LEONARD COHEN - Australian Tour - 2009

LEONARD COHEN

21st September 1943 - 7th November 2016

Leonard Cohen – World Tour – Australia

Rod Laver Arena - 5^th of February 2009

Story by Allison O’Donoghue

I was in Dublin in 2008, and the people I was staying with were off to see Leonard Cohen at the IMMA for an open-air concert on June 14^th. I was insanely jealous, but there was nothing I could do, the concert sold out months in advance. So I sat home and sulked. They came back glowing literally, and raving rapturously as though they had just had a divine experience, even though it was a wet, cold summers night. Obviously, the night was a sublime experience that no amount of rain could have dampened. The concert went on to garner Leonard Cohen Ireland’s prestigious Meteor Music Award for the best international performance of the year.

So when Canadian singer, songwriter, poet, author and buddhist monk, Leonard Cohen announced another would tour which included Australia (2009) - I jumped at the chance to see the legend in action.

As a 21^st birthday present, I flew my son Kaspar-Jack to Melbourne for an experience he would never forget. “Oh, that’s the old guy,” he remarked. "Yes, he is in his 70s." I didn’t influence his thinking. I thought I’d let Leonard win him over. The Rod Laver arena was filled to capacity. First up, aptly supporting Cohen is our own Australian living legend – Paul Kelly. He gave us an acoustic set of his timeless songs with my all time favourite Randwick Bells and warmed us up for the main event, graciously knowing we were all there for Leonard Cohen, and obvioulsy humbled to be his support.

After a brief intermission, we filed back into the arena to settle in for – all superlatives aside – the best concert I think I have ever had the pleasure of witnessing – and that is no overstatement - I've been to literally 1000's of gig. this topped them all...

Cohen’s six-piece band were already on stage as we waited for the legend to appear, when he did, dressed in a dark blue flannel suit, he tipped his hat and started with Marianne – a song he wrote for his 60’s lover Marianne Stang Jensen Ihlen (who also died in 2016) who he lived with on the Greek island of Hydra for 10 years. The song is commonly mistaken for a tribute to Marianne Faithful. Most of Cohen’s songs were penned for lovers or lost loves. However, Suzanne one of his best-known songs, was penned for Suzanne Verdal, the then wife of sculptor Armand Vaillancourt and not for his 70’s lover Suzanne Elrod, as is often stated.

Cohen’s themes traverse many topics: love, sex, depression, suicide, religion, money, power, war and peace - hence his nickname - slash ya wrists Cohen - which couldn't be further from the truth. The Partisan - is about the French Resistance and penned by Anna Marly and Emmanuel d’Astier. A sublime song backed up by beautiful vocals from the (Canadian) Webb Sisters who sang the chorus in French making it even more effective and haunting, with stunning guitar work from Javier Mas.

Famous Blue Raincoat written for a friend, whose marriage had broken down, is simply outstanding! There I go again, but its true. At the end, you could’ve heard a pin drop as the audience soaked up the atmosphere and ambience Cohen and his band created sending the audience into a trance like state.  We were like hypnotised chickens. Unbelievable!!

Intense

My son, who is a drummer in a punk-thrash band, sat agog. Stupefied, with eyes and ears glued to the stage. Then half way through Dance Me to the End of Love the Webb Sisters took off their jackets and performed a perfectly synchronised cartwheel that seemed to jolt us out of our trance – so clever!

Leonard Cohen is a genius in every sense of the word. No surprises really. During the 1970s through to the 1990s he spent years at Mount Baldy Zen Centre serving as personal assistant to Kyozan Joshu Sasaki before being ordained as a Buddhist monk in 1996. He was zenning the audience tonight. He enveloped us in divine peace and love. My friends trance like state in Dublin makes perfect sense now. He literally blessed the audience.

And then he did Hallelujah! What can I say about this song that hasn't already been said? Nothing. Those who weren’t in the zone by now, were by the end. Made famous by John Cale in 1991 and even more so with Jeff Buckley’s cover version introducing Cohen to a younger audience and reminding older punters of Cohen’s lyrical mastery – ‘Even though it all went wrong/ I’ll stand before the LORD of song. Hallelujah.’ This song belongs to Cohen tonight, after all he did write it. And he blessed us with his humility, and we responded with a standing ovation. I was in tears. I don't think I stopped quietly weeping for the rest of the night.

Another favourite - Everybody Knows I love this song. It's so honest. We all pretend we don't know something when we do. We delude ourselves in the hope of deluding others. Nobody's fooled but we all play the game anyway. By the end of the song, we gave him another standing ovation, and no one stopped clapping until Leonard urged us to stop. With Cohen’s baritone vocals coupled with the Webb Sisters beautiful lilt, this song rips your heart out and makes you laugh at the same time. ‘Everybody knows the poor stay poor and the rich get rich/Everybody knows the boat is leaking. Everybody knows the captain lied/Everybody knows that you love me baby. Everybody knows that you really do/Everybody knows that you’ve been faithful, give or take a night or two. Everybody knows that you’ve been discreet/ Everybody knows there were people you had to meet - without your clothes/ Everybody knows.'  Bahahahahaah. Extraordinary!

Cohen and band bid farewell but that wasn’t the end of it. We stood and clapped until he came back. Three encores ensued.

The hits just keep coming! Sisters of Mercy, The Future, Closing Time, In My Secret Life, Bird on a Wire, Who by Fire, I’m Your Man, First We Take Manhattan, Anthem, A thousand Kisses Deep - are all so beautiful, the tears kept flowing. We were given the complete anthology of Cohen’s entire work. His humility is very touching. It was as if he was genuinely surprised with the reception he was receiving. Here's the man formerly known as - Leonard ‘slash ya wrists’ Cohen - finally being accepted and understood in every sense of the word, and it wasn’t lost on him. He drank it in and we gave and gave and gave with standing ovation after standing ovation, to the point my son became agitated – “He’s milking it, isn’t he?” The impatience of youth!! All I could do was laugh. 

Tower of Song:- ‘I ache in the places I used to play/I’m aching for love but I’m not coming on. I pay my rent everyday in the tower of song. I said to Hank Williams, how lonely does it get /Hank Williams hasn’t answered me yet.’ I mean, what can I say? Again, the audience is on its feet and that says it all. With the tip of his hat and three generous hours later, the legend finally leaves the stage and we sit for a minute basking in the atmosphere.Stunned. Some push for a 4^th encore. Not going to happen. Leonard Cohen has given all he's got and then some. I was exhausted for him.

My son was out the door in a flash waiting for me to eventually quit the arena. I couldn't move for quite a while. I knew I had just witnessed something very, very special. My brain and soul were still digesting the experience. He loved it but still thought he’d milked it. I explained that he’s 74 yrs old and may never come back to Australia. He hasn’t toured in 20 years and this may be the first, and last time you see him. Every time I put on a Leonard Cohen CD I am transported back to the Rod Laver Arena and lulled into a trance like state. The songs have more meaning now since I’ve seen him live. 

During Cohen’s visit to Melbourne the Yarra Valley bushfires exploded, killing over 200 people. After the gig, my son went off with a mate and flippantly told me he was going to a music festival in Whittlesea. I didn’t take that much notice at the time, until it became known that it was the exact location the bushfires broke out. I lost my son and his mate for a few days, when they didn’t answer their phones we gave a description of the boys to the rescue workers and police. They looked at us strangely, I couldn’t quite read it but I knew it was bad. We went home and waited for news. The SES kept ringing to find out if I’d heard from the boys – no, we hadn’t. Two days passed and they’d missed their flights back to Sydney. Now I was really frightened. After sleepless nights while watching the horror unfold on TV - we eventually got the good news. The boys had gone to Geelong for a Doff Doff festival after being evacuated from Whittlesea. Their phones had gone flat. They were doing dishes to pay for their ticket to the festival. When I finally caught up with them, they hadn’t showered for days, they were covered in soot and stank of bush fire smoke but I didn’t care, they were alive! The airline gave me some grief re-booking his flight, but I persisted and got him back to Sydney, safe and sound.

So it was even more heart warming to learn that Leonard Cohen had donated $200,000 to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal in support of those affected by what became known as, Black Saturday.

Intense gaze

It was such an emotionally charged, fulfilling night and so personal. It was a visceral experience difficult to put into words. Albeit, it’s not too much to say that it surpasses any gig I have been to prior or since, bar none. He was so gracious and truly grateful it gladdens your heart, so uplifting. Leonard Cohen is not the voice of doom and gloom at all - on the contrary - he is the voice of love, reason and honesty!

If Leonard Cohen comes to Australia again, I’ll be there and possibly with my son to relive the sublime, divine, amazing, extraordinary experience all over again. Having said that the tour did take it out of him – 20 months touring the world for a septuagenarian is no mean feat. Plus, he also had to regain all the money that was stolen from him while he was meditating, by his long time manager. Shameful. Oh well, Cohen gets the last laugh, he has made all his money back, plus some. He deserves every cent.

Sadly, Lenard Cohen died on November the 7th 2016 age 82. I cried that day too. A light went out. 2016 took so many leading lights, but none shone brighter than Leonard Cohen. RIP.