Leonard Cohen received a standing ovation as he walked unannounced onto the stage at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles this weekend — an acknowledgment that just to see the 74-year old legend, at the beginning of what would be a more than three-hour, three-encore performance, merited that response.
There were seven more standing ovations during the evening, which did not end until close to midnight with Cohen thanking the audience “for keeping my songs alive” and “for this evening.”
It is hard to convey the extraordinary experience of this concert, but it was worth it for the backup singers alone (the elegant Sharon Robinson and the beautiful Webb sisters), for the virtuoso string guitarist Javier Mas, and for the rest of the nine-piece band that provided the chapel for Cohen’s prayer-like lyrics and golden voice.
The two-minute video below is from “The Anthem,” which Cohen sang at the end of the first hour to lead into the intermission, mostly with his eyes closed and looking upward, and partly on bended knee:
Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack, a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.
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