CONCERT REPORTS: Melbourne, Australia, Nov. 12 & 13, 2010

July 25 - December 11, 2010. Concert reports, set lists, photos, media coverage, multimedia links, recollections...
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B4real
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Melbourne, Australia, Nov. 12-13, 2010

Post by B4real »

wombat writer wrote:
Finally, it was so good to hear first hand about Dean’s Oz/NZ Leonard tour experience – something he conveys with such enthusiasm and joy. He deserves some sort of award I reckon – perhaps we could call it the ‘Travelled So Far for Beauty’ award!
I couldn't agree more. Having managed just the one concert, I am sooooo envious of Dean but also extremely grateful.
Absolutely!! I'm in major agreement here as well :D
It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to B4real ~ me
Attitude is a self-fulfilling prophecy ~ me ...... The magic of art is the truth of its lies ~ me ...... Only left-handers are in their right mind!
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sturgess66
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Melbourne, Australia, Nov. 12-13, 2010

Post by sturgess66 »

From November 12th show -

Video uploaded by "boucephales" - Thanks!

"Everybody Knows"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwlWETf2h8o

"Anthem" - short clip of beginning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VugmGnekMg4
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AlanM
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Melbourne, Australia, Nov. 12-13, 2010

Post by AlanM »

Dean
I certainly saw Javier's red sleeve buttons in Sydney, but I do remember them from earlier videos.
Too much Leonard Cohen is never enough.
London 1972, Adelaide 1980, 1985, 2009
Sydney 2010; Adelaide 2010
Sydney 2013 X2; Melbourne 2013; Adelaide 2013
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sturgess66
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Melbourne, Australia, Nov. 12-13, 2010

Post by sturgess66 »

From Joey - day 2 -

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Soundcheck on the second day is smooth sailing. UHTC is finished and off to catering, up next for soundcheck is tonights opener Deborah Conway.
* Rod Laver Arena - Melbourne, Australia
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Bass tech Chris Bynum keeps a sharp eye on stage.
* Rod Laver Arena - Melbourne, Australia /quote]
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Venue prep is ready and doors are open.
* Rod Laver Arena - Melbourne, Australia
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Neil Larsen and UHTC production manager Robert Nelson wait out the countdown to stage.
* Rod Laver Arena - Melbourne, Australia /quote]
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White girls: dancing.
* Rod Laver Arena - Melbourne, Australia
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Intermission!
* Rod Laver Arena - Melbourne, Australia
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A strong pace tonight and we’re already mid-way through the second set.
* Rod Laver Arena - Melbourne, Australia
Image
Remember me? I used to live for music. Remember me? I brought your groceries in
* Rod Laver Arena - Melbourne, Australia
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neo
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Melbourne, Australia, Nov. 12-13, 2010

Post by neo »

Image
If It Be Your Will is back in the line-up.

*Rod Laver Arena - Melbourne, Australia

Image
Famous Blue Raincoat in the encores sections is a stunner.

*Rod Laver Arena - Melbourne, Australia

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That’s the wrap on two sold to the rafters shows in Melbourne. Huge thanks to everyone who came out and if you missed the show, fingers crossed that we’ll be back again soon.

*Rod Laver Arena - Melbourne, Australia
What sad religions they want us to believe.
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sturgess66
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Melbourne, Australia, Nov. 12-13, 2010

Post by sturgess66 »

Video uploaded by "thefrockette" - Thanks!

From Nov. 13th show -

"Hallelujah" - some video from the screen - good sound - slow and easy

"Hey - I don't even know the name"
But if I did, really, well, what's it to you"

-and a growly - "The holy or the broken Hallelujah" :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIkfmhkj10g
astranger
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Melbourne, Australia, Nov. 12-13, 2010

Post by astranger »

sturgess66 wrote:Video uploaded by "thefrockette" - Thanks!

From Nov. 13th show -

"Hallelujah" - some video from the screen - good sound - slow and easy

"Hey - I don't even know the name"
But if I did, really, well, what's it to you"

-and a growly - "The holy or the broken Hallelujah" :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIkfmhkj10g
is this the first time that he's sung this verse on the tour? i've always loved this one.
Jake.........Durham, NC 11-3-09; Brooklyn, NY 12-20-12
dce
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Melbourne, Australia, Nov. 12-13, 2010

Post by dce »

Melbourne, Night 2 (13 November 2010)

I have to confess that I always approach "second night" shows with a little trepidation. There's this niggling thought in the back of my mind that maybe all the truly die-hard fans were quick enough to grab tickets to the first show before it sold out, and that the folks coming along on second night are the more casual followers of the artist. I also sometimes fear (particularly with a performer of Cohen's vintage) that a performance without a break-day beforehand might be technically a little less polished due to fatigue.

About one minute into last night's "second night" show in Melbourne, both of my concerns were totally dissipated ... and after another five minutes I realised that, in some ways, this was going to be a superior night to the "first night".

There were two main reasons that the show went so spectacularly well last night. The first was Leonard's choice to offer up a set list that was at once significantly different from the first night's set (so that folks who went to both would see a fair bit of different material), about 20 minutes longer than the preceding night's show, and reintroduced several songs that have been absent from the set for the past several performances. The latter included two of the "new" song (yet to be included on a studio album); but also significantly included Boogie Street and If It Be Your Will which are fantastic vehicles for showcasing the talents of Sharon Robinson and the Webb Sisters.

The other big contributor to the success of the night was the audience. While I certainly wouldn't say that the first night Melbourne audience was unenthusiastic in its response to the music, this crowd took it up at least one or two notches further. This was manifest in a bit more applause (both nights' crowds gave very warm and loud applause) ... but moreso in a whole lot more calling out, shouts of admiration, and a general feeling of being a bit more rowdy and out-of-control (well, as out-of-control as an audience with a median age somewhere in the baby boomers can get).

Strangely, however, although the overall mood of the crowd was extremely warm, standing ovations were a little more rare and there was a bit of a mini-exodus at the end of the first encore. I had fears for a moment of a repeat of the second night at Auckland ... but fortunately the band was back on quickly enough to play Famous Blue Raincoat that most people figured out what was going on in time.

The very-much-revamped and extended setlist for the night was:

Set 1

01 Dance Me To The End Of Love
02 The Future
03 Ain't No Cure For Love
04 Bird On The Wire
05 Everybody Knows
06 In My Secret Life
07 Who By Fire
08 Born In Chains
09 Chelsea Hotel #2
10 Waiting For The Miracle
11 Anthem

Set 2

12 Tower of Song
13 Suzanne
14 Avalanche
15 A Singer Must Die
16 Sisters of Mercy
17 The Gypsy's Wife
18 Feels So Good
19 The Partisan
20 Boogie Street
21 Hallelujah
22 I'm Your Man
23 A Thousand Kisses Deep [recitation]
24 Take This Waltz

Encore 1

25 So Long, Marianne
26 First We Take Manhattan

Encore 2

27 Famous Blue Raincoat
28 If It Be Your Will
29 Closing Time


Apart from the revamped set-list, there were a number of interesting things about the performance that made it unique:
  • Flowers: After having received a nice bouquet of flowers on night 1 in Melbourne, Leonard must have been a little surprised for the same thing to happen on night 2 not once, but twice. The first flowers were put up on stage at the end of the first song, Dance Me To The End Of Love. These sat on the edge of the stage for a song or two before Leonard picked them up and put them on the drum platform behind him. I missed exactly when the second bouquet got put on the stage -- it could have been during the intermission. Certainly they were there for most, if not all of, the second set. When Our Man came back on for his first encore song (So Long, Marianne), he picked these up and held them up to his chest in an embrace while singing a verse. I'm sure whoever provided the gift must have been most pleased :-)
  • Sharon Robinson: Pretty much all the Australian and New Zealand audiences have adored Sharon, but this audience seemed particularly enamoured with her, offering her up some huge applause and cheers at several points throughout the show. This was particularly evident in Boogie Street, which got a huge response.
  • The Future: Roscoe again got to be "the white man dancing", giving a little twirl.
  • Bird On The Wire: At the beginning of this song, Leonard gave the audience a few spoken words, thanking the audience and saying that the band would be giving everything tonight. In the middle of this short monologue, a lady from the middle of the auditorium shouted out "We love you too!". This song was plagued by a couple of minor sound-related problems. The first -- pretty minor -- was a little bit of feedback in a couple of place. The second was just odd: about a third of the way into the song, just after Dino had finished his sax solo, two people from the very back corner of the upper auditorium loudly shouted -- the first said something like "we can't hear at the back", the second shouted "turn it up!". Amazingly, the folks in the main mixing desk must have heard ... because a few seconds later the master level got shunted up a bit.
  • Everybody Knows: Leonard's vocal delivery was particularly growly this night, I'm guessing deliberately (since on every other song he sounded normal). Absent from the previous performance, Cohen's cheeky off-mike singing during the choruses made a lusty return. Maddeningly almost audible on this night :-)
  • Who By Fire: Javier's solo changed again ... and this one got a massive response from this worked-up audience.
  • Born In Chains: This song has been absent from the last several performances. It returned here in a slightly modified form, with Leonard doing a lot less of the singing. The sections where he normally sang with the girls, the girls got to sing solo. Cohen only sang on the chorus bits ("Word of word ..."). This kind of gave the song a different melodic feel. I have the impression this arrangement may not have been rehearsed too many times, since when Sharon and the Webb sisters began the verse "The soul unfolds", they didn't quite start in unison. At the very beginning of the song, a woman called out from the crowd "Your our man, Leonard!"
  • Chelsea Hotel #2 This song was likewise very well received. At several moments during the verses (e.g., when singing about Janis having made a "rare exception"), there was solid bursts of spontaneous applause.
  • Anthem: Dino was introduced as playing the "ebony clarinet." Rafael must have had a falling out with "it", since he is back to only clipping "it"'s toenails.
  • Tower of Song: The audience was quite responsive to Leonard during his performance of this song. He gave his usual spoken intro thanking people for coming back and saying how the keyboard was pretty sophisticated and the audience probably hadn't seen anything like it before. A man shouted from the floor "It's a ..." (what sounded like a model number of a keyboard)". So clearly, Melbournians *had* seen something like it before. Leonard's keyboard solo got applause when it began, in the middle, and at the end (the last with a big 'woah' from somewhere behind where I was sitting) ... which I think is a first. Afterwards he said "ah, you're too kind friends". As you'd imagine with this audience, the line about being born with a golden voice also got a huge response.
  • Suzanne: Leonard gave a much more elaborate instrumental intro to this song. Straight after that, however, he made a bit of a false start with the first line of lyrics and had to twiddle a few bars of guitar before restarting. But Our Man has such grace and poise in such situations, that even such moments look like moments of grace. Surely the mark of a sublime performer. There were a few ecstatic screams from the audience.
  • Feels So Good: This was another song that received it's first Australian performance here. Neil's organ intro seemed longer than I remember it: sort of sets the mood for the song quite well. There was a minor lyric change (in a song that has gone through constant lyrical change since its first performance): after the line about "the river to the sea" the next couple of lines became "It's all a blur, whatever it was .. meant to be" leading into the lines about "you were the world."
  • The Partisan: The fever pitch of the audience rowdiness was probably at the end of this song, where during the applause there were many *many* people shouting out 'woohs' and the like. Then, from the middle of the seated area, one or two people literally started wailing -- there's really no other word for it. I think it even threw Leonard, since he paused for a moment and said "thank your for your howling." Then someone loudly yelled "Thank *you*, Leonard!"
  • Hallelujah: "I didn't come to Melbourne to fool you"
  • A Thousand Kisses Deep: With the audience being a bit rowdier than usual, it wasn't too surprising that there was fairly generous applause and laughter at a few key points in the recitation. The lines "been working out, but it's too late, it's been too late for years" here got quite a few laughs. At other moments, the audience was in awed silence ... so an interesting contrast.
  • If It Be Your Will: This was simply an amazing performance of this song by the Webb Sisters, with particularly beautiful vocal harmonies. Perhaps the best version I've heard.
  • So Long Marianne: Leonard totally nailed this song ... the verse sung with the bouquet of flowers was just the icing on the cake.
  • Closing Time: Leonard started by saying "I've gotta inform you now that the boss has told me it's Closing Time." His spoken outro got a bit of a revamp, with the lines about "giving the night a ticket" going first, to be followed by the lines about "stacking up the chairs." He finished up by saying "They're turning off the Budweiser sign; the car park's kinda dark, so be careful it's your car you get into when you drive away. Remember not to catch a summer cold." When he walked off stage the crowd was literally buzzing.
The UHTC moves now to perform a show in Hobart on Monday. I have the good fortune to have tickets to this show, which should be quite interesting as Hobart (and the venue) is by far the smallest city the tour will be visiting. Here's hoping for an enthused small town crowd! Leonard also does play another show in the Melbourne area -- the Hanging Rock show (an outdoor show held in a national park about an hour's drive north of Melbourne) a little later in the tour.


Dean (from Adelaide)
Last edited by dce on Sun Nov 14, 2010 10:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
(For most of November 2010, I followed Leonard and the band as they toured around Australia and New Zealand. You can read about my wanderings on the blog I created to collect them all in one place: http://lcdownunder2010.wordpress.com/)
adam1
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Melbourne, Australia, Nov. 12-13, 2010

Post by adam1 »

Wow, sounds like I was at the wrong Melbourne show! Thanks for the account, although I'm quite sure Born In Chains got played in Sydney too...

Bring on Hobart! Fourth and final show of the tour for me, I think it'll be pretty special. Should be a good, warm crowd.
dce
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Melbourne, Australia, Nov. 12-13, 2010

Post by dce »

adam1 wrote:Wow, sounds like I was at the wrong Melbourne show! Thanks for the account, although I'm quite sure Born In Chains got played in Sydney too...

Bring on Hobart! Fourth and final show of the tour for me, I think it'll be pretty special. Should be a good, warm crowd.
Oops, adam1 is quite correct ... Born In Chains was played at Sydney (but not on the night I went to).

One thing I should have mentioned, which may make those who were at the first Melbourne show feel better ... Leonard was nowhere near as chatty on night 2. So, while the second night crowd got new songs, they missed out on all the really good and spontaneous spoken dialogue from Our Man.


Dean (from Adelaide)
(For most of November 2010, I followed Leonard and the band as they toured around Australia and New Zealand. You can read about my wanderings on the blog I created to collect them all in one place: http://lcdownunder2010.wordpress.com/)
dce
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Melbourne, Australia, Nov. 12-13, 2010

Post by dce »

Photos from Melbourne, Night 2

On the second night at the Rod Laver Arena I was seated a little further away, but on one of the lower tiered sections. This gave a reasonable view for photos ... so I was able to snap a few reasonable pictures.

Approaching Rod Laver, just passing the infamous Tram Stop which was the "muster point" for the fan-meet on Friday night:
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All the singers, lined up, dancing us to the end of love:
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The first of two bouquets that got placed up on stage:
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Another pic of the Webb Sisters in mid-cartwheel -- I'm going to stop with these now (maybe moving on to catching Roscoe mid-twirl :D ):
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The Rod Laver Arena was packed to capacity ... but everyone was on their feet at the end of Set 2:
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A welcome return ... the Webb Sisters sing If It Be Your Will:
Image

Dean (from Adelaide)
(For most of November 2010, I followed Leonard and the band as they toured around Australia and New Zealand. You can read about my wanderings on the blog I created to collect them all in one place: http://lcdownunder2010.wordpress.com/)
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MasterThief
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Melbourne, Australia, Nov. 12-13, 2010

Post by MasterThief »

My sister did get me a stage set list but she said it got a bit wet and crumpled. I'll post a scan here when I get it if nobody posts one in the meantime.
Melbourne 6 & 7 Mar 1980, Melbourne 25 May 1985, Wellington 20 Jan 2009, Auckland 22 Jan 2009, Melbourne 5 Feb 2009, Wellington 31 Oct 2010, Christchurch 3 Nov 2010, Christchurch 14 Dec 2013
dce
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Melbourne, Australia, Nov. 12-13, 2010

Post by dce »

astranger wrote:
sturgess66 wrote:Video uploaded by "thefrockette" - Thanks!

From Nov. 13th show -

"Hallelujah" - some video from the screen - good sound - slow and easy

"Hey - I don't even know the name"
But if I did, really, well, what's it to you"
is this the first time that he's sung this verse on the tour? i've always loved this one.
Hey astranger ... I don't believe that it's the only time it's been performed on this NZ/Aus leg of the tour, but it is pretty rare. I remamber it once somewhere in NZ (sorry, it didn't make it into my notes for the night) ... could be one other time too.


Dean (from Adelaide)
(For most of November 2010, I followed Leonard and the band as they toured around Australia and New Zealand. You can read about my wanderings on the blog I created to collect them all in one place: http://lcdownunder2010.wordpress.com/)
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Nessus Jr
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Melbourne, Australia, Nov. 12-13, 2010

Post by Nessus Jr »

Phone call from downunder woke me up ... soundcheck!
Few hours later I heard the Partisan live on my cellphone
Bless you Ania, dear friend

Marco
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2012 Ghent
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mat james
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Melbourne, Australia, Nov. 12-13, 2010

Post by mat james »

…of friends and folly.
I had a ball catching up with Andrew Darby, Dean (dcm) and friends at Ania’s place and it was delightful to meet Ania’s beautiful parents. There are always unexpected pleasures when I hit the road and go adventuring.
Dean, what a master of detail you are (on Concerts Leonard). I am surprised constantly in life by the varying passions and commitments people have. It is wonderful observing another human being lost in what Carlos Castaneda would call one’s chosen “folly”. You are an artist.
…and speaking of artists; Ania’s Krakow book/booklet (Leonard’s gig) artwork was on the table and as I wandered through that book I realized how little I know about the people’s talents around me; and such an easy-going and inclusive host Ania was as well.
And we wouldn’t have made it to that special moment after the show if it wasn’t for the generous efforts of Andrew Darby. So thanks Andrew for being there. (I want to hear more about that Hydra plan of yours)
Many Cohenites have had interesting adventures based around things Leonard and each are making new plans based around many things Leonard; so it's not just the “genius gig” as Andrew’s friend Michael put it, that was a highlight, but also mixing with the creative lot/fans that cohabit his world that bring beer-bubble pleasures to a life.
We had a fascinating evening and it was as much about the fans as it was about Leonard.

Thanks to all,
from Mat and Melany and friends.
"Without light or guide, save that which burned in my heart." San Juan de la Cruz.
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