Page 1 of 3

CONCERT REPORTS: Saguenay, QC (May 30 and 31)

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 7:18 am
by izielle
We don't have an available computer so you will have to wait a bit. But savor this: on the 31st there were surprises in the setlist! It was a triumph in every sense. Mr. Cohen had tears. The Webb sisters were angels. Ms. Robinson was masterful. Each musician was fantastic. And the lighting was moving, breathtaking. French Quebec loves Leonard Cohen and now he knows it!

Re: Saguenay May 30 and 31st

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 9:38 am
by mirka
I'm very curious how it turned out in Saguenay, auditorium Dufour offers only 970 seats !
It cannot get more luxurious :
auditorium_dufour_#3.jpg
auditorium_dufour_#3.jpg (53.96 KiB) Viewed 22844 times
http://www.ville.saguenay.qc.ca/portail ... le?lang=en

Re: Saguenay May 30 and 31st

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 1:42 pm
by gingermop
Things have gone quiet around here since the 30/31May shows. Not a peep out of anyone about how they were. Did you all die and go to heaven or something? ;-)

G

Re: Saguenay May 30 and 31st

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 2:41 pm
by Rabbit
Tell me about it! I'm dying to know about this setlist surprise...

Re: Saguenay May 30 and 31st

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 3:40 pm
by jglBB
It was a fantastic evening in Saguenay indeed. Here are two changes that I noted in the setlist. No doubt izielle will infirm/confirm that later. First set was as elsewhere. In the second set "No Way To SayGoodbye" was inserted between "Gypsy's Wife" and "Boogie Street". The spoken recitation of "A Thousand Kisses Deep" was deleted. The first encore was as usual but the surprise was in the second encore where the Webb sisters graced us with a marvelous duet of "If It Be Your Will", the taller one (sorry don't remember her name) playing harp and the smaller one (same sorry) on the guitar. A wonderful duet that was much appreciated and applauded by the audience. Yes you have read well, we've got 24 songs in Saguenay on the 31st. Leonard was happy I guess.
A fantastic evening endeed.

Re: Saguenay May 30 and 31st

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 5:48 pm
by dick
Wonderful call this morning from Geoff (no rey)

He and daughter April were blown away by fantastic show last night. Geoff and wife Donna will also be at Saturday show in Toronto.

This tour is really rocking!

Re: Saguenay May 30 and 31st

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 8:31 pm
by beet
WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! What a show Friday night! The only time I teared up at a concert was Angie the the Stones played the Big O, but I had tears for the whole 1st half. Wow! There are still vibrations within me from the show. How lucky we were to be there at the perfect Venue for our humble poet! The ensemble around him were spectacular. Way to go, and do what you have to to see his show, BEST SHOW EVER!!!!

May 30th:Looking for Izielle, finding LC laying in the grass

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 9:10 pm
by Darling
Oh boy. I am such an emotional wreck right now in the cybercafe in Chicoutimi (Saguenay).
Three days of such intensity, where to start? From the beginning I guess. This is going to
be long, but bear with me...

Thanks to this forum, I was able in March to get a great ticket for the May 31st show here
in Saguenay. It meant a 4 or 5 hours trip from my hometown of Rimouski, but that's nothing
compared to distances some people are travelling to see the master, notably Izielle who came all the way from Puerto Rico. But since then everyday I kept on checking on the Reservatech web site waiting for the miracle to come and last week it did, I got another fantastic ticket, this time for the May 30th show.

I booked the cheapest room in town (25$) at the student residences of the CEGEP of
Chicoutimi. I knew that Auditorium Dufour was also on the Cegep grounds so it would be
convenient.

So last thurday I made my way to the Kingdom of Saguenay. I had been in Chicoutimi before
but I was then 5 or 6 years old (a very long time ago) with my kindergarden choral for a
singing competition. (I was instructed by our teacher to just pretend to sing because I was
'a little bumblebee', but I did anyways hihihi). So I didn't know where I was going.
Finally I found my way to the Cegep and Lord behold! the student residences are adjacent to
Auditorium Dufour. Talk about convenient. And the view from my window was amazing,
Chicoutimi being very beautiful. The cheapest rooms in town turned out to be the best so I
congratulated myself on my choice and settled in thinking it can't be better than this. But
it could... (I'm trying to build up some suspense here, guys and gals!)

The morning after, I went for a stroll in town to see if there was a buzz. No buzz. When I
asked the guy at the tourist office if people had come for Leonard Cohen, he said 'No,
what's that?' (To his defense, I must say that he was very young). But I was getting
worried. God, let not The Man be disappointed with us, he has to know how much we love him in french Quebec too, because we do!!!

I tried to create a minibuzz by driving aroung a little in my car with the windows down
playing Hallelujah full blast hoping some people would react, but no reaction. Gosh.
So I went back to the Cegep and decided to look for Izielle. We had exchanged emails, she
was supposed to stay at the University residences, but said that she might come to stay at
the Cegep because it was much cheaper. We planned to meet, but very vaguely. I was hoping she'd leave a message for me at the office but no message. So I decided to go see if she was at the University residences which are just a little ways from the Cegep res back parking. By then the tour trucks had arrived and were parked in 'my' backyard. I was about
to leave but couldn't find my sunglasses, so I went back in, and as I was waiting for the
elevator, a big bus parked just in front of the door and musicians, the Webb Sisters started
to get out and walked into the Auditorium but no LC in sight. I would have been so happy
just to grasp a sight of the man walk by. Oh well, ok, I go upstairs, finally find my glasses,
come down, and walk around the bus to go look for Izielle. But who is there with 4 or 5
persons taking pictures? Yes my friends, the Only One. So, what to do? Oh the temptation.
I kept walking and called out 'Bienvenue M. Cohen, bienvenue' (someone had to say it in
French). He turned and waved at me with both arms. God, I was soooooooo happy. Lc waved at me, I would have done a cartwheel if I knew how, I had the energy to run a marathon. I walked and walked, sat on some steps, went back to my room, I didn't know what to do with myself. Then I thought: I REALLY have to find Izielle!

So there I go again, but what? Who do I see laying in the grass with his hat on his chest?
Boy oh boy, no it can't be, Leonard Cohen laying in the grass in my backyard! Someone (who
turned out to be Bob Metzger) was laying in the grass beside him,
sat up, said a few words to him and left. God more temptation, LC all alone in the grass. Be zen I told myself, be zen. A few moments later, he looked up and motioned to someone to come and join him. I thought, is that a fan? (He turned out later to be Javier Mas) Is Lc open to having fans come to him? Oh, what to do again???? I didn't want to impose on him (especially after writing a post on this very site about respecting the man's privacy) then I thought (not totally innocently I must admit), he must be thirsty laying in the hot sun like this. And who happened to have some refreshing juice in her room? So I run to get the juice and two glasses, come down to see that by then Sharon Robinson had joined them. Keeping my distances, staying close to the door, I motioned do you want some juice? He motioned no but, Hallelujah! he calls me over with his hand. And who am I, tell me, to refuse such an invitation? God, summoned by the Field Commander himself. Holy smokes.
There I am sitting in the grass under a perfect sun with Javier Mas, Leonard Cohen and Sharon Robinson. After the presentations 'd'usage' and the hand shaking, I said 'I thought you may be thirsty laying in the hot sun, I didn't want to bother you'. 'No bother, no bother he said, relaxez, relaxez..' Gosh. Deep breath needed! Deep breath! I finally said what I really wanted to say, 'Thank you soooo much for coming all the way here, it's so nice to have you here and you too Sharon' (Somebody had come to get Xavier). He said that it was a pleasure, isn't it a beautiful day? Oh yes I said and started babbling in my English all broken from emotion and lack of practice, about walking up the cross where you can see the whole city, this city being so pretty, not being from here, from across the river when asked from where by Sharon (but of course idiot that I am, I didn't think that she didn't know that for me The River is the St-Lawrence and that we were just a 10 minutes walk from across the Saguenay river) I told him that I asked the guy in charge in my hometown to have him come but it didn't work. He said that he would have come, maybe some other time and that he didn't know that people from these parts of Quebec listened to his songs. 'Oh yes, we do! Even people who don't speak English listen to you, I don't know why' (gosh what an idiot again, I meant of course that there is something that draws people to him that goes even beyond his magnificient poetry). I told him he taught me English (the way I was speaking I am not sure it was the thing to say). 'Some singers, after I understood what they were saying I didn't like anymore, but you, I liked you even more.' They laughed, then someone came to get them and he said, 'Well my darling, it was a pleasure to meet you, but we have to go to work.' Darling! I know he probably calls all women darling, but that's ok, I'm not jealous.

I may have sounded like an idiot, but I am sure they saw that I was a sincere idiot and I think I amused them, making Leonard Cohen smile is good enough for me! I am such a happy, happy, happy idiot!!!! And I hadn't even seen the show yet! Holy moly! Now I REALLY had to find Izielle!

Jarkko can I change my name from gaglou to Darling? Pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase?

Let gaglou die and become Darling the happiest woman on earth!

And yes, I did find Izielle, but only after the friday night show. We are going to Tadoussac (change of plans) in a few minutes. Only whales can measure up with all this (and they better be big). More about the shows on the 'Saguenay May 30th and 31st thread' I'm exhausted but I will go there and post the surprise for you right away and maybe write about the shows later (I feel tears coming to my eyes just thinking about them).

Bye honeys! Forgive the poor English and all the so, so, so.

Re: Saguenay May 30 and 31st

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 9:19 pm
by Darling
Ok guys. This is a spoiler. So you have to decide if you want to read this or not. Last night a few lucky souls got a copy of the setlist from the stage. Izielle will be scanning and posting it later this week, it has a new (Izielle says) Order of the Unified Heart graphic on it. In addition to the complete setlist of the May 31st show, it has a list of songs in smaller type that you may or may not hear on subsequent shows. Personally I would prefer to keep the element of surprise, but if it be your will, here it is:

Avalanche
One of Us Cannot Be Wrong (Green Candle)
Waiting for the Miracle
There is a War
Famous Blue Raincoat
Passing Through
Sisters of Mercy
The Partisan


Happy?

Re: May 30th:Looking for Izielle, finding LC laying in the grass

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 10:46 pm
by Lisbeth
Miracles still happen. Thank you for sharing.
aVIYxK9.gif

Re: Saguenay May 30 and 31st

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 10:48 pm
by MEB
Just curious did somebody give you the set list of was it just left lying around on the stage?

Re: Saguenay May 30 and 31st

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 12:33 am
by Mabeanie1
gaglou wrote:In addition to the complete setlist of the May 31st show, it has a list of songs in smaller type that you may or may not hear on subsequent shows. Personally I would prefer to keep the element of surprise, but if it be your will, here it is:

Avalanche
One of Us Cannot Be Wrong (Green Candle)
Waiting for the Miracle
There is a War
Famous Blue Raincoat
Passing Through
Sisters of Mercy
The Partisan


Happy?
I can't put it any better than Beet did so,

WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW!

Wendy

Re: May 30th:Looking for Izielle, finding LC laying in the grass

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 2:01 am
by mirka
gaglou Darling, for me it was the best report from Leonard Cohen world tour 2008 so far.
8) :) :lol: :D 8) :lol:

Re: Saguenay May 30 and 31st

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 3:20 am
by jglBB
Gaglou and Izielle. I think I saw both of you yesterday night finally. You were taking pictures of Auditorium Dufour from the outside and looked as excited as fleas. ( I probably missed something since I always thought that gaglou was a man....). Sorry, we didn't have a chance to met. Me and the Lady were taking our before-show brandy treat in the car around 7:15 in the parking lot. Are we Cohen fans or not? Never saw you after that. Before, during, or after the show.

A magical night. Don't you agreee?

By the way Gaglou, I was born in St-Anaclet (near Rimouski) many many years ago but I left the area when I was 40 days old for exactly the Saguenay region. Still have relatives there though. One of them, a 83 years old uncle, is supposeed to visit us this week.

By the way No.2. Were you one of those who were doing "the wave" in the Hallelujha chorus in the first three rows? I think even Leonard's musicians and chorists had never seen that before,

Re: Saguenay May 30 and 31st

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 4:03 am
by friscogrl
Oh gaglou, what a great story! I had tears in my eyes reading it. Leonard Cohen called you Darling; I am sure you never thought that would happen!