(Image via Brooklyn Vegan)
I’ve been going back and forth on whether or not to get tickets to see Leonard Cohen in April at the Nokia Theater. I mean, he’s the closest thing I’ve got to a “hero,” he hasn’t toured in 15 years, and — let’s face it — I might never have another chance to see him. Conversely, he’s 74 years old, he recorded his best material from 1967-1974, and if you’ve heard his last few albums you know his voice isn’t exactly what it once was. Combine that with lofty $65 ticket prices for the worst seats in the house plus whatever surcharges Ticketmaster desires to extract from customers…it’s enough to make a man contemplate staying at home with his thoughts, and his records, and his beat up copy of Beautiful Losers.
NPR has recently been rebroadcasting portions of Cohen’s first US Tour date since 1994. The recording was made on the night of February 19th, at Cohen’s concert in New York City. The crowd at the Beacon Theater screams support after every song. The arrangements have changed vastly over the last forty-years, but you can hear his dedication to the words, you can tell he’s still thinking about how best to deliver each line. Some of the songs sound better than others. His guitarist has the flamenco picking-style perfected, but it’s devoid of that denseness and starkness that Cohen had when he was originally recording and touring with these songs. The modernization of other songs works well, especially with numbers like “Dance Me To The End Of Love,” and “So Long Marianne.” Others, like “Suzanne” and “The Partisan,” beg for the solo treatment that makes the studio versions so un-fucking-believable. I can understand Cohen’s intentions. A touring band and backup singers, plus rearranged songs, will make this tour grandiose and fun for large theater audiences. I just don’t know if it’s how I would want to see the songs come to life. Then again, I was negative-sixteen years old when “Suzanne” and the other tunes on Songs Of Leonard Cohen were released in 1967, so it’s not like I have any prior experiences to compare it to.
What should I do?
Enjoy the recording. Thanks NPR for broadcasting this. Thanks Dave for capturing it to CD for me!
Leonard Cohen
February 19th, 2009
Beacon Theater; New York, NY
MediaFire Download Link
Tracklist:
01. Dance Me To The End Of Love
02. The Future
03. Chelsea Hotel No. 2
04. Tower Of Song
05. Suzanne
06. The Partisan
07. Hallalujah
08. A Thousand Kisses Deep
09. Take This Waltz
10. So Long, Marianne
11. First We Take Manhattan
12. Democracy
