So, Leonard Cohen. What can I say? It was incredible. I was not ready for how amazing his voice is live. Despite playing to a crowd of strangers in a far off place on a scorching hot day, his warmth and genuine humanity shone through everything he sang and said.
He appeared to be genuinely happy to be here, and established the kind of connection with the crowd which is a rare thing indeed in live music. There were standing ovations after many songs, rather than just at the end of the show, and three encores (which were clearly anticipated). The mix was also sensational, which is also sadly a rarity in live music.
Thanks to this site, here’s the setlist. Highlights for me were Suzanne, Famous Blue Raincoat, Hallelujah and The Partisan, but everything was nearly perfect.
Set 1
1. Dance Me to the End of Love
2. The Future
3. Ain’t No Cure for Love
4. Bird on the Wire
5. Everybody Knows
6. In My Secret Life
7. Who By Fire
8. Chelsea Hotel #2
9. Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye
10. Anthem
Set 2
11. Tower of Song
12. Suzanne
13. The Gypsy Wife
14. The Partisan
15. Boogie Street
16. Hallelujah
17. I’m Your Man
18. A Thousand Kisses Deep [recitation]
19. Take This Waltz
Encore 1
20. So Long Marianne
21. First We Take Manhattan
Encore 2
22. Famous Blue Raincoat
23. If It Be Your Will
24. Democracy
Encore 3
25. I Tried to Leave You
26. Wither Thou Goest
And some more photos – we were lucky enough to be in fantastic seats with a very clear view:
Outstanding photos. 2 Questions: (1) Which concert was this (Bowral?) (2) I’d like to post the photos on my site. If that’s possible, could you email me to work out the credit? Regardless, the pictures are impressive.
Thanks!
This was the SA concert, at Leconfield Winery, McLaren Vale.
Happy for the photos to be reproduced with credit – I will email you shortly.