Nearly 6 months after it was originally due to be held, but worth the long wait for sure.
The whole crew appeared to be enjoying themselves despite the absence of Sharon Robinson and with a 28 song set list, so did the audience
It was good to hear 3 of the new songs being played, certainly they are much better 'in the flesh' than on videos, I just hope they will make the basis of a new album soon. The Webb sisters picked up Sharon's parts where needed extremely well indeed, but for me their rendition of 'If it be your will' was not the of the same quality as I have heard on previous concerts, where I have been moved to tears, last night they just did not seem to harmonise as well and sounded a little more strident somehow, or perhaps it was just me ? still good for sure, but just lacking a little something.
Again I don't know if it was me, or where I was sat in the hall, centre of ground level some 15 rows back, but the sound was not very good, certainly in the first session, where a lot of the instruments sounded flat and almost lifeless, it was certainly not the fault of the artists who appeared to be giving their all, maybe some venues just do not sound good and nothing can be done about it. The latter part of the show seemed a bit better.
Mixed views on the translations which appeared on screen, for me they were an irritant and also not sufficiently sensitively translated to get across the true meanings of the words, but for the group of French friends I went with, they thought it was an excellent idea allowing them to follow the words better, personal choice I guess.
There were some really excellent arrangements of some of the old favourites, Cohen seemed to have made a lot of small, thoughtful adaptations which really added to the pleasure of listening to the songs, nothing drastic, just some pauses, varied emphasis, and overall a greater level of intimacy, really good. 'Chelsea Hotel' and 'Take this waltz' were good examples of these changes..
'The Partisan' was, as you might expect in northern France, very well received with a standing ovation from some of the crowd, but not the same reaction as at Bercy last year for sure, possibly because there were so many non French speakers present at this easily accessible venue. This was followed by possibly one of the best renditions of 'Hallelujah' that I have heard, it struck an excellent balance between the triumphalism sometimes present, and the more sombre versions which can be a bit depressing. Excellent, really first class.
Overall a really good concert, do we have any dates for Europe for next year yet