Morning all -- just joined your forum, as we went to the show yesterday. I would pretty much echo most of the comments anyway. Leonard and the whole band were fantastic, consummate, tasteful musicianship, one wonderful song after another, "Hallelujah" restored to its rightful owner, and the main man just comes across like such a genial, humble bloke, it was a pleasure to be in his presence.
But the venue ...
We set off from Brighton in plenty of time according to interweb navigation sites, and couldn't believe the traffic from M25 onwards -- stop and start for miles, and we completely missed Susanne Vega
... then the parking hassle; then the queues, separate ones for everything: next time I'm bringing more members of my domestic staff to queue on my behalf (just kidding, most of them have Saturday off). While queueing for Upper Crust [Trades Description case pending here: there were definitely common people there], the great man started, so I abandoned Mrs Cyril and legged it to my seat, which was in the next county along from the stage. She joined me about 4 songs in.
I was really enjoying things, though only by looking at the screens as the stage was so distant. The thought did cross my mind that I could be watching Live in London at home, with tea and oranges that come all the way from China, not worrying about the impending rain, or helping up fellow concert goers who had slipped over on the skid-pan in front of us ... when the interval came.
So Mrs Cyril suggested a walk, which involved ending up in front of the stage for the second half: which was much better -- we could see every detail of Leonard's natty scarf, and now we really felt we were there, until the friendly security staff job's worths took an interest and started hassling everyone back, and soon we were back in our seats in the next county for a spell, until the encores, when we rushed forward (as many seemed to be leaving?!?) ... and there we were at the end, soaked through, but a mere few feet away from the ensemble, yelling along, and having the best time: suddenly it was like a real concert, and made it all worth it.
Then stagger back, starting to panic, having forgotten where we were parked, and somehow just fall over the car unexpectedly; open the windows to let some of the water out, run over a few pedestrians (sorry), and back home cursing we had forgotten to bring any Leonard Cohen CDs for the journey. All I had was a verse or two recorded on my rubbish phone, but we sang along to that: "So long, Marianne!"
All in all a brilliant evening, but I don't know if I will be patronising the world of Mercedes Benz again in a hurry. OK everyone, you all know the tune : "So long ....!"
