"Leonard Cohen Live in London" > DVD & 2CD (April 2009)

[John Etherington]

I notice that play.com are already out of stock of the DVD, and (as I mentioned earlier), I got the last two copies at Fopp in central London yesterday evening. I hope this lack of availability doesn't affect Leonard's chart ratings. I wonder if they'll release a de-luxe version of the DVD with bonus tracks from other concerts or whatever. I'm so impressed with it, that I'd definitely buy another copy. I can't believe that some peoople are criticising the DVD, when it's ten million times better than the youtube stuff!

All good things, John E

[commonweal]

John E -- I agree. I rolled into Fopp in Hillhead (Glasgow) at about 4pm yesterday afternoon and bought the last copy they had of the DVD. That store has 10 more on order, apparently. There were several copies of the CD left. I had already listened to the music via NPR but the CD sounds magnificant in my car and, now, also on my ipod. The DVD I watched late into the night last night and I was spellbound. While I would like to have seen a couple of shots of the whole stage (with Leonard's art as the backdrop) I relished every moment of it. It's not HD and it's not state of the art, but it is beautiful and compelling. Like you I'm really pleased they left the introductions in. I also liked the lovely on-screen touch at the end. No FBR, perhaps, but a very nice gesture towards it. (Hope that's not too much of a spoiler for those who haven't yet watched it!)

[osmachar]

First of all, I don't want to sound like a moaney cow and I did very much enjoy the concerts I saw last year.

But....when hearing the CD I have got the feeling that because it was recorded they put in more effort, especially LC speaks to the audience from the start and has a lot more audience interaction than in the concerts I've seen. For example the one I saw in Glasgow on 5.11.08 he don't think he even said 'good evening ' and only started speaking very much towards the end of the first half.

Just an observation - don't know if anyone else thinks that.

[Davido]

Jarkko, please for G...'s sake ensure that they subtitle the Blue Ray.

And friends on this site, if you too feel that our hearing impaired friends should be able to access the performances, and feel that this is what leonard himself would want, please raise your voices here. Being excluded with this DVD is such a remarkably cruel act, in respect of such an artist who who exudes compassion and inclusivity.

The Blu Ray represents a chance to put this right.

Thanks !

I agree, this needs to be rectified.
Although I have enjoyed watching the dvd a couple of times already, it is obvious that not a lot of effort or thought has been put into it's production.
Dave

[jarkko]

http://www.thestar.com/Entertainment/article/610752

Leonard Cohen: Live In London
Mar 31, 2009 04:30 AM

Greg Quill

(Columbia/Sony Music)

(3 1/2 stars out of 4)

Watching Leonard Cohen skipping into position at the start of the epic performance video – shot last July at London's sold-out O2 Arena – then bounding off stage ecstatically two hours later, like a teenager scooting for a bus, it's apparent that the Canadian songwriter is as comfortable in his skin as any artists can be.

At 74, Cohen has at last grown into his repertoire. To songs that in the 1960s and '70s were sidelined as too sad and depressing, too personal and too literary, he can now bring a wry fatalism, a bemused wisdom, an apocalyptic charm and the astonished delight of the long-distance runner who finds himself crossing the line ahead of the pack.

"It's been a long time since I stood on a stage in London," he mumbles in his subterranean baritone. "It was about 14 or 15 years ago. I was 60 years old, just a kid with a crazy dream."

At once a testament to his copious oeuvre and a video chronicle of a transcendently inspired musical ensemble fairly levitating under the spell of Cohen's deceptively severe and simple compositions, Live in London presents Cohen at the very pinnacle of his artistic power.

Not for a nanosecond in this 24-song concert does the septuagenarian folk music icon – grinning craftily from beneath a wide-brimmed fedora, like a Depression-era Montreal gangster sniffing a kill – miss a cue, a beat, a note, a word, or the opportunity to impress an adoring audience with his wit and bravado.

At several points, he crouches like a supplicant before them mid-song, then bounces back to centre stage, wallowing in the euphoric effects of the music that surrounds him, a veritable symphony made up of austere Middle European folk forms blended with the Mediterranean warmth and gypsy soul of multi-instrumentalist Javier Mas' banduria, laud, archilaud and 12-string guitar; the jazz improvisations of wind-instrument virtuoso Dino Soldo; the funky R&B and romantic pedal steel licks of venerable guitarist Bob Metzger; the silky weave of backing voices provided by long-time collaborator Sharon Robinson; and more.

Armed with the kind of indestructibility all artists crave and few achieve, Cohen claims these songs as never before, imbuing "Ain't No Cure for Love," "Everybody Knows," "Democracy," "Who by Fire," "Hallelujah," "Tower of Song," "Sisters of Mercy," "Suzanne," "I'm Your Man," "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye" with an affection, ease and grace that belie their bitterness, longing and sorrow.

He seems grateful for everything – for a long and productive life, for the band and for the openness and spiritual generosity of the audience, which hangs on every word, reducing the vast space to the size of a living room.

"It's wonderful to be gathered here, just on the other side of intimacy," he intones, holding cupped hands outwards, at the start of the concert. And later, after listing the prescribed mood elevators with which he is familiar, he adds, "I've also studied deeply in the philosophies and the religions ... but cheerfulness kept breaking through."

There's not a wasted moment in this video (an audio CD version is out today as well). The ungainly, discofied arrangement of "First We Take Manhattan" notwithstanding, Leonard Cohen: Live In London – a one-hour edit airs tomorrow night at 8 on CBC-TV – is a timeless and priceless portrait of the artist as an older man, and better than ever.

[jarkko]

http://www.thestar.com/Entertainment/article/610752
DVD pick of the week

Leonard Cohen
Live in London
(Columbia)

US release date: 31 March 2009
UK release date: 30 March 2009

by Adrien Begrand

The loss of five million dollars can light a fire underneath anyone, even a serene, 74-year-old Buddhist poet/singer-songwriter, but to Leonard Cohen’s great credit, not only did he refuse to wither away after being swindled out of his savings and royalties by his former manager, but in the past year he’s returned to the stage, exhibiting a level of passion, verve, and grace that’s caught even his longtime fans by surprise.

When 2008 rolled around, it had been 15 years since the Canadian legend last toured (in support of his great 1992 album The Future), but with the help of a brilliant nine-piece supporting band, he headed back on the road with gusto, playing more than 60 dates in Eastern Canada, the UK, and Europe. By the time Cohen and band played to a huge crowd of 20,000 at London’s O2 Arena on July 17th, they were well-oiled, two months into the big comeback tour, and with recording and film crews there to capture the event, they went on to deliver a spellbinding, seductive, pristine, near-three-hour set that spanned the man’s 40-year musical career. And now nine months later, in addition to being a fine teaser for Cohen’s extensive North American tour this spring, that London performance has yielded one of the finest live albums to come our way in a long while.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve stood on the stage in London,” Cohen muses at one point between songs, adding with his typical droll humor, “It was about 14 or 15 years ago, I was 60 years old, just a kid with a crazy dream… I’ve studied deeply in philosophies and religions, but cheerfulness kept breaking through.” And from the opening salvos of the gorgeous, cabaret-tinged “Dance Me to the End of Love”, it’s clear that he has not lost a step whatsoever, his resonant, cigarette-deepened baritone voice enveloping us, brilliantly interweaving with the dulcet tones of his trademark trio of background singers. Part vocal foils, part muses, the trio of longtime collaborator Sharon Robinson and welcome new young additions Charley and Hattie Webb (known to many followers of UK pop as simply the Webb Sisters) continually engage in a playful tug-of-war with the stately bard. Going back to his first breakthrough single “Suzanne”, those female voices are central to Cohen’s sound, and throughout the 26-song set, Robinson and the Webb sisters more than prove their worth, whether it be cooing away on “Tower of Song” or taking solo turns on lovely renditions of “Boogie Street” and “If It Be Your Will”.

Led by bassist/musical director Roscoe Beck, who has worked with Cohen since 1979, the rest of the band is tremendous, leaping easily from the low-key folk of Cohen’s 1960s material to the more new wave-ish sounds of his 1980s catalog. Neil Larson adds some Hammond B3 to “Bird on the Wire”, adding an elegiac, Garth Hudson-like touch to the performance, while Dino Soldo, so eloquently described by Cohen as the “master of breath, on the instrument of wind,” adds some unabashedly smooth saxophone solos on “Ain’t No Cure for Love”. For all the superb performances (Bob Metzger’s electric guitar and pedal steel contributions cannot be underestimated), the key addition to the band is multi-instrumentalist Javier Mas, whose expressive bandurria, laud, archilaud, and 12-string guitar fills are central, adding a mysterious, gypsy-like feel to nearly every song. And typical of the gracious and humble Cohen, he never hesitates to acknowledge his backing musicians, adding a classy introduction whenever anyone has a brief solo.

As much as he tries to deflect the attention onto his crack band, this performance is still all about Mr. Cohen, who for all his technical vocal limitations, still exudes a charisma that few singers can match. Interestingly, the songs most cherished by his baby boomer fans, such as “Suzanne”, “So Long, Marianne”, “Sisters of Mercy”, and “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye”, are the most understated performances, Cohen’s delivery tender, almost overly polite.

It’s when we get deeper into his career, namely the albums like The Future and his 1988 masterpiece I’m Your Man, which won Cohen a new generation of fans, that Cohen truly gains some serious momentum. Although he tidies up part of “The Future” ("Give me crack and careless sex"), the track still seethes with cynicism, feeling more portentous than ever. His voice of doom on “Everybody Knows” is continually answered by Mas’s beautiful fills. The slinky jazz of “I’m Your Man” and the rollicking “Closing Time” transform the vast, generic arena into a drowsy, smoky bar, drummer Rafael Gayol adds subtle dance beats to the sinister “First We Take Manhattan”, while “Democracy” sees Cohen forcefully delivering some of the finest lyrics of his esteemed career ("I’m stubborn as those garbage bags that Time cannot decay / I’m junk but I’m still holding up this little wild bouquet").

Many will consider the restrained interpretation of the classic “Hallelujah” to be one of the concert’s high points, but the big surprise just might be Cohen’s simple recitation of his poem “A Thousand Kisses Deep”, which inspired the song of the same name on 2001’s underrated Ten New Songs. Accompanied by Larsen’s subtle, ambient synths, the power of the reading is jaw-dropping, and it feels like you can hear a pin drop in the packed arena. “I’m good at love, I’m good at hate / It’s in between I freeze,” he says at one point. You can be as self-deprecating as you want, Len, but the rest of us, from those who swoon at your poem to those who wish like hell they’d written it, we would all beg to differ.

[IrishMar]

danslenoir wrote

Does anyone know what was yelled out when Leonard chuckles and says, just before Anthem, "I heard that"?

Does anyone know the answer to this?, I'd really love to know too!

[st theresa]

This just in!! Thanks Kim for this wonderful article in the Edmonton Journal--The link gives all the pics, but I have posted the text for convenience.



http://digital.edmontonjournal.com/epap ... b82b4a9cac




Capturing the full Cohen experience

Recording of London concert finds rejuvenated icon in fine form

By Kim Solez, FreelanceMarch 31, 2009



When I visited iconic Canadian singer, songwriter, and poet Leonard Cohen over a weekend in November 2005, he spoke of the importance of conserving his psychic energy for creative work.

The enthusiasm and engagement of his performances on his latest Live in London dual CD and DVD release suggests that he did just that, but now is fully injecting that energy into his singing and recitation as he tours.

The performances from the London O2 Arena concert July 17, 2008, in this release are smooth and polished, and seem to just get better and better as the evening progresses, all the more remarkable when one considers that Cohen turns 75 this year.

He seems dedicated to delivering the right kind emotion into every syllable, putting the right mood into every song. The effect is quite spiritual and natural.

It is as if Cohen himself is experiencing a unique journey through the songs every time he sings, encountering something novel. He is remarkably present in his voice. One gets the impression that the engagement with the song is an all-encompassing inner experience for him that he effectively conveys to the audience.

I was at the concert captured in this release and have seen one since. The dual CDs and DVD capture very well the exuberant and happy mood of the audience that night. After the second song, Cohen mentioned that recently in his life "cheerfulness kept breaking through" -- and indeed the whole evening had the flavour of happy celebration.

I was seated near the front but even so, there is a depth of expression in the video images one did not fully appreciate being at the concert in person. It is like being onstage with the band.

The 26 tracks in this CD/DVD release include every song actually performed at the concert; nothing is left out. The selections run the gamut from four from Cohen's very first album in 1968 -- Sisters of Mercy (written in Edmonton), Suzanne, So Long, Marianne and Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye -- to a good sampling of songs from most albums up to the present day.

In addition to the treasured classics from the past, his never-before-recorded spoken-word recitation of A Thousand Kisses Deep, accompanied by Neil Larsen on the keyboard, is delightful, as is the description of Cohen's102-year-old Zen master on the track labeled Introduction. Surprises, insights and wonderful nuances abound!

The most unusual feature of the discs is the large amount of Cohen's repartee with the audience. These spoken-word intros and diversions are so interesting and full of charm that they seem quite natural to include and add to the value of the release. Always gracious, Cohen thanks the audience at several points during the evening, acknowledging the financial and geographic sacrifices they have made to be there.

There have been three other live recording releases from Cohen in the past, but this is the first one that accurately captures the full experience of being at a Cohen concert, so it is highly significant and unique.

The musicianship of the band he has put together is outstanding. Javier Mas's guitar mastery in many of the songs is wonderful. Dino Soldo's soaring solos on the wind instruments are inspiring, and the female voices of Sharon Anderson and Charley and Hattie Webb lure the listener in from the beginning, and are especially beautiful on Ain't No Cure For Love and If It Be Your Will. These are probably the most skilled musicians Cohen has ever recorded with and they are a delight to listen to.

His voice is in fine form -- strong, vibrant, resonant, full and much better than on Dear Heather (2004) or Ten New Songs (2001) and on a par with Cohen Live (1994) and The Future (1992). Somehow, in these recent performances, Cohen has found rejuvenation, the fountain of youth, and it is infectious. We become younger, too, in the process of listening!

Cohen performs Saturday, April 25 at Rexall Place.

Kim Solez is a professor of pathology at the University of Alberta and is the founder of an annual Leonard Cohen festival in Edmonton

[commonweal]

Osmacher - I agree that he didn't speak/interact as much during the Glasgow concerts (which were far and away the best of the five I attended last year, btw) as he does on the CD/DVD, but I was at Manchester OH in June last year and there it was much the same as was evidently the case at the O2. In Edinburgh it was cold and I felt he just wanted to get on with the show; at the Big Chill the set was confined to 90 minutes and Leonard cut the chat accordingly; the autumn tour was different in a number of respects from the summer tour, I thought. One of the differences was less chat. Maybe because by then he was less nervous, or more in the groove? Regardless, I do not think that any more effort was put into the O2 gig because it was recorded for this. The effort at Glasgow (and for that matter at the Big Chill) was stupendous.

[willo]

Ladies and gentlemen, just got my copies of the cd and dvd today. Have watched the dvd in full and have to say that I will now die a happy man. 4 years ago i never thought I would get to see Leonard play live , and now having been to 2 concerts in Dublin last summer I have a permanent reminder of those 2 wonderful nights that I can enjoy while God is good to me.

I am not 2 worried about aspect 4 3 or of it been a bit dark and other technical details. I have my reminder of the 2 most memorable nights entertainment of my life.
it was a joy to clearly see the expression on Leonards face while he performed eg during Tower of song and to see how much he clearly enjoyed doing the show.

I hope all of you forum members enjoy

Willo

[brightnow]

Here in the US, my copy of the CD shipped from Amazon.com yesterday (March 30) and arrived today.
I will get the DVD after the concert (tickets for May 11). It seems to me that I will enjoy both the concert and the DVD more in this order.

[Evie B]

I got my dvd and cd in HMV in Cambridge and was glad I made the effort that evening and didn't wait until today as even though I had checked by phone beforehand and they assured me they had 16 cds and 13 dvd on the shelves, there didn't seem to be very many left by the time I got there at 5.

Reading through the posts, I agree there are shortcomings on the dvd and can appeciate the difficulties those with less than average hearing might experience because of the camera positioning making it difficult to read his lips, and hope the compilation later puts this right. A few more front shots would have been great. That said, what a wonderful, wonderful treasure to have this dvd now, we all stamped our feet and wanted it and possibly in their anxiety to give us all what we wanted a.s.a.p Sony committed a little soon to this concert. But, against this, what a wonder to see Leonard's obvious delight in the great affection and appreciation that comes across from this sometimes rowdy audience - I think lots of them had hitch-hiked over from Glastonbury, having seen him there and wanting more. We would all like to know now the answer to that new great mystery of life, i.e. what was shouted to him that caused him to say 'I heard that'. Anybody figured it out yet? Like another post I was spellbound by seeing his facial expressions during the show because this is something you just don't see when you are actually at the concert unless you are in the really close-up seats, perhaps even then. The crowd at the RAH was much more reverential which I preferred because the shouting out seemed out of place and a bit distracting, but, hey, Leonard seemed to enjoy it so much who am I to gripe. I may be forced to get one of these blue-ray jobs. My little stack of electricky bits piling up in the corner will go into melt down then I think.

[Evie B]

Just checked and HMV.com (UK) are saying the DVD will be back back in stock in 7 days so they have sold out as well. They have the cds in stock.

[Quasand]

Leonard Cohen Live In London is # 10 right now on Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/mu ... QH5Q32JVZ6

# 48 at Barnes&Noble

http://music.barnesandnoble.com/u/Bests ... 2Pid=17589

I have a feeling that the Live In London CD will become Leonard Cohen's first Top 40 Album in the U.S., thanks to the Tour and the Rock Hall.

We will have to wait until the April 10th edition of Billboard Magazine to see the first week's results.

# 83 Songs Of Leonard Cohen
# 63 Songs From A Room
# 145 Songs Of Love And Hate
# 156 Live Songs
# 143 Ten New Songs
# 131 Dear Heather

# 198 Tower of Song: The Songs of Leonard Cohen
# 176 Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man - Motion Picture Soundtrack

[davidrichards]

Quasand
No.10 on Amazon.com!
As I stated in an earlier reply the DVD is no.1 in Amazon UK ranking for Music DVD and the CD is also no.1 in their music ranking.
Could this be a global No.1