I'm His Fan and so is my Dad!
Sep. 25th, 2009 12:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eumeliaAs promised, more on The Man and the amazing concert last night.
First of all, the getting there. It was very much encouraged that people use public transportation because, well, parking would have been an issue.
The doors to Ramat-Gan stadium (where the concert was performed) opened at half-past five pm, I wanted to be there by at least quarter to seven or seven, since the concert was scheduled to start at quarter to eight.
Suffice to say, that is not what happened. For various reasons that are very convoluted and odd, my dad and I drove to a train station a few towns over (a 15 minute drive, if that) and parked there, because the train company was having more trains going north and south at the end of the concert late at night, long after closing hours and one of the stops was the one we drove to.
We only left at around six and missed the train that would have gotten us there before half past seven, so I was freaking out.
My dad though, is a pretty un-phaseable guy, so I felt a bit silly being all stressed and panicky when I was just getting reasonable replies and asking me if I had any better ideas as he was willing to along with anything I suggest.
Took the wind out my sails that one.
The train arrived, we got to the Tel-Aviv Station, got off, ran like the wind to the other platform in order to catch the train that gets to Bnei-Brak the station that's just a few hundred metres away from the stadium.
We could see the lights and tens-of-thousands of people already sitting.
We walked into the stadium at twenty to eight, I hugged Tami and her folks (she was the genius who managed to actually get us tickets the night sales went live, damned lucky as this concert was sold out in a few hours), we found our seats, had two minutes to relax before the lights went out, the stage lights went on and there he was.
The Man and his Hat (Tami was taking pictures the whole time, I hope I get to show them to you).
What a charming stage persona he has, he was skipping! He said it was a honour to be here and that he was dedicating the concert to Bereaved Families for Peace as per my previous post, which got me crying, it was a very clever and non-confrontational way of bringing in the "issue" I suppose. I'm glad he mentioned it at least and didn't ignore the contention of him performing in Israel, because it is a big deal and Cohen is a very big name.
He then began to sing.
Being the dork that I am, I wanted to write down the songs; I always carry a pen, but alas I did not have a notepad so I quickly rummaged around and found a post card - it was this post card, so there was plenty room to write on both sides.
Oh! Before I forget! On the big screens which broadcast his performance, there were Hebrew subtitles to almost all of the songs, because lots of Israeli artists just wanted to be able to sing him in Hebrew so over the years there have been lots of translations.
Having the subtitles was just too great no to mention.
These are the songs he sang, in order:
#01 Dance Me to the Edge of Love.
Specifically, this isn't my favourite song of his, but it was a really good opener as it got everyone into the groove.
#02 The Future.
It's murder. I couldn't help but correlate all the songs with life here, I mean c'mon, it's so apropos. Hispoems songs are just as relevant as they were when he wrote them.
#03 Ain't No Cure for Love.
He's such a romantic. Because love is better than any drug... if it's pure.
#04 Bird on a Wire.
Cue the tears. Though I had a hard time singing along to this one, as he changed the tempo a bit for the live and it wasn't what I was used to when listening to the albums.
Oh well.
#05 Everybody Knows.
Very dramatic, lighting and bass wise. His voice went all the way down to the lowest octaves. Possibly the most explicitly political song other than First We Take Manhattan.
#06 In My Secret Life.
Just plain romantic.
#07 Who By Fire.
Again, cue the tears. It's the season after all.
#08 Chelsea Hotel #2.
We are ugly, but we have the music. Possibly of the most powerful lyrics to ever be sung. Somehow, in a crowd of ten-of-thousands of people he managed to make it seem he was singing all of his songs for me and I'm sure everybody felt exactly the same way.
#09 Lover Lover Lover.
Another romantic song. I love that he's romantic and writes these visceral love songs. Man, the man-pain.
#10 Waiting for a Miracle.
Not my fave song, but so beautifully performed.
#11 Anthem.
He specifically dedicated this song to peace and yeah it's shmultzy, but I don't care. It was amazing, emotional and just plain gorgeous. I love this song.
Intermission.
In which we stretched our legs, gushed about the amount of singing going on and Tami and I jumped up and down like we often do when we're in the same vicinity.
#12 Tower of Song.
I love how autobiographical this song is. I mean, explicitly, because all his songs are autobiographical, but I feel like he's telling us a secret when he sings this one.
#13 Suzanne.
*sighs happily*
#14 Sisters of Mercy.
Did I mention that everyone is singing along.
#15 The Gypsy's Wife
Brilliantly performed, but again, not my fave song.
#16 The Partisan.
Tears, did I mention them? Just... gah, really. Cannot describe this one.
#17 Boogie Street.
Very nice Blues number.
#18 Hallelujah.
He thanked us for singing along! We could have all sung it for him the way the crowd was going. At the beginning of the show the crowd got green stick lights... guess how much we were all swaying. C'mon, guess!
#19 I'm Your Man.
My dad was belting this out like no one belted before. I was kind of surprised, he's really a reserved man, but I think this song resonates in him very strongly. And on the final lyric the whole crowd yelled I'm Your Man for him and he smiled a huge smile.
It was great.
#20 Take This Waltz
It could have been a great closing number.
It wasn't though.
There were Encores!
#21 So Long, Marianne.
I literally burst into tears (I'm now tearing up writing this). It is seriously my favourite song of his. I dunno what it is. The tune, the lyrics... perhaps because the love there is so sweet and just... I can't verbalise it.
#22 First We Take Manhattan.
Fists were flying.
#23 Famous Blue Raincoat.
I snuggled into my dad and we swayed and we just dirged along with everyone else.
#24 If It Be Your Will.
He took a bit of a break in this one and his backup singers sang the whole thing with a guitar, harp and two lovely Soprano voices.
I'm running out of adjectives to describe the beauty of it all.
#25 Closing Time.
I love the jazzy bit if this and it was just so perfect for the end of the night.
#26 Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye.
Well, this was even more perfect.
Good bye, Leonard. We had a blast!
And then he sang the Passage from the book of Ruth: "Wherever you go..." which was amazing and then he gave another prayer in Hebrew. Amazing to hear that old fashioned Ashkenazi accent, as modern Hebrew accent is Sephardic... I was all very emotional, as is evident by the amount of tears I shed.
Cohen is probably one of the more evocative poets and singers of our time. I can honestly say that he's one of the artists that when I heard for the first time clutched my heart and pulled out my lungs. And it really was So Long, Marianne, because it was the first song of his that I listened to.
It was an amazing night and getting back home was far less dramatic than getting there. My dad I were gushing the whole way and it really was one of the best evenings of my life.
I love Leonard Cohen even more than I did. His gravely and deep voice is the kind of voice I always imagine myself having when I speak about something I'm passionate about, but it's so far from the voice I actually have which is more often than not high and strident... I can never modulate it to the depth that I want.
One other thing, Leonard Cohen has a grand, beautiful and very sharp aquiline nose (I have a nose fetish, really, I'm not kidding) and he's a seriously good looking (to me) man.
I think my dad kind of looks like him.
Yeah, I think my dad is handsome.
I think youngest daughters are supposed to think that, no?
I hope I managed to convey here what a powerful evening it was. That weird and awesome feeling of being intimate with thousands of other people.
I think I need another cup of coffee.
First of all, the getting there. It was very much encouraged that people use public transportation because, well, parking would have been an issue.
The doors to Ramat-Gan stadium (where the concert was performed) opened at half-past five pm, I wanted to be there by at least quarter to seven or seven, since the concert was scheduled to start at quarter to eight.
Suffice to say, that is not what happened. For various reasons that are very convoluted and odd, my dad and I drove to a train station a few towns over (a 15 minute drive, if that) and parked there, because the train company was having more trains going north and south at the end of the concert late at night, long after closing hours and one of the stops was the one we drove to.
We only left at around six and missed the train that would have gotten us there before half past seven, so I was freaking out.
My dad though, is a pretty un-phaseable guy, so I felt a bit silly being all stressed and panicky when I was just getting reasonable replies and asking me if I had any better ideas as he was willing to along with anything I suggest.
Took the wind out my sails that one.
The train arrived, we got to the Tel-Aviv Station, got off, ran like the wind to the other platform in order to catch the train that gets to Bnei-Brak the station that's just a few hundred metres away from the stadium.
We could see the lights and tens-of-thousands of people already sitting.
We walked into the stadium at twenty to eight, I hugged Tami and her folks (she was the genius who managed to actually get us tickets the night sales went live, damned lucky as this concert was sold out in a few hours), we found our seats, had two minutes to relax before the lights went out, the stage lights went on and there he was.
The Man and his Hat (Tami was taking pictures the whole time, I hope I get to show them to you).
What a charming stage persona he has, he was skipping! He said it was a honour to be here and that he was dedicating the concert to Bereaved Families for Peace as per my previous post, which got me crying, it was a very clever and non-confrontational way of bringing in the "issue" I suppose. I'm glad he mentioned it at least and didn't ignore the contention of him performing in Israel, because it is a big deal and Cohen is a very big name.
He then began to sing.
Being the dork that I am, I wanted to write down the songs; I always carry a pen, but alas I did not have a notepad so I quickly rummaged around and found a post card - it was this post card, so there was plenty room to write on both sides.
Oh! Before I forget! On the big screens which broadcast his performance, there were Hebrew subtitles to almost all of the songs, because lots of Israeli artists just wanted to be able to sing him in Hebrew so over the years there have been lots of translations.
Having the subtitles was just too great no to mention.
These are the songs he sang, in order:
#01 Dance Me to the Edge of Love.
Specifically, this isn't my favourite song of his, but it was a really good opener as it got everyone into the groove.
#02 The Future.
It's murder. I couldn't help but correlate all the songs with life here, I mean c'mon, it's so apropos. His
#03 Ain't No Cure for Love.
He's such a romantic. Because love is better than any drug... if it's pure.
#04 Bird on a Wire.
Cue the tears. Though I had a hard time singing along to this one, as he changed the tempo a bit for the live and it wasn't what I was used to when listening to the albums.
Oh well.
#05 Everybody Knows.
Very dramatic, lighting and bass wise. His voice went all the way down to the lowest octaves. Possibly the most explicitly political song other than First We Take Manhattan.
#06 In My Secret Life.
Just plain romantic.
#07 Who By Fire.
Again, cue the tears. It's the season after all.
#08 Chelsea Hotel #2.
We are ugly, but we have the music. Possibly of the most powerful lyrics to ever be sung. Somehow, in a crowd of ten-of-thousands of people he managed to make it seem he was singing all of his songs for me and I'm sure everybody felt exactly the same way.
#09 Lover Lover Lover.
Another romantic song. I love that he's romantic and writes these visceral love songs. Man, the man-pain.
#10 Waiting for a Miracle.
Not my fave song, but so beautifully performed.
#11 Anthem.
He specifically dedicated this song to peace and yeah it's shmultzy, but I don't care. It was amazing, emotional and just plain gorgeous. I love this song.
Intermission.
In which we stretched our legs, gushed about the amount of singing going on and Tami and I jumped up and down like we often do when we're in the same vicinity.
#12 Tower of Song.
I love how autobiographical this song is. I mean, explicitly, because all his songs are autobiographical, but I feel like he's telling us a secret when he sings this one.
#13 Suzanne.
*sighs happily*
#14 Sisters of Mercy.
Did I mention that everyone is singing along.
#15 The Gypsy's Wife
Brilliantly performed, but again, not my fave song.
#16 The Partisan.
Tears, did I mention them? Just... gah, really. Cannot describe this one.
#17 Boogie Street.
Very nice Blues number.
#18 Hallelujah.
He thanked us for singing along! We could have all sung it for him the way the crowd was going. At the beginning of the show the crowd got green stick lights... guess how much we were all swaying. C'mon, guess!
#19 I'm Your Man.
My dad was belting this out like no one belted before. I was kind of surprised, he's really a reserved man, but I think this song resonates in him very strongly. And on the final lyric the whole crowd yelled I'm Your Man for him and he smiled a huge smile.
It was great.
#20 Take This Waltz
It could have been a great closing number.
It wasn't though.
There were Encores!
#21 So Long, Marianne.
I literally burst into tears (I'm now tearing up writing this). It is seriously my favourite song of his. I dunno what it is. The tune, the lyrics... perhaps because the love there is so sweet and just... I can't verbalise it.
#22 First We Take Manhattan.
Fists were flying.
#23 Famous Blue Raincoat.
I snuggled into my dad and we swayed and we just dirged along with everyone else.
#24 If It Be Your Will.
He took a bit of a break in this one and his backup singers sang the whole thing with a guitar, harp and two lovely Soprano voices.
I'm running out of adjectives to describe the beauty of it all.
#25 Closing Time.
I love the jazzy bit if this and it was just so perfect for the end of the night.
#26 Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye.
Well, this was even more perfect.
Good bye, Leonard. We had a blast!
And then he sang the Passage from the book of Ruth: "Wherever you go..." which was amazing and then he gave another prayer in Hebrew. Amazing to hear that old fashioned Ashkenazi accent, as modern Hebrew accent is Sephardic... I was all very emotional, as is evident by the amount of tears I shed.
Cohen is probably one of the more evocative poets and singers of our time. I can honestly say that he's one of the artists that when I heard for the first time clutched my heart and pulled out my lungs. And it really was So Long, Marianne, because it was the first song of his that I listened to.
It was an amazing night and getting back home was far less dramatic than getting there. My dad I were gushing the whole way and it really was one of the best evenings of my life.
I love Leonard Cohen even more than I did. His gravely and deep voice is the kind of voice I always imagine myself having when I speak about something I'm passionate about, but it's so far from the voice I actually have which is more often than not high and strident... I can never modulate it to the depth that I want.
One other thing, Leonard Cohen has a grand, beautiful and very sharp aquiline nose (I have a nose fetish, really, I'm not kidding) and he's a seriously good looking (to me) man.
I think my dad kind of looks like him.
Yeah, I think my dad is handsome.
I think youngest daughters are supposed to think that, no?
I hope I managed to convey here what a powerful evening it was. That weird and awesome feeling of being intimate with thousands of other people.
I think I need another cup of coffee.
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no subject
Date: 2009-09-25 09:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-25 09:39 am (UTC)It was grand, amazing... I can still gush as you can see :D
no subject
Date: 2009-09-25 10:15 am (UTC)Stick lights = FUN!!!
Not to mention the whole five minutes cheering after Hallelujah... Good times. :)
no subject
Date: 2009-09-25 10:21 am (UTC):P
I was having an emotional roller-coaster the whole effing time.
So awesome! So freakin' excellent.
Did you read how much I cried! That's unnatural dude! I should have been dehydrated by the intermission!
no subject
Date: 2009-09-25 11:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-25 10:53 am (UTC)I love Leonard Cohen. I should have seen him when he played here, but tickets started at $100 and sold out almost immediately.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-25 11:00 am (UTC)It was freakin' awesome.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-25 02:39 pm (UTC)And I am glad I'm not the only person who is highly attracted to Leonard Cohen's nose. XD
no subject
Date: 2009-09-25 03:03 pm (UTC)Cohen's nose is majestic and sublime, along with the rest of him :)