Concert Behaviour

[Athnuachan]

I was at a classical concert on Thursday night.

Everybody was seated in time.
Everybody LISTENED to the music.
Nobody stuck a phone / video recorder in front of my face.
Nobody went out during the performance.

At intermission, people went out for their drinks, food, ice cream etc.
The bell rang, we all returned to our seats.

The same attention was paid to the second half of the concert.

At the end there was genuine appreciation for the performers. (But no mad hooping or hollering.)

The Cork Opera house was about half full, with tickets costing only €30.
Those who were there were there because they actually wanted to HEAR the music.

It must have been good when Cohen concerts were like that...

[HelenOE]

The band probably quite enjoys hooping and hollering when it happens after the song. Performers feed off the energy of the audience. I agree, quietness & attentiveness are greatly to be desired in the case of a LC concert, which is so centered around the words and the band hushed down to let Leonard's singing take central place, but still, it's not a classical concert and the expectations are different. Especially now, with the incredible wave of success Leonard is riding. If he were playing only to his faithful, original fans who have stuck with him over the years, he wouldn't be playing arenas, but word is getting out; he's getting a more multigenerational audience. And Leonard can handle it; he's been handling it since the Isle of Wight.

[Vicomte]

Cohen concerts have actually never been truly solemn occasions. Back in the day people, as now sometimes (who don't fully understand that singers/bands practice their tour numbers hard for their forthcoming concerts) shout out for certain numbers to be sung, which might happen perchance but not by hollering out plenty of clapping and some laughing have always played their part at a Cohen concert. The IOW gig was somewhat different due in no small way to the hour he eventually came on.

I have discussed this before with one or two on here but I personally can't see how, when and where this new popularity exploded? For sure and for us, smaller venues were much better but it is arena's now as money, money, money is now the top and bottom line and we have had to go along with that but we have decided now that unless we can see him and the costs of everything are acceptable, we will simply call it a day and after some 46 years, we have an awful lot of memories of LC that will have to see us through to old age!!

I don't really know what Helen means by And Leonard can handle it; he's been handling it since the Isle of Wight.? LC has had his problems before and after the IOW. He had to be persuaded to come back, obviously for the greater part due to his Manager walking away with his money but he had to be assured that people would pay to see him all those years after he last played a gig, he wasn't comfortable nor confident that a come back would be successful.

[regensburg]

Nobody can compare a L.C. Concert with a Classical Music Concert. Leonard loves his audience and therefore he gives it all and everybody loves him and love to sing with him. Would anybody sing at an Opera concert? I do not think so.

[HelenOE]

What I meant was that Leonard can connect with, and manage to some degree, an enthusiastic audience that's getting a little boisterous. He certainly has had major problems in the past (and even when this comeback started) with self-doubt and stage fright. The loud, warm welcome he's getting now, the standing ovation when he first comes onstage... well, maybe there ain't no cure for love, but that's about as close to a cure for stage fright as anything non-pharmaceutical that exists. I can't remember the exact quote, but he said something to the effect that the reception he's getting is what every musician hopes for, to be able to go out knowing that you don't have to start off by proving yourself to the audience.

It only makes sense that concert manners vary to some degree according to the venue. The audience at the Oakland show I attended was pretty well-behaved. If uproariousness is a problem, probably better to stick to theater shows, not arenas.

[John Etherington]

Athnuachan - Your description of the classical concert was almost exactly how I experienced every Leonard concert in London from 1970 to 1993 (though on rare occasions people might sneak in one discreet photo near the end, if they could get away with it), What you experience now is sadly a post mobile phone and internet phenomenon.

HelenOE - The truth about the Isle of Wight is that the majority of the audience had passed-out, either through tiredness or because they were too stoned. Those of us who stayed awake focused on Leonard's performance with rapt attention (even those who were not there to see him). Leonard may have taken a slightly different approach to the audience at the IOW, because he was used to having much smaller audiences then, and because (I believe) it was one of the nights when he was tripping onstage.

[holydove]

and because (I believe) it was one of the nights when he was tripping onstage.

I thought it was mandrax that night - evidenced by the very slow tempo of BOTW (which was gorgeous), & the seemingly dry mouth (he kept doing movements with his mouth that gave me the impression of dryness); also, mandrax seems like a more likely choice in the face of the very probable stage fright that would come with performing in front of an audience of 600,000 people; but of course, I could be wrong. . .

[Vicomte]

Yes, I would agree with your thoughts holydove, Mandrax allied almost certainly to some dope being commonly smoked before going on stage would give him that look, both would keep him pretty cool and calm before going on stage. Tripping on the other hand rarely lends itself to someone being too coherent, as Cohen would need to sing his own songs rather than the music style and as in Peter Green's (and others of course) the acid trips he sadly got mixed up in.

I know at the time it looked pretty obvious that he had been on something, has he ever said something about that gig and I have either missed it, or totally forgotten, well they say if you can remember the 60' s (and bung in 1970) you weren't there

[HelenOE]

And didn't I read somewhere that they had to wake him up to go onstage?

It's fascinating to read posts by someone who was actually there. Wow.

[Vicomte]

Helen,

I have put my hand up elsewhere, the people I went with were there for the greater part to see The Who, although I certainly wanted to hear Cohen who by then I had two albums and a novel of his. The girl I was with actually wanted to see Mungo Jerry who lived just down her road at the time and her Mother had baby sat him years before (she was choked, forget why now but he never actually played in the end, or if he did, we never saw it but I have spoken with her over the years and she says he didn't play).

TBH some of the acts were not that great, abuse flowed now and again at some acts, all in all though, it was something those of us who went, would no doubt remember forever and some better than others

[Lazysuit]

And didn't I read somewhere that they had to wake him up to go onstage?

It's fascinating to read posts by someone who was actually there. Wow.

I read something recently that LC was watching Hendrix from the side, a set LC has to follow, and that he was calm from Mandrax, he was told that Bob Johnston, LC's piano man, couldn't join them that night because the piano had been burnt by the heavy party brigade. LC said something like: 'Ok, let me take a nap, wake me when you find a piano'

Let me find the link, hang on,

http://www.openculture.com/2012/10/leon ... tival.html

[Lazysuit]

And regarding the initial post by Athnuachan, yup, I totally agree - first time I ever saw Leonard Cohen he was just five years old at my door singing Good King Wenceslas and something else I can't remember, I just remember how shocked I was to see a five year old already drunk and smoking a cigarette, in a suit, a half written novel in his back pocket ...no no no truth is the first time I saw LC was only a few years ago, in Manchester, England, at an old theatre that my dad used to take my mom to on a date - it was such a special night for me, and it means a lot to me that the audience were there for Leonard Cohen and not for their boogie night. I'd love for every Leonard Cohen concert to be a Leonard Cohen evening and not a night out. Completely with you my friend.

[Lazysuit]

And if I can just add to that - my girlfriend didn't want to go because the tickets were so expensive and although we're not rich I was arguing that the tickets are too cheap - I was saying 'I want to see Leonard Cohen and he is worth more than this! And if the tickets were affordable the place would be full of LC tourists, I want to see LC without the tourists.' She didn't get my logic, just understood the raw cost of too much money for a gig. (We're from the days when the Clash would charge £1.75 for a good night out and she's not really taken in the changes since London 1976)
Now, it seems that the way ticket prices have risen since this gig a tourist free LC theatre gig will be more than I will pay but I still hold to to the logic - If LC would charge £400 for a theatre gig, then we could live on beans and rice for a month, not go to the pictures, squint instead of buying sunglasses etc etc, and we'd have a special evening - Like I said, me I wouldn't go, I've had my one very special Leonard Cohen evening and really it cost me this much in terms of what I have and what that ticket cost and it was worth it. I think the only way that LC could give us a night like this again is to make it way too expensive that the faithful would feel betrayed.

[Athnuachan]

Athnuachan - Your description of the classical concert was almost exactly how I experienced every Leonard concert in London from 1970 to 1993. What you experience now is sadly a post mobile phone and internet phenomenon.

Glad to hear that, John. Listening to recordings of earlier Cohen concerts I have been struck by how attentive the audience has been. Enthusiastic applause AFTER each song, certainly, but no silly shouting during the song. (eg Forum touted rubbish about wanting to have his baby!! No doubt some dolt will shout that at every Cohen concert from now on... )

Sadly we lower our standards as time goes on. Open-air concerts in particular (And 8 of the 12 Cohen concerts we have been granted in Ireland since 2008 have been open-air) tend to produce noisier audiences and a lot of running in and out during the performance.

I enjoy a singalong to Marianne as much as anyone else - but keep the audience "participation" for the encores, please.

The Cork opera house recently reminded me of how well we used to behave at concerts, and still do at some. No doubt most/all of us there had mobile phones, etc. - we just chose not to use them or torment others with them!