krista4
Footballguy
Since simey took later live Leonard Cohen, I’ll take some early live Leonard Cohen. A portion of this show was shown in the excellent 2019 documentary, “Marianne & Leonard,” which is well worth seeing.
14.16 - Leonard Cohen - Live at the Isle of Wight (recorded 1970)
I love the story behind this show, or at least the ending of it. The Isle of Wight concert had gone horribly off the rails. More than 500,000 extra people had shown up, and the promoters eventually let everyone in for free. Cohen came on in the rain at 2 a.m. on the last night of the concert. Poor Kris Kristofferson, among others, had been booed off the stage after having bottles thrown at him. During the Jimi Hendrix set that immediately preceded Cohen’s, someone had set the stage on fire.
So here was Cohen, under the influence of a significant amount of Mandrax, and everyone expected the worst. Instead, something magical happened. He started by asking each person in the crowd to light a match so that he could see them and that they would “sparkle like fireflies at each of your different heights.” He made a vast space seem warm and intimate. It immediately mesmerized and calmed the crowd, and the set that followed was brilliant.
I’m choosing Bird on the Wire not just because it’s a favorite but because it was the first song on the set list, and I swear I can feel the crowd becoming transfixed.
And second I choose Suzanne because it’s my favorite Cohen song. I wish he’d written my favorite song about the very lovely Marianne instead of the awful Suzanne, but what can you do.
14.16 - Leonard Cohen - Live at the Isle of Wight (recorded 1970)
I love the story behind this show, or at least the ending of it. The Isle of Wight concert had gone horribly off the rails. More than 500,000 extra people had shown up, and the promoters eventually let everyone in for free. Cohen came on in the rain at 2 a.m. on the last night of the concert. Poor Kris Kristofferson, among others, had been booed off the stage after having bottles thrown at him. During the Jimi Hendrix set that immediately preceded Cohen’s, someone had set the stage on fire.
So here was Cohen, under the influence of a significant amount of Mandrax, and everyone expected the worst. Instead, something magical happened. He started by asking each person in the crowd to light a match so that he could see them and that they would “sparkle like fireflies at each of your different heights.” He made a vast space seem warm and intimate. It immediately mesmerized and calmed the crowd, and the set that followed was brilliant.
I’m choosing Bird on the Wire not just because it’s a favorite but because it was the first song on the set list, and I swear I can feel the crowd becoming transfixed.
And second I choose Suzanne because it’s my favorite Cohen song. I wish he’d written my favorite song about the very lovely Marianne instead of the awful Suzanne, but what can you do.
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