CONCERT REPORT: Molde, July 17

Europe and Israel (July 1 - September 24, 2009). Concert reports, set lists, photos, media coverage, multimedia links, recollections...
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jarkko
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CONCERT REPORT: Molde, July 17

Post by jarkko »

Setlist for MOLDE, Norway, July 17
Received from Snow!!!

Dance me to the end of love
The future
Ain't no cure for love
Bird on the wire
Everybody knows
In my secret life
Who by fire
Heart with no companion
Democracy
Anthem

Tower of song
Suzanne
Sisters of mercy
The partisan
Boogie street
Hallelujah
I'm your man
Take this waltz

So long, Marianne
First we take Manhattan

Famous blue raincoat
If it be your will
Closing time

I tried to leave you
Whither Thou Goest
1988, 1993: Helsinki||2008: Manchester|Oslo|London O2|Berlin|Helsinki|London RAH|| 2009: New York Beacon|Berlin|Venice|Barcelona|Las Vegas|San José||2010: Salzburg|Helsinki|Gent|Bratislava|Las Vegas|| 2012: Gent|Helsinki|Verona|| 2013: New York|Pula|Oslo|||
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Anne R
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Molde, July 17

Post by Anne R »

Here are som stuff from Norwegian newspapers. Since the google translations were such a success on the Langesund concert, you should try it again. ;-)

http://www.dagbladet.no/2009/07/18/kult ... k/7250215/

http://www.rbnett.no/apps/pbcs.dll/arti ... 27599/1085

http://www.smp.no/article/20090718/KULT ... 32460/1002#

Pics:
http://www.rbnett.no/apps/pbcs.dll/gall ... ofile=1085

Anne R
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1976 Oslo | 1979 Oslo | 1985 Oslo x 2 | 1988 Oslo | 1993 Oslo | 2008 Manchester, Oslo, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Helsinki | 2009 New York, Langesund, Barcelona
1976 Oslo | 1979 Oslo | 1985 Oslo x 2 | 1988 Oslo | 1993 Oslo | 2008 Manchester, Oslo, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Helsinki | 2009 New York, Langesund, Barcelona | 2010 Oslo, Helsinki, Las Vegas x2 |2012 Helsinki, (Verona)| 2013 Oslo
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bridger15
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Molde, July 17

Post by bridger15 »

Anne R wrote:Here are som stuff from Norwegian newspapers. Since the google translations were such a success on the Langesund concert, you should try it again. ;-)
Thanks for posting all this good stuff. Even though Google translations are awkward, the beautiful essence of the concert shines through. The photos are wonderul too, especially the fantastic close-up of Charlie Webb. And a bonus for me, I am picking up a few key words in Norwegian.

Takk, Anne
2009-San Diego|Los Ang|Nashville|St Louis|Kansas City|LVegas|San Jose
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Arlene's Leonard Cohen Scrapbook http://onboogiestreet.blogspot.com
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jarkko
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Molde, July 17

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http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=33567
Molde Jazz: Day 5, July 17, 2009
Published: July 22, 2009
By John Kelman Comments

Leonard Cohen
Molde Jazz
Molde, Norway
July 17, 2009

One of the best parts of attending a Norwegian festival is the incredible hospitality and generosity afforded to its guests. From Tuesday through Friday during the course of Molde Jazz, there's the opportunity to take a boat out to Hjertøya, an island not far off the coast of Molde, where it's possible to relax, have a bite for lunch, meet everyone from media to festival sponsors and volunteers and enjoy some local students performing in a marching band—a Norwegian musical tradition. In the case of Molde Jazz 2009, it's also a chance to enjoy the fine weather that's been hovering over the town since the beginning of the festival, apart from one brief rainfall.

Getting out onto the water also provides an opportunity to see a broader picture of the more than 200 mountains surrounding Molde. Some of these are relatively small, but plenty still sport snowcaps even mid-summer, and there's even the chance to ski for those ambitious enough to make the trip. The water in the fjord is clear, clean and cold, though there were some intrepid locals diving into the waters around Hjertøya. But for the most part, Molde guests—and other tourists who also came to the island—were more interested in enjoying the sun, enjoying the company and enjoying the free food, beer and wine that was served.

Sitting outside on a covered patio for those wanting to stay in the shade—with temperatures hitting comfortable highs of around the 20-22 Celsius mark, it was hot enough to think about protection from the sun, though plenty of the island's visitors preferred to enjoy the warmth on the rocks near the docks—people mingled and learned a little bit about each other. With media attending Molde from places abroad including England, Japan, Estonia and North America, there was plenty to talk about by the festival's fifth day and, as always, new connections were made that will continue long after the festival is over.

Returning to Molde after a couple of hours, despite the work and long hours involved in covering the festival, it felt like being on a real vacation. Of course, getting the chance to see so many outstanding performances in a concentrated period doesn't exactly feel like work, and for the festival's second-to-last day the outdoor party continued on the grounds of the town's museum, where singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen's eagerly anticipated performance was to take place that evening.

The Norwegian way of blending modernity with nature is remarkable, but part of it is enforced by the inescapable landscape. Whether it's because of waterways winding their way through cities like Bergen or because of the rolling topography of Molde, one thing is certain: any requirement to go anywhere will almost invariably involve having to climb at least one hill—usually a good, steep one. The walk to Romsdamuseet was no different; the 15-minute walk seeming to go nowhere but up. In the case of Cohen's performance, it was well worth the effort.

With over 11,000 people still winding their way through the gates 20 minutes before the 7:00 PM show time, it was Molde Jazz's most heavily attended show—even more remarkable, when considering it represented nearly half of the town's entire population. Still, as ever, people were courteous as alcohol flowed freely with an audience made up of fans ranging from teenagers to seniors.

When Cohen took the stage---literally jogging on after his nine-piece band took their places ahead of him—he was clearly happy to be there. No surprise, given that this tour—despite being born out of necessity after millions of dollars was stolen from Cohen by a previous manager—has turned out to be the crowning achievement of his career. He may be close to hitting 75 later this year, but Cohen has never sounded better. His voice has truly aged like a fine wine, assuming a richness and depth that made definitive his delivery of many songs that are such a part of the social fabric that it's impossible not to have heard most of them, even without following his career.

It didn't hurt that Cohen had a crack band, the same band that can be heard on the Live in London (Columbia, 2009) CD and DVD. And while the first set faithfully followed that of those releases, the second set of a show that, with the break, approached the three-hour mark, deviated slightly, with "Famous Blue Raincoat" replacing "Sisters of Mercy" in the second of three encores, since the latter song appeared earlier in the set in place of "The Gypsy's Wife." With most of his backup band multi-instrumentalists—whether it was Javier Mas' Bandurria, laud, archilaud and 12-string guitar, Neil Larsen's keys, accordion and brass, Dino Soldo's keys, saxophones and wind instruments or Bob Metzger's electric and pedal steel guitar—bassist/musical director Roscoe Beck's arrangements were filled with variety in an easygoing but never lightweight performance.



Cohen's never had a voice with great range or power, but the fact remains—a truth made especially evident in the film Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man (2005), where all but a couple of singers with far stronger voices completely butchered Cohen's poetry (Teddy Thompson being the notable exception) by forgetting that it's never about the voice, it's always about the prose: there are few singers alive who can deliver his words with the same pathos, irony and self-effacing humor. And hearing his gruff, low-register voice deliver a line like "Good night, my darling, I hope you're satisfied" in "Closing Time"—for which the crowd went wild—it's easy to see that as influential as Bob Dylan has been on generations of singers, so too has Cohen been a reference point, albeit one less often cited. Mark Knopfler would surely have not been the same had it not been for Cohen, especially during the ex-Dire Straits guitarist/vocalist's earlier, more poetic days.

The crowd was with Cohen from the first words of "Dance Me to the End of Love," singing along without any need for Cohen to solicit audience participation. And when he sang "The Future," a particularly relevant song in the soundtrack to Oliver Stone's ode to violence, Natural Born Killers (1994), it was still as chilling as ever. Cohen rarely spoke to the audience outside the context of his songs, but when he changed "And just when I climbed this whole mountainside" to "And just when I climbed these 200 mountainsides" in "So Long, Marianne," his specific connection to audience and location was unmistakable. Always the understated poet, Cohen didn't have to pander to his audience; his committed delivery was more than all that was necessary to establish a bond that his fans will walk away with and remember, even if he never plays in Molde again.

High points of the show were many but, unsurprisingly, "Suzanne" and "Hallelujah" were two of them, if for no other reason than Cohen demonstrated a simple but moving facility on guitar on the former and unexpected vocal range on the latter; his unerring pitch was maintained throughout the show. And as the show ended with the moving "Whither Thou Goest," where he thanked not only his band, but his road crew and audience, it was clear that Cohen may have been forced into this tour out of necessity, but this was no by rote performance. Cohen gave his all throughout, delivering a set of iconic songs with remarkable grace and elegance, and covering so much of his best material that it would, indeed, be hard to imagine anyone going home unsatisfied.
1988, 1993: Helsinki||2008: Manchester|Oslo|London O2|Berlin|Helsinki|London RAH|| 2009: New York Beacon|Berlin|Venice|Barcelona|Las Vegas|San José||2010: Salzburg|Helsinki|Gent|Bratislava|Las Vegas|| 2012: Gent|Helsinki|Verona|| 2013: New York|Pula|Oslo|||
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Geoffrey
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Molde, July 17

Post by Geoffrey »

a poster i saw while on my way to molde jazz festival.

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Geoffrey
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Molde, July 17

Post by Geoffrey »

one more picture i took on my way to the festival. it says: "no video cameras, animals, bottles, thermos flasks, weapons or umbrellas - and smoking allowed only in certain areas"

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Susy
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Molde, July 17

Post by Susy »

Hey Geoffrey,
thank you very much for your beautiful photo of Leonards Poster
on your way to Molde Jazz Festival ... I love it :D
Greetings ...Susanne
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Geoffrey
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Molde, July 17

Post by Geoffrey »

Susanne wrote:
>Hey Geoffrey,
thank you very much for your beautiful photo of Leonards Poster on your way to Molde Jazz Festival ... I love it.


It is very kind of you to respond to my message, Susanne; thank you. In a close-up of the text at the bottom (I 'zoomed' up) one can read that this portrait of Leonard was taken in 2001 by Norwegian photographer Lars Eivind Bones. The same gentleman has also taken pictures of Leonard's son, Adam - as can be seen at the link below. Goodbye for now, my dear.
http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/adam.html

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Susy
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Molde, July 17

Post by Susy »

Thanks Geoffrey,
very nice to see both Cohen togetter...
holding sheet of music, and Adam with his guitar :)
thanks for posting... Susanne
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Geoffrey
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Molde, July 17

Post by Geoffrey »

Susanne wrote:
>Thanks Geoffrey, very nice to see both Cohens together, holding sheet of music, and Adam with his guitar.


Yes, father and son, and now Adam too is a father, of course - but no one knows how far the lineage will continue. Any fool can tell how many seeds there are in a mango, but no genius can tell how many mangos there are in a seed. The miracle of conception, nature performs its delicate surgery of inserting bones into a blob of jelly, and we have a miniature Jonah. Not trapped inside the belly of a mammal, but inside the belly of a mamma.
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Molde, July 17

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Geoffrey wrote:Susanne wrote:
>Thanks Geoffrey, very nice to see both Cohens together, holding sheet of music, and Adam with his guitar.


Yes, father and son, and now Adam too is a father, of course - but no one knows how far the lineage will continue. Any fool can tell how many seeds there are in a mango, but no genius can tell how many mangos there are in a seed. The miracle of conception, nature performs its delicate surgery of inserting bones into a blob of jelly, and we have a miniature Jonah. Not trapped inside the belly of a mammal, but inside the belly of a mamma.

Dear Geoffrey, I know you don't speak English but please find a friend to translate this for you. You won't have heard it before but there is an old English expression, "it takes 2 to mango". You seed to be making the same point, albeit in ignorance. Well, as we also say "a little ignorance can spread a long way", but it is not compulsory so you are now band from the forum, (not the same band as back Leonard btw), congratulations on your brilliant posts, (and also your lovely cross-bar), GOAL TO GEOFFREY! 1-0 TO THE NORWEGIANS
yeah, well, errrrm, hum, yeah, ok, I dunno, articulation is not my fing, who cares, SHUT IT YOU MUPPET, blah blah blah
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Geoffrey
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Molde, July 17

Post by Geoffrey »

Sideways wrote:
>Dear Geoffrey, I know you don't speak English but please find a friend to translate this for you. You won't have heard it before but there is an old English expression, "it takes 2 to mango". You seed to be making the same point, albeit in ignorance. Well, as we also say "a little ignorance can spread a long way", but it is not compulsory so you are now band from the forum, (not the same band as back Leonard btw), congratulations on your brilliant posts, (and also your lovely cross-bar), GOAL TO GEOFFREY! 1-0 TO THE NORWEGIANS


I believe that were it possible for a wave to stand motionless, the shore would rush towards it, and perhaps this is now happening here. Appreciate your comments, as these days I am mostly ignored in favour of more mediocre posts, hence my silence. I take solace, however, in knowing that rats value not a mosaic floor as they scurry towards garbage. People avoid me as a cockroach will avoid the light, for their hearts are as black as the charcoal their bones one day will make. Therefore being evicted from this forum would probably be like being kicked from a pigsty into a palace.
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Molde, July 17

Post by MaryB »

Ooooh Geoffrey,

We do not ignore you - your posts make us think! Some of us simply do not respond to your posts knowing that we cannot be as clever as you and answer in an intelligent manner. I always look forward to your posts.

Warmest regards,
Mary
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