CONCERT REPORT: Atlanta, GA - March 22, 2013

Everything about the first leg of Leonard Cohen's World Tour 2013
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sturgess66
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CONCERT REPORT: Atlanta, GA - March 22, 2013

Post by sturgess66 »

A pre-concert article in ArtsTL.com -
http://www.artsatl.com/2013/03/preview- ... x-theatre/

"As Cohen passes through Atlanta, he’ll bring all that he is, and all that others have proclaimed him to be, along with a suitcase full of vintage elegies and bluesy ballads."
Preview: Leonard Cohen’s Third Act Bringing “Old Ideas” And New Rewards to Fox Theatre

March 21, 2013
By Tommy Housworth

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Leonard Cohen has enjoyed a career resurgence.

Leonard Cohen wouldn’t make it past the first round of “American Idol.” His droning baritone displeases the ears of an autotune culture, and the uninitiated might write him off in the sex appeal category the minute they discover that he’s pushing 80 years old. He’s the unlikeliest of 21st-century showmen, a methodical poet in an industry dominated by pop tarts and Lady Gaga-ism.

But little of this matters to the Cohen fans who will fill the Fox Theatre to see him Friday night or to the legion of Cohen devotees around the world.

If the Canadian novelist and poet turned musician has been relegated to the role of “cult legend,” he seems as comfortable with it as he is with the black fedora that adorns his graying brow. In fact, it was as his career was experiencing a sort of second-act renaissance, with a pair of highly praised albums (1988’s “I’m Your Man” and 1992’s “The Future”) and an extensive world tour, that Cohen went off the grid, taking five years off to live in retreat at California’s Mount Baldy Zen Center.

Unfortunately, when he re-entered the outside world, he learned that his longtime manager had taken advantage of the singer’s time in isolation to bilk him of upwards of $5 million, leaving Cohen nearly destitute. Whether from inspiration or necessity, the last few years have put Cohen back in the studio and on the road, with a new album (2012’s “Old Ideas”) and a series of major tours. And though he probably wishes the circumstances were different, he told The New York Times that being forced to go back on the road was “a most fortunate happenstance because I was able to connect … with living musicians. And I think it warmed some part of my heart that had taken on a chill.”

That warmth has certainly been rekindled, and a man who has acknowledged battles with depression seems simply euphoric to share his verse with what are now multigenerational audiences. Even with the spectral theme of facing one’s mortality recurring throughout “Old Ideas,” Cohen approaches his shows with fortitude and even, dare I say, a sense of buoyant joy.

His shows clock in at close to three hours long, with set lists nearing 30 songs. The repertoire is vast, covering the breadth of his career, from the early years (“Suzanne,” “Bird on a Wire,” “Who by Fire”) to more current fare (“Anthem,” “A Thousand Kisses Deep” and a handful of songs from “Old Ideas”).

Cohen has long laughed at his reputation as a ladies’ man, even as he has been associated with several stunningly beautiful women and once wrote a song called “Death of a Ladies’ Man.” But it is his commingling of the sacred and the sensual that has earned him a reputation as both an existential troubadour and “the Byron of rock ‘n’ roll.” As Tom Robbins once remarked, “Nobody can say the word ‘naked’ as nakedly as Cohen.”

He’s one of the handful of musical artists who can rightly be anointed a poet rather than a mere songwriter, his writing more apt to be compared with Baudelaire’s or Rimbaud’s than Woody Guthrie’s or Bob Dylan’s. Those attending his Fox concert can expect audible sighs from women in the audience and the defeated cries of pedestrian poets muttering “why do I even bother?” as Cohen guides his guests through his majestic tower of song.

Leonard CohenHe’s one of the most recorded songwriters in modern music, with everyone from Beck and Bono to Emmylou Harris and k.d. laing attempting to do justice to his estimable canon. Judy Collins, the first other artist to record his songs, and Jennifer Warnes have devoted entire albums to the Cohen songbook. One of his most enduring anthems, “Hallelujah,” has been recorded so often, and been the object of such speculation and scrutiny by fans and critics, that an entire book about the song, Alan Light’s The Holy or the Broken, was recently published.

In concert, Cohen’s songs shine through with crystalline detail, his well-suited baritone a perfect vessel to deliver such apocalyptic anthems as “The Future” as well as the darkly mystic “Take This Waltz” and the prayerful “If It Be Your Will.” His tours have devout followers, a subculture of devotees who travel great distances to see him. But, unlike others with such committed fans (the Grateful Dead and Bruce Springsteen come to mind), Cohen’s shows are not improvised jams with malleable set lists and rock hall admission prices. They are symphonic suites of pristine precision, with tickets topping out at nearly $300. If Springsteen’s shows are like an evangelical church revival, a Cohen concert is more akin to a Zen retreat. It’s a glimpse into a sacred cathedral, but by way of a lingering pass through a Parisian boudoir and perhaps an overnighter at the Chelsea Hotel in New York City.

At 78, Leonard Cohen has stumbled, by fate or loss of fortune, upon a hard-earned iconic plateau that he almost certainly neither anticipated nor dared hope for. For a man who once famously remarked that “success is survival,” he has exceeded his own expectations with an abiding sense of gratitude and his wicked wit well intact.

As Cohen passes through Atlanta, he’ll bring all that he is, and all that others have proclaimed him to be, along with a suitcase full of vintage elegies and bluesy ballads. For those willing to listen, and those who’ll enter the shrine of his showmanship, the rewards are as enlightening as the truths Cohen sought at the Zen Center that inadvertently put this third act into motion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY2XYRL9pQk
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sturgess66
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Atlanta, GA - March 22, 2013

Post by sturgess66 »

The venue - the Fox Theatre is another one of those gorgeous old theatres - dating back to 1920's. Seating capacity is 4,678.
Located in the middle of the city - on Peachtree Street.

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http://www.foxtheatre.org/foxhistory.aspx
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DrM
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Atlanta, GA - March 22, 2013

Post by DrM »

What 'new' or 'improved' songs will He perform?

My precise & exacting wife missed 'Gypsy Wife' in Montreal, but she thought 'Show Me the Place' was a delight which will play well in the Deep South, and she is also counting on 'Dance Me to the End of Love'.

I hope for 'Anthem' & 'If It Be Your Will', but also 'The Guests'; I would beg for 'The Window' if it was on the set list, but I would really like to explain to my Georgia & North Carolina children the importance of Leonard Cohen's & the Unified Heart Touring Company's 'Passing Through'.

Watching from the first row of the balcony,

DrM
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Atlanta, GA - March 22, 2013

Post by vickiwoodyard »

I am hoping for I Tried To Leave You as one of the encores. He has not been doing that one lately.
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Chelle
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Atlanta, GA - March 22, 2013

Post by Chelle »

We are REALLY hoping to hear that one too, Vicki.

With the exception of Miami, here are the songs played so far on this tour, along with their counts: http://www.setlist.fm/stats/leonard-coh ... ?year=2013
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Atlanta, GA - March 22, 2013

Post by vickiwoodyard »

The ceiling in the photo above is not of the Fox in Atlanta; must be the one in Detroit. Thank you for the set list info. The Partisan...I vote for that one as well.
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Atlanta, GA - March 22, 2013

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vickiwoodyard wrote:The ceiling in the photo above is not of the Fox in Atlanta; must be the one in Detroit. Thank you for the set list info. The Partisan...I vote for that one as well.
Thanks Vicki - I have replaced that picture with another that I found at the Fox Theatre's facebook site - so should be accurate.
The other picture - a number of sites I looked at attribute it to The Fox in Atlanta - and my guess is that they are taking the information from Google Images that attributes it to the Fox. And so it can go ... :?:
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Atlanta, GA - March 22, 2013

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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Atlanta, GA - March 22, 2013

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Keep Calm Atlanta
Stay’n Foxy at the Fox


http://leonardcohen.tumblr.com/post/460 ... lm-atlanta

FROM TWITTER -
@ADR_Rocks 45m Did I mention I am from Montana? @TheFoxTheater is stunning! @LeonardOnTour #SoExciting! https://twitter.com/ADR_Rocks/status/31 ... 26/photo/1
@markwofford Ready for Leonard Cohen @TheFoxTheatre with my better half. pic.twitter.com/3vGPJLhv9x
@mypalmike Leonard Cohen in town again. pic.twitter.com/qwhLF8yTKd
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@lancehirsh Leonard Cohen! pic.twitter.com/FHUR39jGkp
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@Aucado Life affirming performance by the master! #leonardcohen
@lorigami True gentleman #leonardcohen http://instagram.com/p/XLp9tXzAC-/
@SamCandler Jesus was a sailor when he walked upon the water, And he spent a long time watching from a lonely wooden tower. http://campl.us/onvB
@SamCandler Show me the place where the word became a man, Show me the place where the suffering began. - Leonard Cohen. http://campl.us/onwp
@mwaldman56 Mitch Watkins and Rafael Gayol rocking out w/ Leonard Cohen. Brings back memories of some awesome Bob shows of days past!
‏@jeffthein Leonard Cohen. Filling the Fox Theater in ATL @ age 79 @ The Fox Theatre http://instagram.com/p/XL1hYzmVg1/
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Chelle
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Atlanta, GA - March 22, 2013

Post by Chelle »

A few of my pics. :)
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Chelle
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Atlanta, GA - March 22, 2013

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:)
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Atlanta, GA - March 22, 2013

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:)
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Atlanta, GA - March 22, 2013

Post by Mabeanie1 »

I LOVE the shot of Leonard kneeling in the spotlight Chelle!

Wendy
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Atlanta, GA - March 22, 2013

Post by vickiwoodyard »

Leonard Cohen at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, Georgia, 2013

“Avoid the flourish. Do not be afraid to be weak. Do not be ashamed to be tired. You look good when you're tired. You look like you could go on forever. Now come into my arms. You are the image of my beauty.” ~Leonard Cohen, Death of a Lady’s Man.

What I witnessed for over three and a half hours was a man and his touring company hard at work to deliver the goods impeccably.

We sat close enough that we could see the guys waiting in the wings to hand off instruments, etc. to the musicians. As I follow the online journey of Leif Bodnarchuk, a backline tech, that was interesting to see.

Leonard himself has gone beyond the need of reviews. The man is a legend. He is, in a sense, a blue-collar worker. Just like a delivery man might come into a bar with a box of 24 glasses and say, “Here’s your delivery,” —thus did Leonard take center stage and humbly deliver his body of work. He’s your man. He’s Everyman.

Some were seeing Leonard for the first time. Others follow him as often as they can. No one could fault one moment of this show. When they took their last bows, they were well-deserved.

The crew begin tearing down and loading out the equipment as if in a race against time. My son and I stood at the stage door for ten minutes or so. We saw Javier Mas talking to Rafael Gayol, who was holding a styrofoam box of food. Shortly, Alexandru Bublitchi could be seen joining them. Then it began to rain and we scurried hurriedly back to our car.

Our night on the town finished, I sat in my own kitchen again. We are all alike, folks. As Leonard says we are “the brief elaboration of a tube.” And so to bed, having had a cup of hot chocolate and a cookie or two. The Master had held class and I was privileged to be one of his students for “one night only.” Leonard fed us on the loaves and fishes with baskets left over. Now that is a miracle...no waiting required.

Vicki Woodyard
Author, Life With A Hole In It: That's How The Light Gets In
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Atlanta, GA - March 22, 2013

Post by vickiwoodyard »

I don't know how to upload photos or add a link to my site. If anyone knows where I can learn to do this, let me know. Thanks!
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