The Webb Sisters rendition of "If it be your will" was superb.
Last night’s Leonard Cohen concert at the Belgrade Arena was one of the best concerts I have ever attended.
Cohen and he band were magnificent. Over 3 hours of beautifully performed masterpieces. He clearly loved the crowd who loved him.
I thought his dedication to the city and people of Belgrade was beautiful, quoting from the song “Anthem“:
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.
The accompanying musicians were also superb. The crowd loved Sharon Robinson‘s solo and the beautiful “If it be your will” performed by the Webb Sisters. Dino Soldo demonstrated amazing talent on the wind instruments. And of course Javier Mas was also superb with his 12 string guitar.
Neil Larsen (keyboard), Roscoe Beck (Bassist) and Bob Metzger (Guitar) were also great.
Cohen took the time to introduce his band twice and to thank everyone from the bus drivers to the cooks, from the stage. he radiated class, compassion and humility.
Simply fantastic!
There were, however, a few downsides to the concert:
- People smoking in the area outside the actual arena, but still indoors. This led to a thick fugg of nausiating second hand smoke at both intermission and whilst queueing up to exit (yes, you are trapped for a while as the exits are too small).
- Morons unable to find their seats. Loads arriving late or arguing with morons incorrectly sitting in their seats destroyed the first 4 sounds (30 minutes).
- People singing along loudly and badly. Now of course you can sing along at a concert (even though people like Cohen and Dylan try and avoid a big singalong by changing how they perform the old classics) but singing the wrong words, tunelessly, at full volume in a falsetto (it was a man) is hard to tolerate.
- People talking during the songs. This is particularly irritating at a Leonard Cohen concert because he sings many “quiet” songs, often with low volume and extremely subtle instrumental accompaniments. One idiotic girls two rows behind me took a call from “Mama” during just such a song and decided to jabber away for 10 minutes until someone told her shut up.
- Praying loudly for your song. They guy behind me was a loon. He was the one singing along in Serbglish and yelping “Bravo” after every song. It seemed though that the point of his life until now has been to hear Leonard Cohen perform “Here it is” in concert. As the concert dragged on he started shouting for it during the song breaks. As we neared the end he was literally praying for it and crossing himself. Whatever he was praying to, it is a cruel god. Cohen did not play it. Despite myself, I actually felt sorry for the guy.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Reading “the downs of the concert” made me laugh…………I felt every single word of your comments almost as if I was there…….Serbs will never, EVER stop smoking, the mentality is if you dont like it “tough” I have heard this from smokers who lived in the US for many years and know that foreigners dislike smoke…..This is a primitive, habit that will never die in Serbia, but the worst is when you see pretty young ladies who pretend to be modern and think their chic and cool by holding an ugly cigarette high in the air, as if to show the world…….
As for the morons who cant find their seats, this is something the ushers at the arena should do…GUIDE people in the right direction…wouldnt hurt to drop them a comment……
As for the sing-a-long and people talking on the phone, they have to show “the world” that they are listening to a world class performer………it makes them feel better about themselves………I assume you have heard of the word “Foliranti”…….if they a world word dictionary, I am sure you would find a picture of a Serb next to that word….. (I have all the rights in the world to make comments like that because I too am a Serb, but the mentality sometimes drives me crazy!) !!
The really sad thing is that your biggest impression from the show last night are the people smoking outside.
Nah Marko. My biggest impression was what a masterful, generous genius Cohen is. I also happened to notice the people smoking inside.
With all due respect I assume Marko is Serbian ???
Sadly, this is a typical response you will get from ALL serb smokers, I have encountered it many times. AND YES, if you pay for a concert you expect to enjoy every second of it from the moment you enter the doors, till you leave……………and not smell of disgusting smoke for the next 3 days, and lets not even begin with the poison you inhaled !!