youtubes. Leonard is speaking directly to those 20 and 30 year olds and they are reacting in kind. You see this especially in Everybody Knows where the crowd cheers at different lines than what you'd normally experience at Leonard's concerts. You can feel the crowd listening to the words and responding. And dare I say that on Hallelujah, Leonard became a bit Jeff Buckley-esque on the chorus, something that certainly 20 and 30 years would recognize and respond to. I'm very impressed and so were others.

From Spin Magazine
http://www.spin.com/articles/best-worst-coachella-day-1
The Best & Worst from Coachella -- Day 1

Leonard Cohen, Franz Ferdinand, Paul McCartney, and more -- SPIN recaps all the mayhem in the California desert.

THE BEST:

Best Set: Leonard Cohen
How fitting that Leonard Cohen's performance of "Hallelujah," his most famous song, would still come as a glorious shock. After all, that's what the melody does: It seeps into your heart and lies dormant -- then erupts as pure emotion. The set was tenderly elegant (brocade rugs and red velvet chairs!), but nothing could distract from Cohen, 75 and beaming, tipping his fedora to a misty-eyed crowd of all ages and roaming the stage like Sinatra, depthless baritone still in terrific form. Artists one-third his age couldn't have culled the ferocity of "First We Take Manhattan" or the heartrending, unadorned lament of "Everybody Knows." And still, when the keys kicked up the first strains of "Hallelujah," those ascending notes led a seismic reaction -- offstage, as an ecstatic audience sang every word back in hymnal, and onstage, where Cohen removed his hat and peered out into audience with reverent, brimming tears. -- Stacey Anderson
Marie
Speaking Cohen
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lizzytysh
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Coachella, April 17

Post by lizzytysh »

Leonard's music and voice and lyrics ~ we all know ~ are SO DISTINCTIVE... such a pleasure listening to them through my imagined 20-year-old self.

Watching these clips, I can't stop smiling and I can't stop the excitement in my solar plexus. I'm thrilled beyond words to see Leonard getting love not just from those who have known him, stuck by him, and learned of him along the way... but from as someone already noted an UNEQUIVOCALLY, NEW GENERATION who has discovered and is embracing him the same as we did in late Sixties, early Seventies and ever since. In Everybody Knows, he was as distinct and directed as he possibly could be with every lyric... ensuring every new ear would hear and understand his message. He seemed even a bit more gutteral by intent in his delivery. The stage smoke was unexpected and great, and the lighting so rich and sublime. And I've only watched the first two!! Oh, Leonard Leonard Leonard, I am SO HAPPY for you, my dear, wonderful man... my hero!




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burningviolin
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Coachella, April 17

Post by burningviolin »

I agree, Tom, 100%. There is something very different about these youtubes.

He's in top form that's for sure. I'm not being trivial when I say this but visually the palm trees and the dark blue sky behind the stage are a beautiful backdrop and very different from the usual backdrop!
Last edited by burningviolin on Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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mirka
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Coachella, April 17

Post by mirka »

There is a 'Leonard Cohen' thread on the Coachella message board now, with excellent photos and videoclips, somebody posted there:
Hallelujah was the most incredible thing ever. The way everyone was singing, Leonard Cohen's angelic nature, his amazing band - we almost became gods.
http://www.coachella.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30986
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ladydi
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Coachella, April 17

Post by ladydi »

I have not watched all the YouTube videos yet, but a couple were enough at the moment. Hallelujah was transcendent! I agree totally with Mirka that there is a "feed" between Leonard and the audience. I've seen it happen in concert halls, but everyone seems to be so proper. Yes, there are whistles and hoots and whoops.....but it is outside that magic happens! Coachella brought back memories of watching Glastonbury and Dublin. The instinctive participation.....the arms and hands waving in the air....the oneness with the moment. And above it all is Leonard! He creates the magic. It is so awesome that after all these years there are other generations that become absorbed into the moment! The words, the music, the words especially, rise above and attach to the inner soul. They blast into ones consciousness and rip it apart, or touch deeply into that passion we sometimes don't realize we have....and for a few minutes, or for a few seconds, we soar above this earthly world...part of it, but not of it.

I've read posts that disparage fans who sing along in concert halls. You know what...who cares. If the inner you wants to sing....sing! If you want to stand and wave your hands high....do it. Life is short and I think our spirits need to not be told what is proper, but do what is spontaneous. Stand, sing, wave your arms....be alive!

I think some interesting concerts may follow!

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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Coachella, April 17

Post by surfergirl »

Ditto to everything Diana says. And thanks to all who linked the Cochella message board and videos. Wow, wow, wow.
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lizzytysh
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Coachella, April 17

Post by lizzytysh »

As one Coachella poster wrote, "Epic" is right.

Goll darn. EVERY video is so unbelievably stirring.


~ Lizzy
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Coachella, April 17

Post by friscogrl »

You're welcome Mirka. It was quite an experience and just wanted to share some of that of here. I am sorry we didn't meet at Oakland Tuesday which also was a great concert experience!

Marsha
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Coachella, April 17

Post by tomsakic »

I agree with you, Mirka - that was exactly what I was claiming because I was alone in my opinion that London July 2008 gig is not the good choice for the release. I was on two shows in Europe last year, I heard about 20 bootlegs, and you can clearly hear how LC sings few times energetic and better when he has the LOUD response from the audience.
Now I have the London CD and it sucks, compared to Beacon Theatre mp3 or Toronto bootleg from June 2008. I mean, it is an excellent show for any other standard, but not for the Leonard Cohen Tour of 2008/2009 standards. There's no that "wow" effect people have when they hear Beacon podcast or Toronto bootleg, or many of those YouTube clips. That moment of frenzy when he comes up the stage and you hear the first notes of Dance Me..., it's completely missing from the London release. The venue was simply to big and Leonard couldn't react so well as in smaller venues. Also there's another point - on open airs, in just 1 hour between other acts, he knows he has to work hardly for his own cause and he's usually much better then (i.e. in Summer 2008, the best YouTube clips were, imho, from Big Chill open air in UK).
Coachella clips are really mind-blowing. I can't help myself, but I'd say he's much better than he was last year. The band surely has grown up.
yaniv297
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Coachella, April 17

Post by yaniv297 »

No Suzanne? that's really weird... kind of expected Chelsea Hotel, it's a kind of a festival song.
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Coachella, April 17

Post by mnkyface »

I am blown away by these Coachella clips on YouTube and am wishing I had gone. He seems SO energized by that audience; they are crazy about him! He is really having fun and even after all this time, it seems like he is kind of surprised how much the young-uns know and love him. I love his bemusement that is evident in certain moments in the first video that Tom posted.

Also, what is with the pointing the two fingers at the band and audience? I have not noticed this before on this tour and it is cool and sexy as all hell. There is only so much a girl can take, Leonard. :D :oops:

HOW does he (and that hot band) keep getting better and better??? It's really kind of scary. (And it means they should not stop touring! :lol: )

Esther
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ladydi
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Coachella, April 17

Post by ladydi »

Hi Esther,

YES...I noticed that too with the 2 fingers!? So cool. What was that? Spent about an hour watching the Coachella clips on YouTube..some a second and third time, especially Hallelujah and Everybody Knows. Awesome. A different intensity. From Leonard and everyone on stage...so many smiles...responding to the crowd! And all the young people....new generations who perhaps only know of Leonard faintly, responding with such passion! His music and poetry truly does reach across the ages!

Leonard, and the band, just seem to keep reaching higher highs. I REALLY want to be at an outdoor concert! Hopefully Red Rocks will be impromptu. I think there will be a certain electricity as many will think of it as his last US concert...ever. Well, I'm not so sure, but just in case, I know I, for one, will be VERY emotional. No one would even want me to sing, but I will whisper the words and wave my hands, and give my love!

The whole "live outdoors" experience is making me think about a quick trip to Dublin...or Venice, this summer. Where, or where will the money come from?? :D

All the best,
Diana
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Coachella, April 17

Post by surfergirl »

My young 21 year old female college student went to the Friday show and referred to LC's performance as X!?-X amazing, and LC himsef as "a total stud".

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: ;-)
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mirka
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Coachella, April 17

Post by mirka »

surfergirl wrote:My young 21 year old female college student went to the Friday show and .....
:D :D :D I'm just listening to his 1985 interview made around the time of Warsaw concert, he says he was just dumped by his record company (Columbia) who regarded him as unmarketable in US, and they were very surprised during the tour that he could still fill concert halls, and that the audience was also young.

One of my Polish friends worked for a local college radio station in Wroclaw at that time, they did a short interview with LC before his concert there, I asked her "how did it feel to shake his hand ?". Her answer: "I almost fainted..."

So, not much has changed for the past 25 years in this regard :) :) :)

ps.
I believe "the thing with 2 fingers" is a prophetic pose (as in 'biblical Prophets').
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friscogrl
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Coachella, April 17

Post by friscogrl »

A lot of the people in the audience had their arms raised and were pointing with two fingers. Maybe Leonard was responding to this. I know there were quite a few times as mentioned here where he raised his arm and was pointing two fingers out at the fans. There definitely was a connection with Leonard and the audience! And as Tom said he certainly was at ease. Someone in an article described him moving on the stage like Frank Sinatra!
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