Feb 3

Written by: Stephen
2/3/2009 1:38 AM 

But back to the beginning. Both came to prominence in the late 60s with a series of acoustic albums.

In Young's case, the largely acoustic Harvest and After the Goldrush albums were probably his commercial peak. Heart of Gold was a worldwide hit and he has continued to wend his own contrary path over the subsequent decades, renewing his audience by releasing further classics like On the Beach or Ragged Glory. Young has never been far from controversy - his 1983 album Trans was recorded through a computerized vocoder (are you listening, Kanye?) - but most Young fans would agree that he is at his best when he plugs in his amp and plays the most incendiary, crushing guitar rock.

Leonard Cohen, born in 1934, was already an acclaimed novelist and poet before he released The Songs of Leonard Cohen in 1967. One might think that rock'n'roll might have passed him by but Cohen has comprehensively proven over the years that it is not just a young man's game. Whilst never really enjoying any real commercial success, his songs have, in time, taken on a life of their own - Suzanne, Famous Blue Raincoat, Bird On A Wire, Hallelujah... Especially Hallelujah. Jeff Buckley's hymnal rendition brought Cohen's music to a new audience in the 90s and the recent I'm Your Man documentary, where artists as diverse as Bono, Rufus Wainwright and Nick Cave covered his songs, was a critical success. Like Young, Cohen has never tread the obvious path. It's typical of the man that he trained and was ordained a Buddhist monk in 1999, a path of learning that seems to have curbed his tendency toward depression.

But recent years have not been kind to either. Young was diagnosed with a potentially fatal brain aneurysm in 2005. Even through treatment, he did not stop producing music (the acoustic Prairie Wind and the loud, angry Living With War that contains one of his late classics, the strident Let's Impeach the President for Lying). Since going back out on the road with his electric band, Young has garnered rave reviews from the UK press and his headlining of the annual Big Day Out series of concerts throughtout Australia was real vindication of his continuing appeal.

Cohen, on the other hand, is touring very different reasons. Also in 2005, Cohen filed a lawsuit against his manager (and ex-lover), Kelley Lynch alleging that she skimmed almost $5M US over a 5 yr period, reducing his pension fund to a meagre $140k. Some of the theft occured over the period that Cohen spent training to be a Buddist monk in the Californian hills. Cohen won and was awarded $9M in damages, not a penny of which he has seen from Lynch who shows no signs of complying with the ruling.

Hence, Leonard Cohen is out on the road again, for one last time, filling up his pension fund...

My Morning Jacket supported Young. They are typical of the bands that clearly been inspired by Neil Young and his most famous backing band, Crazy Horse. They played a loud set of spiralling guitar riffs and harmonised vocals that really did settle in the ear drums nicely for the onslaught to come. My Morning Jacket's live album, Okonokos, is great and, whilst they didn't quite hit the heights of that record, it was a good show.

Young appeared, in typical jeans and trainers. His black blazer had been splattered in paint (reminiscent of Jackson Pollack). His band (guitar, bass, drums, backing singer and on-stage artist) ambled out after him. He plugged in his guitar and the air positively thrummed as he tore straight into Love and Only Love from Ragged Glory. Young's guitar sound is extraordinary. The speakers bleed guitar noise as he tears at the strings, hunched over doing a half goose step. It's LOUD. Really LOUD! Short Cuts can sense that his partner beside him is almost crunched into her seat. Cinnamon Girl was great but the absolute highlight was a splended Cortez the Killer, described brilliantly by Bernard Zuel from the Sydney Morning Herald here.

But something was missing. The Sydney Entertainment Centre is a large, airy space. To see people sitting down, staring at the stage with all this glorious noise around seemed wrong. I wanted to stand up. But I couldn't. Security guards stood everywhere, ushering people back to their seat if they wanted to dance in the aisles. Except for those lucky few in the first 8 rows, we had to sit. And stare at the noise. The lack of energy was noticed by Neil who, during Rockin' in the Free World, feigned a heart attack, fell to the floor and cut the song short. As is discussed at length here, many have assumed that Young then cut the night short, removing three songs from the setlist. Those of you who are sharp-eyed will notice a few choice comments from Stephen from Sydney...

"Neil puts a show together with thought and integrity. He plans (to a certain extent) where he wants to go on any given evening. Cutting the night short because of his misperception that the audience was not involved or appreciative is something that needs to be called out. It explains why I left the auditorium thinking "That didn't finish the way it was supposed to... something was missing". It's like putting on Romeo and Juliet and leaving the audience to figure out what happened after they took the poison..."

Even if it is true and this night did not go as planned, I had a fantastic time in the company of a stubborn but inspiring old codger.

Cohen's support, Aussie songwriter Paul Kelly seemed to be swallowed up by the vastness of the SEC and the event itself. Playing with his nephew, Dan Kelly, he played a pleasant set that seemed to be drawn from more recent material, given the crowd's muted response. Someone was calling for Careless that he did not play but of those he did, When I First Met Your Ma and God Told Me To stood out.

The first thing to say is that Cohen, at 74, positively skipped onto the stage. Similarly suited and hatted were his amazing band - bassist Roscoe Beck, organist Neil Larsen, longtime collaborator Sharon Robinson, singers Charley and Hattie Webb, guitarist Bob Metzger, drummer Rafael Gayol, Javier Mas on a series of steadily smaller spanish guitars and woodwinder Dino Soldo. The level of musicianship was extraordinary. Each of the players seemed genuinely excited to be there with him.

For some reason, the Sydney Entertainment Centre seemed to shrink. The band were not loud. Indeed, initially, they seemed kinda hokey. Cohen's barotone is in surprisingly good nick and by the time he's played Bird On a Wire, Everybody Knows, In My Secret Life and Chelsea Hotel #2, it was clear to all that we were in presence of rare genius. I have never hung on someone's words like I did. I leaned forward in my chair and listened. Listened to someone who has the air of wisdom and integrity. And who can write words like no-one before - "Forget your perfect offering, There is a crack in everything, That's how the light gets in." from Anthem almost prompted an ovation in itself. "I was born with the gift of a golden voice" he sang, and a knowing ripple of laughter passed round the SEC.

As the lights drew down, Cohen said that there would be a short interval and that he would be back soon. An interval. How appropriately quaint. We'd had a set of over an hour of classic songs, performed by his exquisite band backing that captivating voice. And we hadn't heard Hallelujah or Famous Blue Raincoat or First, We Take Manhattan... Slowly it dawned on us that this was a very special evening.

Short Cuts' partner, Melissa, leaned over and said, disbelievingly, "I think I'm in love with him...". A 74 year old! But... it was understandable. We felt we were in the presence of real wisdom and learning. And a sense of humour - "It's 15 years since I stood on a stage like this one... I was 60. Just a kid with a crazy dream...".

Four encores, over 3hrs on stage. It really felt like Cohen was saying goodbye to us and ensuring everyone got to hear and connect with their favourite song, played by his lovely band. We left the SEC feeling sated, elated but also vaguely regretful that we would never spend time in Leonard Cohen's company ever again. The celebratory vibe contrasted greatly with the confrontational ending to the Neil Young gig.

So... To repeat. What a week. Whilst Neil Young's performance was excellent, I can only conclude that Leonard Cohen's barotone and songwriting brilliance resulted in the best gig I have ever been to. Ever. If you get the chance to take in this tour, embrace it.