Since our March Cohen tour was delayed, we needed to do something, and this seemed like a good opportunity for us to practice for the September shows in France
Somehow I got it in my head to design a tour poster for the girls which I planned to give to them before the Toronto show. Well I got cold feet and was not going to give them the poster, until Morgan talked me into it. Apparently she had more faith in how my small token would be received.
Hugh's Room hadn't made any posters for the show, convincing me that the poster would be a nice memento for their Sublimeness. So I found Etienne (sp I think?) and gave him the poster tube with 2 posters and a bunch of photos I had taken throughout the Cohen tour.
It wasn't long until he came back with a signed CD thanking me for 'my beautiful support', and that they'll say hi after the show.
Mission accomplished because gosh darn, they liked it!
Even better, during the show they pulled out the tube and one of the posters and asked where I was, and talked about how lovely it was, and so nice etc. So there I was ready to hide under the table and jump out of my skin at the same time. Well, not really but it sure was a lovely gesture on their part.
The show itself was great. They are really honing their skills and are funny and charming on and off stage. Another of their brothers Rod, joined them on percussion, which really helped fill in some of the songs.
I didn't really take any pics, taking the opportunity to enjoy the show instead.
There was a pleasant meet & greet after the show and I had one of the posters signed for me. I then offered them the rest of the posters (I had made 30) if they wanted to find a use for them on the subsequent dates, which they did.
We were a group of four forum members and we had a chance to say hi to Anne at the show as well.
Bring on Ottawa!
It wasn't a late show or night, but hard to come down after the show. We did have a bit of a drive to Ottawa and plans to visit the National Gallery since it was closed the next day. We hit the road later than we expected.
With not much time, we got ready for the show and to visit the National Gallery. I really enjoy seeing the Group of Seven paintings there. Off we went with the rest of the posters to drop off at Zaphod Beeblebrox.
Morgan and I walked into the venue and aren't they all sitting around on the stage, and they greeted us very warmly. We stayed and chatted for a bit and then headed to the Gallery. It turns out, we should have stayed and grabbed a good seat then. Doors were at 8pm and we returned at 7:40pm to be faced with a lineup to get in.
The venue wasn't the best...long and narrow with a dance floor in front. Even the people who managed to get one of the few seats had a bad view, as everyone moved to the dance floor and stood in front of them anyway. Of course people had no choice if they were to see anything. Got to hang out for a bit with Don, Evelyn and some of Don's neighbours or something.
Morgan and I grabbed a piece of wall and managed to have a decent view until some guy walked over and stood right in front of us. A gentle tap on his shoulder was all that was required to move him. However, he kept leaving and coming back and forgetting. The bad thing about that was whenever he moved to clear our view, he ended up in front a woman who was shorter than I.
The show itself was pretty much the same, but there were some sound problems. Charley told me later that the reason her guitar was going in and out, was caused by "someone sitting on the stage, and sitting on the cable and when they moved, they would unplug and plug her in...what a bummer". Hehehe
The meet and greet was fun once again. Morgan and I had waited until the end to say hi but we noticed the line kept getting longer. Then we saw that a younger crowd was coming in and getting in line right away. It seemed rather strange until we realized that the girls were in the coat check area signing and talking, and the line was growing from all the kids coming to dance and actually check their coats.
I jokingly asked if they had any posters for sale and sweet Hattie said "Oh no, they are too dear to us!" We had a brief chat, I suggested a few shows they could go see in Montreal, reminded them that the Cohen exhibit was in Montreal, and that we'd see them in Montreal.
We walked around Ottawa a bit the next morning, had lunch and hit the road for Montreal.
I love Montreal!
It was nice to have a down day and we didn't bother to go to the shows which I had suggested to the Webb Sisters and crew.
We went to the Cohen exhibit and fantasized about which ones we'd buy. We decided we needed a least a grouping of 4 of the self portraits, and may have ended up selecting the same ones.
After a reality check, we settled on buying posters and the book. Oh and there was a cool Tony Bennett painting of Louis Armstrong.
A nice dinner at my fav Vieux-Montréal restaurant ended a great day.
Next day was show day again, and we had a lot of things on our agenda. First and foremost was to visit Leonard Cohen's Montreal. Thanks to the help of some forum members we were able to turn it into a Leonard day, capped by a return to the exhibit to make more purchases (once again only posters and books for others), and a daylight visit to Our Lady of the Harbour.
Somehow we also managed to get to the top of Mont Royal for the view.
It's showtime!
Resolved to not being relegated to a crappy view again, we got there early, maybe 12th in line, and ended up with a table in the very front. Outside we had bumped into damfino and he joined our table. I'm sure I was smiling when I saw one of the posters on the merch table.
I think it was the best show of the three, everything clicked, sounded better and I think Rod was adding some vocals as well, which I hadn't really noticed in previous shows. And they added a couple of young ladies on strings. Sweet!!!
But the greatest thing ever...during the set, they stopped to thank some dear friends who have been so wonderful and supportive and been at all of the shows...Morgan & Ken. They mentioned the poster and photographs I had given them. Then they dedicated a song to us! Morgan said it was a very nice song. I was floating on a cloud so may have been out of hearing range
I did shoot a bunch of pics for this show and hope to find some time to sort through them and post them somewhere. Morgan has copy of the setlist.
Peter Asher had flown in and did a lovely introduction. I had a chance to chat with Peter, and Morgan took a photo of him and I. I may have been one of the only people who knew, or cared who he is.
A meet and greet again and we hung back until the end. I got my personal photographer to snap a pic of me and The Sublime Webb Sisters, and it's a keeper!
At one point Charley came over to me and thanked me for the posters again. She mentioned that they didn't really have much stuff other than CDs and pins, and that they were using them to sign and give out at the interviews they were doing.
I'd post some pics here but it never seems to work for me, so you'll all have to take my word for this tale. Can I get a witness?
Cheers,
Ken(adian)
. 