Cohen still has the charisma

It was pretty thrilling recently to be in the Baby Boomer crowd thronging Leonard Cohen’s third sold-out concert in Halifax, especially because it was so hard to get tickets. My better half spent hours on the phone and computer without any luck the day the tickets went on sale. They kept adding concert after concert, too.

We were resigned to missing out, when a few days later, I got an e-mail out of the blue from fellow Wolfville resident Grace Proszynska.

“I have four tickets for Leonard Cohen available if you know someone who likes him very much. Piotr and I are his fans all right; however we bought four and our friends bought another four on that buying-frenzy day a couple of weeks ago when the tickets went on sale. We did it simultaneously and ended up with eight!”

Let me tell you we weren’t long in getting back to her. When picking up our tickets, Grace told me that she and Piotr had wanted to hear Leonard decades ago in eastern Europe, but couldn’t. Two seats would have cost them two months salary.

I went to my first Leonard Cohen concert in 1970 as a ‘freshette’ at Acadia. It was in the glamourous, old Capital Theatre on Barrington Street that was later demolished. The man in black was totally suave and cool, but hardly a stellar singer.

Leonard still isn’t a singer and the audience in Halifax earlier this month did not care. People stood up when he first walked out on stage and later gave him five more standing ovations.

No question one of our musical icons was out to please the crowd, but the love travelled two ways around that hall. We all knew we were there to bump up his retirement fund after an employee reduced his life savings.

Many of the songs Leonard and his terrific nine-piece back-up band launched into are Canadian anthems today. The set list included “Suzanne,” “So Long, Marianne,” “Bird on the Wire” and “Ain't No Cure for Love.” The performance of his 1984 song “Hallelujah” was among the evening's highlights.

At 73, short and somewhat stooped, he joked about not having toured or “been on this ledge” for 14 years. No sign of age, though, when a performer sings until nearly 11 p.m.

Checking with Grace later, she said, “we did enjoy the concert tremendously. He was great, what energy still.”

Jokingly she added, “one lady said on the radio last week that, at some moments, she was so moved that she was afraid her heart would jump out of her chest. Therefore I put a tight bra, just in case.”

I know one guy who muttered during intermission that Leonard was all about love songs to women. But most of us were glad that he had to leave his life of Zen meditation in California to sing for his supper. The Montreal-born singer, songwriter and poet was only inducted into the U.S. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March. His 14-country world tour will keep him on the road until the end of June, but we sure were lucky to see him live.