REVIEW: Cohen unbound to passage of time

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Leonard Cohen wows a diverse crowd. (BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

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Leonard Cohen (left) jams with his band. (BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

Unlike peers from the 1960s and 70s that have since passed into the realm of kitsch, Leonard Cohen never goes out of style.

The Montreal-born icon’s catalogue, chiselled out over the course of 40 long years, is both classic and yet aggressively relevant and contemporary.

His fans could be described the same way. On Thursday night, they funnelled into the MTS Centre: young, old, and somewhere in the middle.
 
Come to think of it, the only thing they had in common was Leonard Cohen.
 
Let that diversity be testament to Cohen’s legacy. Of course, he’s still crafting it; but this current tour, launched in 2008 to help recoup losses from an ex-manager who famously embezzled millions from Cohen’s retirement fund, may be fans’ last chance to add a live picture to their memories.
 
Oh, but what an image it was. Though Cohen has made his own aging a focal point of his recent creative life ("I’ll wear an old man’s mask for you," he murmured last night during a late-set rendition of I’m Your Man; the original line made no mention of "old man"), he hardly seems bound to the passage of time.
 
Though his face shows the wear of a 40-year career, his spry body and singularly penetrating baritone seem only slightly dented. And let’s face it: at 74, he’s still sexy. At least, the audience clearly thought so. "I need to see you naked in your body and your thought," Cohen growled on early-set offering Ain’t No Cure for Love, and a smatter of titillated cheers rose from the stands.
 
It wasn’t the only thrill in the three-hour concert, which began shortly after 8 p.m. On a stage adorned only by gossamer curtains, Cohen, svelte in a black suit with a fedora shrouding his eyes, said little, but gave much.
 
The poet and his sublime nine-piece band started with Dance Me to the End of Love, continued through Bird on a Wire, and settled for a few minutes on ominous 1988 classic Everybody Knows. But it was Cohen’s eerie, tender 1991 ballad In My Secret Life which proved the most gripping in that first hour.
 
An hour into the set, Cohen finally spoke. "I thank you for your hospitality," he intoned, then pulled out the line he’s cracked at every show on the tour thus far. "The last time I played here was 14 or 15 years  ago... I was 60. Just a crazy kid with a dream."  

Enhancing Cohen’s commanding onstage presence was his superb backing band, which included a lovely trio of vocalists in longtime collaborator Sharon Robinson and sisters Charlie and Hattie Webb; their lovely harmonies ebbed and flowed tastefully around spectacular guitar and oud work. (Robinson and the sisters also had their own spins in the spotlight, with the Webbs offering shimmering lead vocals on the ethereal If It Be Your Will.)

After breaking for 20 minutes, Cohen and co. returned to continue the slow, sombre affair. Cohen performed almost solo for the austere Suzanne, but that soon slipped into the rich intonations and lush, exotic instrumentation of The Gypsy’s Wife.

Cohen gave up Hallelujah halfway through this second act, the 1984 tune that became one of the era’s most coveted covers. The audience cheered wildly for this introduction, then perched in respectful silence during the keening keyboard solo. Cohen looked on, hat lowered to his chest.

And the poet left a parting gift to fans who had spent up to $250 a pop to see him in person: as it turned out, the set-ending Take This Waltz was, well, hardly a set-ender.

Instead, Cohen offered up no fewer than seven encore songs, beginning with So Long Marianne and the delicious First We Take Manhattan. There were walls of luscious instrumentalism, a clap-along, and a number of well-deserved standing ovations.... and one very sweet farewell.

"I don’t know when we’ll meet again, but ‘til then, be well friends. Be lucky, and may you always be surrounded by friends," Cohen murmured, as he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with his band. "May blessings find you in solitude. Thank you so much for the affection and warmth."
 

FIVE STARS

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 1, 2009 A9