CONCERT REPORT: Lucca, Italy, July 9, 2013

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sturgess66
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: LUCCA (JULY 9, 2013) PIAZZA NAPOLEONE

Post by sturgess66 »

A review from a blogster, Jonnie Falafel, who attended the show - posted at Breakfast In Tuscany -
http://breakfastintuscany.blogspot.it/2 ... en-in.html
Wednesday, 10 July 2013
All Your Children Here - Leonard Cohen in Lucca
Last night was Leonard Cohen's second stop of his never ending tour at the Summer Festival in the genteel Northern Tuscany city of Lucca. The first was in 2009. He made it to Piazza Santa Croce in Firenze in 2010.


"Draw us near
Bind us tight
All your children here
In our rags of light"


The Maestro
You know the story already. Back in 2008 Leonard Cohen took to the road again after a 15 year hiatus in order to remedy dire financial straits brought about when his assistant Kelly Lynch siphoned his retirement fund. When he stepped back onto the stage that spring for those early Canadian and British dates little did he know that Lynch had done him – and us – a favour. Reassured he still had an audience, the experience sparked a creative renaissance realised in 2012s Old Ideas album and triggered an appetite for live performance that he claims never to have felt before.

Lucca has it all – quaint charm, gentility and and sophistication, in spades. The grand Piazza Napoleone (so named because Napoleon once ruled this city) is a spectacular setting for the event and as we strolled to soak up the atmosphere we were fortunate enough to witness the 5pm sound check. A relaxed Cohen dressed in a loose fitting open-necked light grey shirt, but still bearing the trade-mark trilby, led the band through a bouncy I Can't Forget from 1988s I'm Your Man album and a cover of the recently deceased George Jones Choices, neither of which he performed that evening. He stepped back and watched attentively as Sharon Robinson performed a partial Alexandra Leaving and the Webb sisters gave their version of If It Be Your Will an outing. Bidding adieu Leonard explained that they were retiring to the dressing room to get something to eat before the performance proper.

The Afternoon Sound Check
A brisk Dance Me To The End of Love opened the proceedings as it has at every Cohen concert for the past 28 years. In terms of song selection the opening set has remained largely the same since 2008 with the addition of a couple of numbers from Old Ideas. Someone was asking if this wasn't getting stale, but the anorak in me is forced to point out that Bird On A Wire has reverted to it's original lyric, Leonard having dropped the pleading “don't cry no more/Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry no more/It's over/It's finished/It's been paid for” which has been a feature of live performances for a couple of decades or more. Musical or lyrical variations provided enough to keep me interested even though the songs remained the same. Special mention has to go to Lover, Lover, Lover which has an astonishingly powerful new groove and a very committed vocal from the man himself.

Of course I was thrilled to hear the Old Ideas songs since I'd never witnessed them in performance. Amen was faithful to the album with Leonard extemporising for emphasis. He had not merely “seen through the horror”, but seen through “this whole damn horror”. The sublimely intense Come Healing - which has reduced me to tears on occasion - was marred by some totally inappropriate audience participation. What sort of ego needs to whistle loudly in the middle of the subdued harmonies? Why did some chat through the entire evening, or spend their time texting or even talking on the phone? At one stage a guy in front of me with his back to the stage had a screamed conversation with someone in the VIP bleachers at the back and was more or less shouting into my face. I just don't get it. Dylan has the right idea. At recent shows he's asked audiences to put away these devices and allow everyone to experience the concert directly first hand. Maybe I'm just getting old and irritable, but audience milling and churning, which is a feature of these types of shows, really got in the way of my enjoyment of the first set.
The energy levels and the volume went up in the second set. Some of the less committed audience members had disappeared leaving those with an attention span, and a touching Sisters of Mercy was a live first for me. I'd witnessed a full band version of Chelsea Hotel #2 at Florence three years ago, here it was an acoustic incarnation. I'd forgotten Heart With No Companion had been resurrected. It took me by surprise. The brisk-paced country shuffle arrangement has always seemed at odds with the lyric to me (“the nights of wild distress/Though your promise counts for nothing/You must keep it nonetheless”), but it was so perfectly enunciated you couldn't doubt it.

I'm Your Man allowed Leonard to be court jester, offering to wear an “old man's mask for you” and doing some outrageous mugging while making his plea, “if you want a father for your child” pointing directly into the front row. His own weakness in this little story of power-play was made clear in the repeated, “you know damn well you can/I'm your man” On the subject of mugging and movements that echo meaning it's worth mentioning here that earlier during a solid performance of Everybody Knows that he placed the back of his hand beneath his nose when he got to, “Everybody knows you live forever/When you've done a line or two” making the cocaine reference abundantly unambiguous.

Tonight Hallelujah was so subdued I could tell that some people didn't recognise it until he got to the chorus and then it slipped by subverting what had become a sing-along on previous tours. People are so used to power house versions of this song that it's almost
universally misunderstood as an anthem of praise. He combined the original lyric with the later re-write so I think we got most verses of both versions. Quite how, “Love is not a victory march/It's a cold and a very broken Hallelujah”, or “It's not a cry you hear tonight/From someone who has seen the light” or “Even though it's all gone wrong/I'll stand before the lord of song/Nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah” translates in some folks heads as celebratory is mystifying. As puzzling as his reputation for writing depressing songs.

Image

I'm not really a fan of Sharon Robinson's melodies on Ten New Songs, but her rendition of Alexandra Leaving tonight is the epitome of style and dignity. Her voice is incredible and she holds the crowds rapt. I can't find words to signify just how intense it was.
Sharon Robinson

We got our chance for a sing-along with So Long Marianne. The audience belted out the chorus and Leonard stood with a broad grin and remarked on our “pretty singing”. He really seemed to enjoy leaving it to us. Going Home, featured in the encore, had Leonard lingering over the opening, “I love to speak with Leonard/He's a sportsman/He's a shepherd/He's a lazy bastard living in a suit” and the audience lapping up the self-deprecating humour. He wrapped up the evening unsurprisingly with I Tried To Leave You. “Here's a man still working for your smile”, the sonorous bass intoned. This was my fifth Cohen concert in as many years and I realised I was working for his and it was more in evidence than ever. After his usual benediction “May you be surrounded by the blessing of family and friends and if you are not, may the blessing find you in your solitude”, we all headed for home happy.
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: LUCCA (JULY 9, 2013) PIAZZA NAPOLEONE

Post by confetti »

I loved last night, this is the last time I am going to see Leonard live, would love to have met him, just once, but that is not to be. Anyway I am so glad for all the music, loved the soundcheck and loved the concert. He really seemed to enjoy himself and that made me very happy.
"I needed so much, to have nothing to touch - I've always been greedy that way"
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: LUCCA (JULY 9, 2013) PIAZZA NAPOLEONE

Post by brunatag »

I have been loving Cohen since I first heard Suzanne. When I first met him in Milan, 1985, I couldn't speak for a week, so intense and overwhelming was the power of his voice and his charm. He had touched my perfect (?) body with his mind.
I can say that I grew old with him.
Yesterday I took my 20 years old daughter to Lucca. For some obscure reason, she has started loving Leonard, as well, and that is weird, given the kind of music she usually listens to. We had wonderful seats, third row. I wasn 't aware of this 'waltzer thing', and when I saw people approaching I left bag and daughter and took a big leap to stand right in front of him, free to move and sing along.
I was touched, once again, by his presence, his voice, his words. But I also saw the many years went by, his age, which reminded me of my age, and all that life is about. His voice, so powerful, and yet so different from the one he had in the past. For a moment, standing in front of him, I thought that Leonard has become pure spirit. And, for a moment, everything was clear, painful and clear.
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John Smith
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: LUCCA (JULY 9, 2013) PIAZZA NAPOLEONE

Post by John Smith »

I have just returned from Lucca. Breathtaking!
Sound Check
Sound Check
Concert
Concert
Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes
I thought it was there for good so I never tried.
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: LUCCA (JULY 9, 2013) PIAZZA NAPOLEONE

Post by mary emma »

More video Amen uploaded by Ladislavv, thanks!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oxh64c_v6wk
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: LUCCA (JULY 9, 2013) PIAZZA NAPOLEONE

Post by sturgess66 »

Good video uploaded by 30gallina72

Sound Check
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWJd9DPAt0g

Darkness (@4:36 - good capture of the chanting!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv9nC5vlPWA
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: LUCCA (JULY 9, 2013) PIAZZA NAPOLEONE

Post by mutti »

Thanks everyone for the great reports, photo's, tweets and videos!
It looked like a wonderful venue and a breathtaking concert.
Leslie
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: LUCCA (JULY 9, 2013) PIAZZA NAPOLEONE

Post by oblivion »

some more lucca impressions
very special light
very special light
P1070217.jpg (30.83 KiB) Viewed 8192 times
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P1070256.jpg (27.29 KiB) Viewed 8192 times
i was happy not to sit behind him, but he was really cute
i was happy not to sit behind him, but he was really cute
P1070179.jpg (35.55 KiB) Viewed 8192 times
frankfurt+munic 1976; nuremberg 1988; lörrach, berlin, frankfurt+london 2008;
new york, cologne, venice, istanbul, prague + barcelona 2009
sligo, berlin, ghent, wiesbaden, strasbourg, marseille, hannover, dortmund, warsaw, las vegas 2010
ghent, helsinki, berlin, dublin, verona, paris...2012
oberhausen, mannheim, bruxelles, lucca, hamburg, odense, amsterdam...2013
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: LUCCA (JULY 9, 2013) PIAZZA NAPOLEONE

Post by MarthaG »

This was my 3rd Leonard Cohen concert, so I am no expert. But I have seen him that lively and cheerful for the first Time. All of the Band seemed to enjoy themselves very much and it was a great pleasure to be there.
It was a Bit "Short", that's right, but for me, Leonard Cohen concerts are always too short :oops: There are always songs which I would likes to have heard and although I like Tower of Song very much and Love Hey, that's no Way to say Goodbye, I could Not Tell, instead of which songs of the evening I would liked them. So, for me it was a Great concert, as always


PS Sorry for the terrible clerical errors, I didn't find Out yet how to stop the Auto-correction and my tablet doesn't understand English. :roll:
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: LUCCA (JULY 9, 2013) PIAZZA NAPOLEONE

Post by Caren »

We will stay in Lucca until Sunday and have seen a few other acts' so called sound checks.

Whereas Leonard gave us the courtesy of playing a mini concert with several full songs and even thanking the audience for their kind attention none of the other acts even showed up for the sound check. All we got were those funny noise roadies make when calibrating the sound system.

Just saying.
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: LUCCA (JULY 9, 2013) PIAZZA NAPOLEONE

Post by HelenOE »

Caren wrote:We will stay in Lucca until Sunday and have seen a few other acts' so called sound checks.

Whereas Leonard gave us the courtesy of playing a mini concert with several full songs and even thanking the audience for their kind attention none of the other acts even showed up for the sound check. All we got were those funny noise roadies make when calibrating the sound system.

Just saying.
That must be how you tell the good ones. At Bonnaroo, Paul McCartney showed up the evening before his scheduled performance to do a sound check-- his version of a sound check consisting of about 6 full songs, performed for real, wearing stage clothes and with the live video feed. We could see it, and hear him perfectly well, from our campsite.
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: LUCCA (JULY 9, 2013) PIAZZA NAPOLEONE

Post by holydove »

Thank you to everyone for all the lovely reports, videos, photos, etc.

And a special thank you to Linda for posting links to the soundcheck videos - & to the kind people who provided those very delightful videos! How wonderful that people were able to not only hear, but also see, the soundchecks (the soundchecks I've been privileged to attend were audible (which of course, is fantastic enough), but not visible). That is one great advantage of outdoor venues - the opportunity to experience the soundchecks - it's just so touching & special to experience Leonard & the band in that kind of atmosphere. Thanks again!

Editing: FANTASTIC video of Darkness too! I just noticed that those 2 videos were uploaded by Sylvia (gallina), so thank you, Sylvia! And thanks to basecamp for posting photos of the setlists - it's always a pleasure to see those, along with their intriguing lists of alternates!
Last edited by holydove on Thu Jul 11, 2013 9:39 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: LUCCA (JULY 9, 2013) PIAZZA NAPOLEONE

Post by Ronaldson »

HelenOE wrote: That must be how you tell the good ones. At Bonnaroo, Paul McCartney showed up the evening before his scheduled performance to do a sound check-- his version of a sound check consisting of about 6 full songs, performed for real, wearing stage clothes and with the live video feed. We could see it, and hear him perfectly well, from our campsite.
I have to agree that McCartney is one of "the good ones". At 71, he is still an honest-to-goodness rock star. I just saw him in concert for the first time a few days ago. Hearing him perform Mull of Kintyre brought tears to my eyes. Like Leonard, on stage he defies the aging process, and played for 3 continuous hours (no intermission). And he genuinely sounds great. His voice is all the more remarkable in that it still sounds like Paul McCartney, if you know what I mean. (I like Leonard's present voice better than ever, but he doesn't really sound like the Leonard of yesteryear.) Anyway, McCartney apparently spent a lot of extra time on the soundcheck for this concert; the start-time was delayed by over an hour, though all seemed to be forgiven once the concert was underway.
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: LUCCA (JULY 9, 2013) PIAZZA NAPOLEONE

Post by hansr »

We just uploaded a video of the concert in Lucca last Tuesday.
More will follow (rather) soon.

Everybody knows

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leTv7gBa ... e=youtu.be


Hans & Sjanie
2008 Rotterdam
2009 Antwerp, Colmar, Barcelona
2010 Malmo, Ghent (3x), Strassbourg, Lille
2012 Ghent (2x), Amsterdam (2x), London, Dublin, Paris, Lisbon
2013 Antwerp, Brussels, Lucca, Vienna, Oslo, Manchester, London, Rotterdam, Amsterdam
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sturgess66
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: LUCCA (JULY 9, 2013) PIAZZA NAPOLEONE

Post by sturgess66 »

Video uploaded by Yuri Garrett

Chelsea Hotel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWvT8XjjLhI
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