lenny

[dino]

you cant go wrong with the last of the rock stars

[Cat Stevens]

Lenny in Beograd:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn03bsEjlfE

[manho]

brilliant. still the coolest guy on the planet. and the new iPhone looks pretty good, too.

[Cat Stevens]

Lenny collapsed on stage yesterday:

www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/19/leonard-cohen-recovering-_n_292235.html

Last 10 seconds of this video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3upf6BdRXk

[dino]

blame the fucking paella

[Cat Stevens]

"COHEN PLAYS THREE-HOUR SHOW ON 75TH BIRTHDAY

LEONARD COHEN made a triumphant return to the stage with a three-hour concert on his 75th birthday on Monday (21Sep09).
The veteran singer sparked fears for his health after collapsing onstage in Valencia, Spain last week (18Sep09).
His concert was cut short after he fainted mid-song and was taken to the city's Nueve de Octubre hospital, where he was treated for stomach flu.
But he was back on his feet to perform the last show of his European tour in front of 14,000 fans in Barcelona, Spain on Monday - the same day he turned 75.
The Hallelujah hitmaker was given a standing ovation as he stepped on stage at the Palau Sant Jordi concert hall, where he played for more than three hours.
And the star was moved after hundreds of fans held up lit candles handed out earlier in the evening to celebrate his special day.
His band member Dino Soldo wrote on Twitter.com, "To all the friends in Leonard Cohen's Barcelona gig, your birthday candles brought a tear to my eye. He was touched."
Concertgoers also tossed bouquets, books and teddy bears onto the stage, and the Canadian star thanked them by raising his hat and concluding the show with the parting words, "May your life be sweet as apples dipped in honey."
He is scheduled to play a concert in Israel on Thursday (24Sep09) before travelling to North America to continue his tour in the U.S. next month (Oct09)."

www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/cohen-plays-three-hour-show-on-75th-birthday_1116738

[manho]

"The Hallelujah hitmaker"

ol blue eyes, the thin white duke, the hibbing hawker, the hallelujah hitmaker... hehehe, you have to laff, right?

[Cat Stevens]

Just watched the newly released "Lenny at the Isle of Wight 1970" DVD.

The audio cd (complete concert) is 80 minutes long, while the DVD is 64 minutes long, AND there are various interviews included in those 64 minutes (Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Kris Kristofferson, etc). Songs on video are out of order. Murray Lerner strikes again (see "The Who live at the IOW 1970").

Lenny's cool as usual, his band is ok, and we can even see Kris Kristofferson in the background singing along, having fun.

The Good: the songs (those presented) are complete, except for first two (not the first two in the setlist itself), which are put there as the 'soundtrack' for crowd walking, backstage tunings, etc. Worse than being just soundtracks, Murray shows us as a teaser, Cohen performing those songs for a bit. But it looks I've already slipped into 'bad', so...

The Bad: Songs out of order. 'Applause' louder than on the audio cd, obviously fake.

The Ugly: example - Lenny introduces "Suzanne". Cut to Judy freakin' Collins, interviewed in 2009, telling an anecdote we've heard hundreds of times before from her. Cut to Lenny playing the opening guitar intro. Cut to boring Judy yet again. Cut to Lenny again, singing the first verse. It's ok until the end, but you're left with fear that the old witch might pop up again. This oh so great artistic pattern by Lerner appears several times again, only with different characters - a band member, Kris Kristofferson, Joan Baez ...
"I'd like to dedicate this song ("The Partisan") to Joan Baez and the work she's doing"... Cut to Baez 2009. Cut to Len 1970. Cut to... etc.

Here's one vid already on Youtube:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DaIt1VdiKs

Italian subs. Len is doing some funny hands trick.

[digit]

thx for the review cat. might actually check it out myself. was reading a recent interview with Kris and he said the only guy who got a good crowd reaction during the whole festival was len

[digit]

lenny reads yeats at sligo

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlEC-lWdFzg

lenny doesnt do many fast numbers but i heard one recently on tele and really dug it ? any ideas ?

[Cat Stevens]

Maybe this one? www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBdSr1v641s

Watch for a young Kris Kristofferson clapping along and singing...

[digit]

thats not it but a nice little tune all the same

[cripes]

I was gonna stick this in the useless cnut thread, but I'm trying to be nice these days.

Neil Diamond doing 'Hallelujah'. (out this Tuesday).

[manho]

Series: Last night's TV

Bird on a Wire (BBC4)

Sam Wollaston
guardian.co.uk, Friday 19 November 2010 23.55 GMT

No, not that lame movie with Goldie Hawn and Mel Gibson, but Tony Palmer's documentary about Leonard Cohen's tour of Europe in 1972. The film, originally disliked by Cohen and abandoned, was thought to be lost. But it turned up again, in some old film cans, and Palmer has painstakingly restored it. Which is a good thing, because it's wonderful.

It looks like it would have been fun to have been on the road with Cohen and his band in the early 70s. It's not the usual kind of band-on-tour high jinks and bad behaviour. There's a lot of sitting around, naked swimming, smoking, introspective thought, writing poetry in the bath, picnicking by the side of the road, throwing pebbles into the sea – that kind of thing. While terrible things were going on in the world. But there was wine and there were women, too. Lots of women for Leonard - beautiful, big-eyed 1970s women, leaning in their darkened doors.

And jokes. Some of this film is very funny. Like the ridiculous journalists asking their ridiculous questions (though I did feel for the poor guy whose tape recorder didn't work – I've been there). And arguments with promoters over speakers that keep blowing up. And one of the band admitting that he nodded off on stage during Suzanne. And Cohen's repartee with his audiences. "Sometimes you can live in the song, but sometimes it is inhospitable and won't admit you, and you're left banging on the door and everyone knows it," he tells them. This would be baffling from most people, but because it's coming from Cohen, it makes perfect sense.

Most of all, though, it's about the music, of Cohen at the peak of his power, mesmerising audiences with beautiful, sad songs. And then, on the final night of the tour in Jerusalem, it all gets too much. Cohen breaks down on stage; he's crying, the band's crying, the audience is crying, I'm crying. I don't know why, but I am. You know what? It's OK to cry.

It would be interesting to know what any young people watching and listening made of it. Did it hit any kind of spot or was it just a bunch of miserable old hippies? Get the DVD for your dad at Christmas, and then watch him laugh and cry.


guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010

[Cat Stevens]

Len started another world tour yesterday in Ghent, Belgium. Setlist from the LC forum:

Set 1
Dance me to the end of love
Going home
The Future
Bird on a wire
Everybody knows
Who by fire
Darkness
Amen
Come healing
I can't forget
Different Sides
Anthem

Set 2
Tower of song
Suzanne
Crazy to love you
Heart of no companion
The Gypsy Wife
The Partisan
Democracy
Coming back to you (Webb Sisters)
Alexandra leaving (Sharon Robinson)
I'm your man
Hallelujah
Take this waltz

Encore 1
Marianne
First we take Manhattan

Encore 2
Famous blue raincoat
If it be your will (Webb Sisters)
Closing time

Encore 3
I tried to leave you
Save the last dance for me

Encore 4
Sisters of mercy
Waiting for the miracle

33 songs in total, 3:55 min

[Poke]

I had my first exposure to Lenny (apart from the now-ubiquitous Hallelujah and I'm Your Man on my stepmother's iPod) only a week or two ago.

The first thing I listened to was a live performance of Famous Blue Raincoat from 2009. If I would've left it at that, my interest level would've been very high. Then came an older performance of Suzanne...which is this close to being a good song...as it is, it's pretty dated...then more of the same...blah blah blah...it became clear that he was extremely pretentious and had strong douchey tendencies. I should've known that "Sincerely, L. Cohen" shit was a bad sign.

Very disappointing after "Famous"...amazing how potent the melody to When I Need You is in its original setting.

[Cat Stevens]

"I should've known that "Sincerely, L. Cohen" shit was a bad sign."

- well to be fair, the whole song is supposed to be a letter. Are you saying he should've sign it "Cheers, Len" or that he should've left it unsigned?

But as you said, you had your first exposure a week or two ago. Lot of albums to check out. Welcome!

In other news, prince Charles seems to like him, check out that douchebag William's clueless comment:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9w_tnvpzwE

[manho]

great lenny article:
www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/biographyandmemoirreviews/9631430/Leonard-Cohens-hallelujah-moment.html

[manho]

thus spake lennythustra:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIR5ps8usuo

[Cat Stevens]

Yup.