My Birthday at the Tower of Song! (Leonard Cohen live @ TerraVibe 30/7/2008)

Now, I heard, there was a secret chord

that David played and it pleased the Lord
But... you don't really care for music, do ya?

I cannot seem to remember ever having done something special on my birthday. In the heart of summer, my friends and I have always been scattered to the four corners of Greece (and now that wanderlust is upon us, the four corners of the world - getting birthday wish phonecalls from New York, Limassol, Melbourne, Vienna, London - and this year - Varna, well... it is undeniably funny but gets really annoying when almost nobody's around for the fun of it).









As always, this year I had nothing to look forward to and was particularly miffed (I like this word, I will be using it more often!) that I would in all probability miss the Leonard Cohen show since I heard of it too late... BUT ! the Lycabettus theater was closed because of security concerns and the concert was moved to the huge TerraVibe venue. Although such an expanse would not be suited to Leonard Cohen's music style, it would ensure ticket availability!

Why do I love Leonard Cohen so much when I do not even listen to similar style music?

The great Leonard Cohen


It goes like this:
The fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift
The baffled King composing
Hallelujah

It must be the effortless way he tackles the pitfalls of strong emotion, the way that irony finds its way into the lyrics, the way that drama of mythical proportions is reduced to the level of our fundamental weaknesses.

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne and she cut your hair
and from your lips she drew the
Hallelujah

To be able to say "I've gotten over you", "We'll never see each other" or to say "I've found God" is one thing. Through his lyrics, Cohen is able to not only say all this, but shrug it off and walk away alone into the sunset with a deadly parthian shot...

Well, really, what's it to ya?

The Webb sisters, Charlie and Hattie, bowing

So,on that Wednesday, on my birthday, I stood before the Tower of Song, to listen about the conquest of Manhattan and a little viennese waltz on closing time...

There's a blaze of light in every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
the Holy or the broken
Hallelujah

Dino Soldo (winds) and Javier Mas (mandolin, uti, lute)

I found not only this but so much more: the nobility of a truly great artist shown in the courtesy with which he treated his supporting musicians (all of them significant artists in their own right) and the respect and humility he showed towards his audience, beginning with an impressive address in greek at the beginning of the show, a reminder of the time he spent in the island of Ydra.


For more than three hours, with about all requests fulfilled, the great Leonard Cohen delivered a mighty lesson of emotion and dignity, with lyrics and attitude laced with the acidity of experience, pain and the firmness of a man who knows what he wants, it's just that... he has always found the others lacking in the qualities that one would need to rise to the occasions.

I do not know if at the time I could survey the events of my life from such a point of view, but... when one is true to his emotions, well that is all one needs, no matter how the others respond to them.


And then the answer became quite clear: We found it with you, Leonard. We whispered it at first, murmured it as it went on and then we sang along: dee dum dum dum, da dee dum dum...

That simple.

Duet with Hattie Webb

I did my best but it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth...
I didn't come to fool ya

Your songs stand up for us even in our defeat. You stood up for me even on my defeat. And it was on my birthday.
Unforgettable.


Thank you Leonard.

"Thank you friends"

And even though it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my lips but
Hallelujah

PS: Ah, remember me, I used to live for music (baby)
Remember me, I brought your groceries in (ooh, baby yeah...)







.