How to make great show even better?

[dzzz]

Everywhere you look, show reviews range from very favorable to ecstatic, justifiably so. Still, I've seen the show live and watched pretty much every video posted on the web, and if am Roscoe Beck's shoes here are the things I would consider changing to make to show even better:

a) add a few up-tempo songs - Heart With No Companion, There Is a War, Captain, Never Any Good, etc, - any of these would work great to provide bit more spunk to the show. Except LC himself, everybody else takes all this way too seriously (including me I admit). Whole event is way too much like a papal mass. Specifically, I would close the show with Heart With no Companion, played after Take This Waltz which works OK as the closer, but it is just not exuberant/banal enough for that spot (they played Heart...it as the first encore song for a while, and in sounded great). Furthermore, I would break Suzanne - Gypsy Wife - Boogie Street - Hallelujah stretch of melancholy/andante songs with one of above mentioned "scherzos"

b) limit band member introductions to 2 per player, I understand that LC is very grateful for their brilliant playing, but how many times do I really need to hear Dino Soldo's name instead of hearing the music?

c) speaking of Dino, there is such a thing called "too much of a good thing". Yes his versatility and quality of playing is ridiculously high, but does he not really need to have solo in pretty much every song?

d) ditch that bossa nova arrangement of So Long Marianne (if you disagree please check the version from Field Commander Cohen album). It does not really do the justice to the song, even just LC and guitar would work better. Also wouldn’t it make more sense to play First We Take Manhattan first and close the encore with So Long Marianne? Doesn't that seem pretty obvious?

Opinions?

[confetti]

I thought it was perfect and wouldn't change a thing, except to do it all again.

[margaret]

I thought it was perfect and wouldn't change a thing, except to do it all again.

I'll second that !

We were fortunate last night to hear Sisters of Mercy and Famous Blue Raincoat. Leonard seemed to command the applause after each song to stop a bit sooner so he could move on as soon as possible to the next one. At first I thought the total concert would be a bit shorter but we were blessed with extra

[confetti]

i have just thought of how to make it better. Leonard could do a private performance for me,

[James T]

Things I would change...

Less band introductions
No more Boogie Street (That Dont Make It Junk is always the better choice imo)
Passing Through!
Normal version of If It Be Your Will. I liked the Webb Sisters version but I went for Lenny!
Less drums on some of the older tracks to give them a more stripped down feel, like they were originally.

But still, amazing show!

[UrPal]

a) add a few up-tempo songs - Heart With No Companion, There Is a War, The Captain, Never Any Good, etc,

I've got no complaints, but thanks for mentioning that song. I'd love to hear it given the prominence it deserves. Avalanche, Joan of Arc, Light As The Breeze, Love Itself, Never Any Good, etc too. But that's all wishful thinking. I'm not all of the people even part of the time.....

[commonweal]

Recruit a violinist?

I was worried about the absence of one (whatever happened to Ms Wu, does anybody know?) but, as it turned out, I needn't have been, not even for Dance me to the end of love or The gipsy's wife. The solutions the band landed on to solve the no-violin puzzle were superb.

All that said, however, would a violin not add another dimension? If Leonard's or the band's view is that it would detract from something we've already got, then of course the case is closed. But if not, I wonder...?

[Alan_1]

I thought it was perfect and wouldn't change a thing, except to do it all again.

I'll second that !

We were fortunate last night to hear Sisters of Mercy and Famous Blue Raincoat. Leonard seemed to command the applause after each song to stop a bit sooner so he could move on as soon as possible to the next one. At first I thought the total concert would be a bit shorter but we were blessed with extra

I third that!!
In my opinion it was absolutley perfect, looking forward to the o2 now

[fafner]

I was at the Tuesday gig which was heaven on earth - the one (two) improvements I'd like for tonights gig:

Famous Blue Raincoat
Sisters of Mercy

Please, please, please.....

[Alan_1]

I was at the Tuesday gig which was heaven on earth - the one (two) improvements I'd like for tonights gig:

Famous Blue Raincoat
Sisters of Mercy

Please, please, please.....

We had both on Wednesday!!

[dzzz]

Ha, ha, as expected it is very hard to squeeze anything that would even remotely sound like criticism out of LC zealots, which is understandable, most of us would not mind listening to him reading a phonebook. Nevertheless, apparently my observations where not completely out of place, if you compare So Long Marianne from Dublin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhAYCWNhzqo with version from Canada few weeks ago (the one i was complaining about) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceKvHqiMof8 you can see that they did exactly what i was advocating, and reverted back to "traditional" way of playing it

[confetti]

i suppose why i wouldn't change anything was because the concert was way above all my expectations, plus my favourite 3 "old" songs were performed.