Leonard Cohen 3/9/13

The last time I saw Leonard Cohen was almost five years ago when he was a sprightly 74 years old. Five years on and he is still going strong and delivering superb gigs and this one clocked in at 3 hours and 20 minutes of actual stage time. He probably joins The Grateful Dead and Springsteen as the only acts I have seen delivering over 3 hours of music. The backing band was brilliant and while it is slightly invidious to pick out indivduals, Javier Mas on 12-string guitar and bandurria (another 12-string instrument), Alexandru Bublitchi on balkan-style violin and the backing vocalists of Sharon Robinson, Charley Webb and Hattie Webb were all outstanding musicians who I would go to see if they were headlining. The remainder of the band was great too and deserve to be named - Neil Larsen (keyboards),Rafael Gayol (drums),Mitch Watkins (guitar) and Roscoe Beck (bass). The set was not significantly different to the last time we saw him - some classics from the 60's and a good trawl through the back catalogue but who's complaining. The highlights for me are really those songs I particularly liked plus some of the contributions from the band members. On the latter point Javier Mas added some great song intros and short solo breaks in a spanish style on his various 12-string instruments and Alexandru evoked balkan violin whenever he got the spotlight. From the backing vocalists came a couple of the best moments. First Sharon Robinson took the lead for a song that brought the house down in the middle of the set. It was a powerful ballad, 'Alexandra Leaving' a Cohen song based on a Greek poem which was perfect for her voice and singing style. The Welsh audience who perhaps like a ballad more than most gave it an ovation. In the encore section the other two vocalists, Hattie and Charley Webb got their moment and sang a beautiful Cohen song that had the feel of an old English folk song - 'If it be thy will' accompanying themselves on harp and guitar. As far as the expected Cohen set list was concerned I loved 'Bird on a Wire', 'Everybody Knows', Tower of Song', 'Suzanne' and my particular favourite 'First We Take Manhattan' which he saved for the end of the first encore. Who can fail to respond as Cohen snarls the lines 'I don't like your fashion business mister, I don't like the drugs that keep you thin'. Other tracks that I particularly enjoyed were 'The Partisan' and the final song of the evening 'I Can't Forget'. I doubt that he will still be touring in another five years but if he is I might just take a gig in.