Listened to this twice this morning and highly recommend it:
Wait, I'd recommend anything by Cohen anyway, so I might be a little too partial to be taken seriously, but anyway, this is the next next best thing (for now, that is, right until march 31th when his Live In London DVD gets released) for anyone who has not gotten a chance to see him live. I was lucky enough to see him in June 2008, in Montreal, the first of three shows he did in there then. It was amazing. Godly. Breathtaking. 74 and more energy, more class than anyone else I'd ever seen live, and I heard notes in there that night that I never thought any human being could possibly produce.
After a year, it's still safe for me to say it was the best show of my life. Unless Freddie Mercury comes back to life, and John Deacon comes out of retirement, there are very little chances of any band or artist ever topping that night. I suspect only Tom Waits showing up in Montreal could beat it, but for now, better not count on it.
The problem with Cohen is that once you listen to his lyrics, and ultimately fall in love with them, it gets much so hard to go back to some lame, repetitive songs of the "I wanna rock and roll all night and party everyday" genre. I love his singing, but outside of his rendition of Hallelujah (go away, Jeff Buckley fans: I don't care what you say, Cohen's original version IS the best), the best part of the night might easily have been his heartfelt, intensely emotional (hot!) reading of A Thousand Kisses Deep, which I'm very pleased to say that NPR also added to their podcast.
If I recall correctly, his voice on it is not as optimal as it was in Montreal, but it's still fabulous, and the amount of soul and emotions he puts in his songs makes it worth sitting for an hour and fifteen minutes at the computer, and bare in mind that this probably isn't half the show he did. You see, Mr. Cohen is very generous with his time. We're talking about a three hour show here. The concert also includes Suzanne, Chelsea Hotel #2, Tower Of Song, The Partisan, Take This Walts, So Long Marianne, and a few more, so his very well cover his greatest hits.
7.8/10 (why so low? Too short for my tastes)
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