A Thousand Kisses Deep - An Evening with Leonard Cohen

My bucket list is one item shorter.  Leonard Cohen played a sold out show last night in Halifax, almost four hours of his best work accompanied by a band and their gorgeous talents collected from all over the world.

The stage was set like a European dream.  Lush Persian-style rugs, red velvet chairs for the musicians and long white curtains cascading down and throughout the show turned all sorts of colors by the ambient and precise lighting.  He also had two large video screens for those far away from the stage.  Where we were sitting, in the nosebleeds, the show was projected on the white walls so we could see.  My seats may have been high up but we were next to the stage so I could see just fine, he was just a bit smaller.  It didn't matter much to me because I was sharing air with a literary hero and it served as a defining moment for me.  I've seen hundreds of shows but this one was miraculously different - it was life changing.  The pristine sound of a finely tuned band, Cohen's sub-baritone husk and his words, that poetry.

I was submerged in a quiet ecstacy while my lovely childhood friend struggled to keep her eyes open.  I commend her for going with me to something that wasn't quite her cup of tea for me to be blessed by the presence of a hero.  That's a good friend.

The show had so many incredible moments but they all blended seamlessly together with ease quelling any anxieties that raced through my body from my daily life.  In those soft hours, nothing else truly mattered except for Leonard's deep crooning and the intricate design of his poetics.

He is a tremendous performer.  Grateful for his audience he refers to as 'friends', respectful of his handsome band and dedicated to his extensive and extraordinary body of work.  He opened his almost four hour show with 'Dance Me To The End Of Love' and built an impressive tower of song until intermission.  The defining moment of the show for me, when the tears came streaming down, was his stunning spoken word delivery of  'A Thousand Kisses Deep'.  His band exited the stage, Cohen stood in a bright white spotlight and whispered the lines.  And of course, his launch into the universally beloved 'Hallelujah' was another emotional moment.  Perhaps one of the most iconic and celebrated songs every written.  The only other thing next to the perfection of Jeff Buckley's heartbreaking cover of the song that could ever compare is hearing Leonard Cohen perform it live.  A single moment really can alter your person, re-align your soul. cleanse your spirit.  

Cohen treated the Halifax audience to three encores and if he'd been allowed he probably would have played on.  It was a beautiful night and I not only walked away richer in spirit but with my arms full of amazing merch.  I rarely buy merchandise at concerts but last night I bought the program, a coffee mug and a limited edition Moleskine notebook with Cohen embossed on the front in gold and the quote 'stop writing everything down'.  The notebook was a bit pricey but I didn't just want it, I needed it.  I needed it because it is akin in a sweet way to the first few lines of my new short story denote a Moleskine notebook and its importance to my character.  In a silly way that only I would associate, it seemed like a sign.  I have learned hard lessons about following and not following signs over the past three years and this one was a sign worth following.  I can't wait to start a new story and start using my book to fill up with notes and ideas, some old and some new.  Maybe even a few borrowed.

I also was in love with his audience.  I bantered with several concert-goers and they shared their Cohen stories of their youth and mused about him and Joni Mitchell and other music that peppered the soundtrack of their lives.  And I loved seeing small kids with their parents taking their seats.  What an incredibly profound and culturally rich experience for them.  I recall one little girl holding her Mom's hand, wearing a pretty dress, black paten leather shoes and leotards carrying a long-stemmed red carnation in her hand.  It moved me.  The whole night, from the fun dinner Colleen and I shared at Midtown Tavern before filing into the Metro Center to the pure power of the show, was perfect.  

Cohen mused he hopes this one isn't a farewell tour and I also hope for the same.  I would do that all over again in a heartbeat.  I hope he returns.

My bucket list is one item shorter but I feel like my humanness has deepened and I left the venue vastly different than when I entered.  For the better.

Thank you Leonard Cohen, for being my man last night.  A gentleman.  You are absolutely everything a hero is made of.

In propinquity,

Nic

My loot.