LC concert at Rotterdam 03 Nov 2008

[B4real]

LC at Rotterdam Nov 03, 2008

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5KjraAXJVA

6 months after he began his comeback World Tour in 2008.

First Set
00:00:00 01. Dance Me to the End of Love
00:05:45 02. The Future
00:12:33 03. Ain't No Cure for Love
00:17:37 04. Bird on the Wire
00:23:48 05. Everybody Knows
00:29:25 06. In My Secret Life
00:34:36 07. Who by Fire
00:41:28 08. Heart With No Companion
00:45:18 09. Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye
00:50:41 10. Anthem
Second Set
01:01:22 11. Tower of Song
01:08:25 12. Chelsea Hotel #2
01:11:43 13. Suzanne
01:15:29 14. The Gypsy's Wife
01:21:51 15. The Partisan (Anna Marly cover)
01:27:37 16. Boogie Street
01:33:11 17. Hallelujah
01:41:10 18. Democracy
01:48:36 19. I'm Your Man
01:54:25 20. Take This Waltz
Encore
02:04:46 21. So Long, Marianne
02:11:58 22. First We Take Manhattan
02:18:42 23. Famous Blue Raincoat
Encore 2
02:24:16 24. If It Be Your Will
02:30:06 25. Closing Time
Encore 3
02:36:49 26. I Tried to Leave You
02:45:11 27. Whither Thou Goest

[Wybe]

LC at Rotterdam Nov 03, 2008

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5KjraAXJVA

6 months after he began his comeback World Tour in 2008.

First Set
00:00:00 01. Dance Me to the End of Love
.......
.......

Thank you B4real, we where there in 2008 !

[B4real]

My pleasure, Wybe!
As I was posting it, I was wondering if you had gone to this concert - I should have known you did
So good to relive happy memories

[Citizen_Kane]

Chelsea Hotel tour debut! And also the only time LC played it solo acoustic.

[LisaLCFan]

Chelsea Hotel tour debut! And also the only time LC played it solo acoustic.

Solo, yes, acoustic, no.

Leonard was playing one of his electric nylon string guitars -- probably a Godin, which he most often played in that tour. Those guitars can be played unplugged, but it was definitely plugged in in this concert (and in every other concert that I've seen/heard in which he played an electric/acoustic guitar).

Nonetheless, lovely to hear Leonard perform Chelsea Hotel #2 solo -- I really enjoy his rare solo performances from the 2008-2013 tour!

Thanks, Bev, for the link!

[Citizen_Kane]

Acoustic guitars can be amplified, yes.

[LisaLCFan]

Acoustic guitars can be amplified, yes.

Yes, an acoustic guitar can be amplified, but the guitars that Leonard played on his 2008-2013 tour (and previous tours since the 80's) are not acoustic guitars that are amplified, they are electric guitars that can also be played unplugged if one so desires. They have a slightly larger and hollow body (compared to a standard solid-body electric) which enables them to be played unplugged and still have a bit of acoustic sound quality, but they are not acoustic guitars -- they are well and truly electric guitars, with fully built-in electronics from the factory, never having been just an acoustic guitar. As the Godin website explains of their Multiac model (one of the guitars Leonard played), "The original Multiac Nylon SA combines cutting edge acoustic guitar design with state-of-the-art on-board electronics and synth access". You can clearly see the electronics panel on the front of the instrument, because it is an electric guitar!

An amplified acoustic guitar, on the other hand, is a fully acoustic guitar that was built as an acoustic guitar, with no electronics on it anywhere (nor any "synth access"), and then later on, somebody adds electronics or some sort of amplifying device.

If you'd like any further information or explanation about guitars -- particularly Leonard's guitars and nylon string guitars in general -- please just ask -- it is one of my personal passions about which I do have some well-informed knowledge. Cheers!

[Citizen_Kane]

I do have some well-informed knowledge. Cheers!

As demonstrated, thanks.

It nevertheless remains an oddity/fun fact that in Rotterdam 2008 to everyone's surprise LC played Chelsea Hotel solo, more or less out of the blue and with the band already being back on stage (who stood there without anything to do). Never to be seen or heard again in this rendition.

[LisaLCFan]

...It nevertheless remains an oddity/fun fact that in Rotterdam 2008 to everyone's surprise LC played Chelsea Hotel solo, more or less out of the blue and with the band already being back on stage (who stood there without anything to do)....

Quite so! I recall seeing/hearing Roscoe Beck talking about Leonard's occasional solo performances on that tour, and Roscoe said something to the effect that Leonard would perform something solo only if he were feeling particularly good and confident about his guitar playing that night. Therefore, it was often a last-minute decision on Leonard's part, and so the band, as you pointed out, would sometimes be on stage ready to play, when Leonard would suddenly launch into a solo. It was, indeed, to everyone's surprise and delight!

(I'm sorry that I cannot recall where I heard/read that -- I read and heard so much about the tour in those years -- but that anecdote definitely stands out in my mind, hopefully more-or-less accurately!)

[Citizen_Kane]

Ah yes, I read that too somewhere. I vaguely remember this being reported in Sylvie Simmons biography of Leonard, which coincidentally misattributes Leonard's solo Chelsea Hotel surprise performance to the 2009 Beacon Theatre concert. Where indeed it was played, but neither as a tour debut nor as a solo performance.