leonardcohenforum.com

Rodin wrote:Did I mention that I was in Pula?
I was probably the best dressed man there.

In that case Rodin, please do add your review - with pictures so we can admire your sartorial elegance.

Wendy

I'm a little confused. I thought Leonard Cohen was at Pula...?

HelenOE wrote:I'm a little confused. I thought Leonard Cohen was at Pula...?

August 1

Solo soundcheck: I missed it. Tom wrote it was at least half an hour long and appeared to be a medley of songs.
Local press mentioned Tower of Song (misspelled as Town of Song, rather funny when we speak about such a little nice city of song as Pula) and Night Comes On.

Band soundcheck:
1. Dance Me to the End of Love
2. The Future
3. Democracy
4. Ain't No Cure for Love
5. Different Sides
6. I Can't Forget (with the unique complete À la claire fontaine (Chante, rossignol, chante) voiceover)
7. Waiting for the Miracle
8. Anyhow (with the greatest jazz band intro)
9. Anthem (new arrangement, noticed by Tom) - "but the holy dove, she's always free"
10. Light As the Breeze
11. Save the Last Dance for Me
12. Choices
13. Show Me the Place
14. WITHOUT LC: Happy Birthday (to Mitch Watkins)

August 2

Solo soundcheck:
1. Tower of Song
2. Chelsea Hotel #2
3. Banks of Marble

Band soundcheck:
4. Don't Want to Break the Window (an untitled new song; approximately 15-minute jam)
5. Dance Me to the End of Love
6. The Future
7. SHARON ROBINSON: Alexandra Leaving
8. THE WEBB SISTERS: If It Be Your Will

Goldin wrote: 14. WITHOUT LC: Happy Birthday (to Mitch Watkins)

Roman
During the happy birthday song, Leonard Cohen played mouth harp (jews harp)
See http://youtu.be/FXbSQuHD3dI
(I just checked my own upload of this on YouTube and the quality is terrible! I have a much better original recording of this... I don't know what went wrong putting it on YouTube, but I'll upload it again later using different settings.)

Otherwise: thanks for the great summary and have a safe trip home!
Maarten

Is there a specific reason why they did such an extensive, long soundcheck?

Just guessing from Leif's blog, the load-in and load-out from that venue were so troublesome & time-consuming (strangely, the Emperor Vespasian failed to include truck loading docks when he built the place) that they had to do the load-in the day before the concert. And since everything's there anyway, may as well rehearse?

The main reason for the "extra" sound check the day before was the heat. Daily temperatures in the late afternoon were some 35 Centigrade, so they decided to do the sound check in the evening, after 9 o'clock. Leonard also wanted to do songs that are now not included in the set list, and something extra because they did not have any hurry. -- The crew had a VERY long and very hot day, to make everything ready before the Thursday evening rehearsal. The work began at 6 am, and they continued until the sound check!
Most Forum members had great chance not just to hear but also see the rehearsal; the Arena had not covered the empty spaces between the arches, so everybody had great view to the venue from the back of the Arena (there was even a bar with tables facing the stage!). The idea was to do only a very short sound check next day, before the concert, but it was quite long, too, although not as long as usually.

From the newspaper Glas Istre (August 4 issue)

such a BEAUTIFUL concert and venue!
Leonard and the band seemed to enjoy themselves so much, each time the chemistry between Leonard, the band and the audience seem to grow better and better.
The first time I saw them (Lucca 2008) I remember thinking "Wow, this can't get any better"... and then at every new concert I am proven wrong.

Was I the only one to be particularly impressed by Mitch's solo on Bird on the Wire?
It really caught my heart, I had goosebumps all over!
If anybody could find it on youtube, I would be so happy!

Thanks again Leonard, the band and all the people in the audience for such a wonderful night!

spider76 wrote:Was I the only one to be particularly impressed by Mitch's solo on Bird on the Wire?
It really caught my heart, I had goosebumps all over!

Definitely not. Did you see Alex applauding Mitch with his bow on his hand?

Wendy

Video uploaded by spliter23 -

So Long Marianne
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzupNXqfznA

*************

Uploaded by Walter Kaltenböck

Lover, Lover, Lover
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Lc6qM4SwW0

Video uploaded by Wirebirds -

From rehearsal/soundcheck -

Dance Me To The End of Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK3OGOC7E5I

Democracy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQmlKSM_Fxg

Different Sides
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NavX-_v-m7U

Ain't No Cure For Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjKcmXq-aSs


*******************

Video (from show) uploaded by Srdjan Cesic -

Famous Blue Raincoat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euOzAIwWuEE

sturgess66 wrote:Video uploaded by Wirebirds -

From rehearsal/soundcheck -

Dance Me To The End of Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK3OGOC7E5I

Democracy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQmlKSM_Fxg

Different Sides
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NavX-_v-m7U

Yes! I've been hoping for video from this rehearsal/soundcheck. Thank you so much, Henry! And thank you to Linda for posting the link. Different Sides is fantastic!! I hope there is more of this rehearsal to come. . .

A few photographs from a truly great concert... http://flickr.com/gp/ciaranfd/83gP88/
Ciarán