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Re: Benicassim update
Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 6:14 pm
by Trankaman
Sorry for my bad English! I wanted to say that the cancelation never was 100% confirmed.
Re: Benicassim update
Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 6:21 pm
by jarkko
I have been copying exactly and only what I have been told, and followed the request to immediatelly take the Benicassim off from the list. I have not got confirmation about this new move, so let's wait patiently until we hear something. It would be good to have this finally settled!
Re: Benicassim update
Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:15 pm
by ispellit
Jarkko is doing a fabulous job and spending much time to be able to provide us with the latest information on the tour!
The fact that an information he has given may have turned out to be wrong because there may have come up doubts, even actual changes, there has been a misunderstanding or it simply has been a misplanning by the tour management is not his fault just as well as it isn't Mr.Cohen's. I strictly refuse blaming any of them. We should be all very, very thankful that Mr.Cohen decided to take the exertions of a tour at his age at all and that many of us will be able to attend his concerts.
I'm very unhappy that the Berlin concert, my only opportunity to see Mr. Cohen, has been cancelled/never confirmed - who cares? It won't take place, I got my tickets refunded, I can't change anything, I am disappointed and that's it. Discussions on who said or wrote what and who would be to blame for it doesn't help me at all. Being annoyed, moaning, offending or judging others isn't any constructive and will lead me nowhere.
We all must have noticed by now that the tour planning is sort of chaotic.
Stay calm, wait and see and don't become hysteric.
Re: Benicassim update
Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 12:53 am
by ForYourSmile
I have written here that I weren't considering Benicàssim a suitable place. I have said that my dreamed stage is the Palau de la Música Catalana, where he played in 1974. Maybe I am too purist. In these days I have realised that in the FIB, Cohen would be with a lot of excellent admirers. For example, I have read the case of a Chilean who has touched me. Now, I hope this concert takes place, for sure it would be a good concert.
But at this moment it has not returned to the program:
http://www.aeglive.com/events.php?client_id=2827&page=2
http://www.leonardcohen.com/tour.cgi
Then I understand that nothing is confirmed.
The news that we have read here is a reflex of the changes that have been produced. These changes are not a responsibility of this site. Nobody can ask to conceal the information in order to protect the interests of one festival, I think about the cohenites too.
Let's wait patiently.
Re: Benicassim update
Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 3:05 pm
by jarkko
AEG confirms that Benicassim is back on the schedule (July 20).
By the way, the arguments earlier in this thread - that there would be plans to replace Benicassim with another London concert -were totally groundless! The problem was with the logistics Lisboa --> Benicassim --> Nice. Now ,when a solution has been found, the show is confirmed.
Re: Benicassim update
Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 3:33 pm
by daka
Thanks Jarkko
All's well that ends well.
I did suspect it was logistics with travel because Benicassim is NOT a well-connected place compared to major cities. It is way off the beaten path!
I hope you are without dramas for a while!
Sean
Re: Benicassim update
Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 9:22 pm
by daka
So who IS going to Benicassim? Maybe we can have a meet-up (if we survive the kids).
I am going.
Diane is going
Who else??
Sean
Re: Benicassim update
Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 5:00 pm
by ForYourSmile
Very good news.
Daka ~ We would like to go, but we are not sure, estos días son complicados para nosotros

.
And Leonard will be in the same stage and the same day with Morente Omega con Lagartija Nick.
Information about Omega in Leonard Cohen Files
Leonard Cohen speaking about Omega in Leonard Cohen Files

Re: Benicassim update
Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 12:33 pm
by pironi
Textatemp said
I hear it from a very reliable source in the music ticket industry that LC is cancelling the FIB date to add another London O2 arena date to his tour, as this is financially more beneficial to him.
Where are you now, Textatemp? Time to apoligize Leonard?
Re: Benicassim update
Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 4:11 pm
by daka
Or maybe Textatemp can suggest to his "very reliable source in the music ticket industry", that that person apologize to us all for mis-informing us! Just pass on the link for this thread to him/her, Textatemp. Like Jarkko, you were only passing on what appeared to be reliable information!
Sean
Re: Benicassim update
Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:54 pm
by ForYourSmile
Today an interview with Enrique Morente has been published in El Periódico.
http://www.elperiodico.com/default.asp? ... io_PK=1026
To warm a bit Benicàssim's concert, I quote the part where he speaks about Cohen. And an attempt of translation (forgive me for it).
--
En Omega canta cuatro canciones de Leonard Cohen con el que se reencontrará en julio en el FIB, el festival de Benicàssim.
--Estaré encantado de saludar de nuevo al gran maestro Leonardo, como le llamo cariñosamente. Cuando fui a Nueva York pude ver a su hermana pero no a él. Y cuando él vino aquí, no me atreví a saludarle por si no le gustaba mi trabajo. Pero me dio mucha alegría el mensaje que me dio a través de la prensa y que me dejara un ramo de flores cuando volví a Nueva York. Entonces, yo le dejé uno en Manhattan, que es donde le asocio, aunque sea canadiense.
--
¿Qué le dijo cuando le conoció?--Fue para pedirle si le parecía bien que cantara alguno de sus poemas, y me dijo 'sí, sí, el flamenco me gusta mucho'. Era un gran reto en ese momento. Ahora, afortunadamente se puede hacer con muchísimo atrevimiento y no le pasa nada a la carrera de ningún cantaor, lo que me parece muy saludable porque así la música y los géneros se refrescan y no se anquilosan, y no nos aburrimos, y no se mueren las artes.
-
In Omega you sing four Leonard Cohen's songs with him you will meet again in July in the FIB, the festival of Benicàssim.
- I will be charmed with of greeting again the great teacher Leonardo, as I call him affectionately. When I was to New York I could see his sister but not to him. And when he came here, I did not dare to greet him for if he did not like my work. But it made me happy the message that gave me across the press and that he left for me a bouquet of flowers when I returned to New York. Then, I left one for him in Manhattan, which is where I associate him, though he is Canadian.

Enrique Morente meets Ms. Esther Cohen in New York (November 2003). Photo © Robert Bower. Used with permission for Leonard Cohen Files.
http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/omega.html.
-
What did you say to him when you met him?- It was to ask him if it seemed to him likely that I was singing someone of his poems, and he said to me "yes, yes, I like the Flamenco a lot"'. It was a great challenge in this moment. Now, lucky it is possible to do with very presumption and nothing goes bad in the career of a "cantaor" (Flamenco singer), which seems to me to be very healthy because this way the music and the styles refresh themselves and they do not stagnate, and we do not get bored, and the arts do not die.
Re: Benicassim update
Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 7:43 pm
by daka
CONCERNS ABOUT BENICASSIM VENUE
I have just returned from Dublin where I attended three outdoor concerts. I also was a little apprehensive, especially given the comments of some people that Leonard needs to be heard in a small and intimate venue. I had never heard Leonard live until Dublin although I have been a big fan for over forty years.
In Dublin everyone was overawed by Leonard's performances. Not only was it huge (10000 people), held outdoors in cool and sometimes rainy weather, and sprinkled with inebriated overly verbal and pre-verbal people, Leonard worked his magic, overcoming all of the obstacles. He won the hearts of the crowd and had everyone on their feet and dancing for the last forty minutes of the Sunday show.
He showed why he was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
I suspect that he will do the same in Benicassim.
I wouldn't bring the kids but as long as you are over 14 I think you are in for a treat.
There are still tickets available!!! (...as of June 19th)
Séan