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83 of 86 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful, Sublime...Pure Grace, April 1, 2009
I swore I would not open this DVD until after seeing L. Cohen in Oakland the Monday after next. But I'm so glad I broke my vow.
This is one of the most wonderful concerts I've ever seen captured on DVD.
The band and Leonard's singers are top-notch, and one senses that they feel as though they are a part of something special.
The songs span nearly 40 years of a canon that is second to none.
Most amazing of all,though, is how a digital disc can cut through its own technology and exude so much warmth and passion. Even when the camera shows a close shot of Cohen, one can still sense the warmth, love and admiration coming from the ecstatic London audience.
As for Leonard Cohen...if he were to do nothing but sing, that would be enough given the wonderful breadth of material performed at this concert.
However, his gentle and gracious command of the stage provides this show an added depth and dimension. Within the span of minutes he can be hilarious, self-deprecating, humble, poignant, appreciative...and I could easily go on with the superlatives to describe his on-stage demeanor.
Very often I make a point of remembering to trust the art and not the artist. In the case of Leonard Cohen, I tend to trust both. His warmth seems genuine. Unlike so many of his stature, his humility comes across as real. His spoken words are every bit as powerful as those that are sung. Given the way that the barriers are broken down between the singer and the band and the audience...to the point where it feels as though they are all part of one celebratory evening...such humility, graciousness and warmth cannot be anything but genuine.
The highlights are too many to mention: "Suzanne" sounds as fresh as it did 40 years ago. "Anthem" sounds more urgent today than when it was first penned. "The Future" & "First We Take Manahattan" are even more biting now in the 21st Century than when they were first penned. Cohen's increased age gives songs such as "Boogie Street," "Tower of Song," & "Democracy" a world weariness that makes these songs all the more penetrating. His lovely "If It Be Your Will" sounds as much like a prayer as it does one of the loveliest songs ever written. If I don't stop now, I'll wind up writing accolades about every song on this DVD. Yes, it is that wonderful!
I've been fortunate to see so many of the greats in my lifetime - legends whose works will be remembered for decades to come. Some have been surly and stand-offish. Others have been appreciative and welcoming toward their audience.
It is refreshing to see the best of everything embodied in this Leonard Cohen concert. Songs that are amongst the best ever written, still performed with a passion (as well as with the added wisdom that comes from Cohen being 74 years young), with a band & audience & singer all equally committed to one another.
There are moments when I laughed out loud at Leonard's deadpan, wry humor. There were times when tears welled in my eyes from the sincerity of the words that came out of his mouth, either spoken or in song.
In a day and age where so much seems packaged and perfunctionary, it is refreshing to see & hear someone such as Cohen whose observations can warm the heart or cut like a knife to get to the heart of a matter. He is the real deal. No airs, no faux modesty...just a man with four decades' worth of majestic material, with an excellent band whose respect for Cohen is reciprocated by their singer with his respect for their talents & abilities, along with a genuine warmth & sense of humanity that allows Leonard Cohen to turn a large London venue into a setting that is as intimate as being in one's living room.
Without a doubt, one of the finest, most moving and most satisfying concert DVDs I've ever seen.
I'm glad that I opened this prior to April 13. Seeing this makes me look forward to seeing Cohen in a small Oakland theater even more so than I already was.
However, had I not been fortunate enough to have gotten a ticket for his upcoming concert, I have to say that this DVD would have been a more than fine consolation. It is worth every cent. The staging, lighting, musicianship, song selection and sound are painstakingly stellar, obviously given great care & much thought.
This is a true gem, a most worthy representation of one of the greatest songwriters of our time.
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30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Could have been a five-star, but..., April 17, 2009
This is pretty much a bare bones DVD featuring extended London concert footage. I have no beef with the camera work. It is simple, but effective, and much preferable to so many concert videos where the camera moves so much and cuts from one angle to the next occur so quickly it threatens to give one vertigo, or at least a headache.
The choice of 4:3 aspect ratio, in an era where even run-of-the-mill TV shows are widescreen, is inexplicable. The video quality is good, but not great.
The audio could have been better. Happily, an uncompressed LCPM stereo track is available (the default) on the DVD, which should make for maximum sound quality. But the disc producers chose to muck this up, too. The sound is dynamically compressed, i.e. the soft parts are made loud so the dynamic contrast between soft and loud is blunted. When the band gets going full blast, the sound is congested -- it loses some clarity. Nevertheless, I would rate the sound as good, not great -- equivalent in sound quality to a musical segment on the Letterman show or Tonight Show on digital TV.
The concert is great, and Leonard is full of warmth and grit, whatever is called for. Leonard Cohen appears to be having the time of his life, and the band is perfect. His angelic choir, a trio of female backup singers, is magnificent. The guitarist provides Knopfler-esque lead lines, and his "wind instrument" and keyboard players add richness to the mix.
This is the perfect introduction to Leonard Cohen. It represents his best compositions (though I am disappointed that Joan of Arc is not part of the set list). At age 74 Cohen's voice is a bit husky, but these performances are as good as any I've ever heard on his studio albums or live material. (Granted, I do not have a large collection of Cohen albums, however I appreciate very much his songs, including those performed by other artists.) It's hard to imagine him ever topping this.
If you are unfamiliar with Leonard Cohen's music, it is generally quite simple, with common chord progressions and easy melodies. You might quickly find yourself singing along with these tunes. Cohen's strengths are his poetry and his delivery of the poetic line. He has always loved embellishing the simplicity of the songs with female choruses and fuller arrangements, while the structure retains the essence of folk music. Sometimes he favors a Spanish rhythm.
For me, this is the definitive Leonard Cohen live performance, much as Joni Mitchell's Shadows and Light concert DVD highlights her best songs and best performances a with dream team band. That DVD is also deficient technically, but the music shines through. So it is here. It's a five star concert with one star deducted for technical quality that does not measure up to the artistry of the performance.
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48 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Technically disappointing, March 29, 2009
Leonard Cohen commands attention for the entire concert, which is amazing considering his 74 years. He is warm, humorous and humble to his audience and hardly makes an error in presenting over 40 years of his music.
Cohen looks and speaks like a benevolent Tony Bennett-like figure who beams at his audience after each song and clutches his hat to his chest like an ageing grandfather greeting cherished old friends at a local bus stop.
His backing musicians and female vocal group are top-notch as well.
On the down side, the technical production is disappointing. For what would have to contend as THE concert event of the decade, the presentation in 4:3 format with a picture that could be described as analog quality at best is hardly acceptable in 2009, especially when it was recorded just last July.
The camera work is often sloppy and unimaginative. The continuity editing is the same.
But full marks to Cohen and his band for a performance that has to be seen as well as heard. Others have used the words "beautiful", "warm", "gracious", "amazing", "joyful" and "sublime". I can not disagree with any of that.
Regrettably, the DVD version has not done this major musical milestone the justice it warrants but it is still worth it.
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