Disc One Disc Two

01. Dance Me To The End Of Love 01. 02. The Future 02. Suzanne 03. 03. Avalanche 04. Everybody Knows 04. Sisters of Mercy 05. In My Secret Life 05. The Gypsy's Wife 06. Who By Fire 06. Feels So Good 07. The Darkness 07. 08. Born In Chains 08. Boogie Street 09. Chelsea Hotel #2 09. Hallelujah 10. Waiting For The Miracle 10. I'm Your Man 11. Anthem 11. talk (still sexy at 76) 12. A Thousand Kisses Deep Disc Three 13. Take This Waltz

01. audience sounds Raw recording supplied by an un-named taper 02. So Long, Marianne This recording engineered by bj2117 @ DIME 03. Mastered by bj2117 @ DIME 04. Packaging by Dean Engelhardt 05. If It Be Your Will Photographs by Dean Engelhardt 06. Closing Time Concert report by Dean Engelhardt 07. I Tried To Leave You visit lcdownunder2010.wordpress.com for 08. Ain’t No Cure For Love additional details and photographs Total Running Time 3h, 17 mins The music contained on these compact discs is sourced from an audience recording, and constitutes a Recording of Independent Origin (ROIO). This material has not been officially released and is provided here for personal use only. It is expressly forbidden to sell, rent or otherwise derive money from this recording. Recording first issued on-line: 4 November 2010 by bj2117. This disc prepared January 2011. Concert Report

The first Auckland Concert of ’s “Down Under” tour 2010 marked the first occasion he has performed in this part of the world since the now-legendary concerts of January and February, 2009. I had the good fortune of seeing several of these shows.

Overall, comparing the opening night Auckland show to all of these previous performance, I would have to say that Leonard and the band were still in fine form. Musically, it’s clear that the group has continued to refine the more subtle nuances of their performances and arrangements to bring (in some cases) a new and slightly different slant onto the songs that they had by then been perform- ing for some time. At the first show, the whole group seemed to be energised … I think the general vibe could be summed up by LC’s spoken words after Dance Me To The End Of Love: “Thanks for inviting us back to NZ; we don’t know when we’ll be passing this way again, but I assure you that tonight we’ll give you everything we’ve got.”

If I had to pick the single biggest difference I noticed in the first performance of the 2010 tour (compared to the 2009 shows), it would be the obvious increase in Leonard’s confidence as an on-stage performer. I don’t mean to suggest that previously he lacked confidence … but having seen several shows in 2009, it’s clear that he approached his vocal delivery very much by keeping things fairly much the same each performance. It was almost like the songs were a kind a kind of mantra, to be recited as closely as possible each night. In the 2010 performances, however, he seemed very much more at ease with the material and willing to experiment with the delivery of a line, or the articulation of a melody, varying it from previous renditions. From Your Love The band as well had continued to improve in terms of its integration into a tighter and tighter knit unit. If I had to single out one example of this, it would be Dino’s playing — he has always been excellent, but when watching his performances on the 2009 tour, I had the feeling that the technical genius of his solos was

From Your Hatred and sometimes working a little at odds with the overall vibe of the band’s performance (although others doubtless would disagree). Hearing the 2010 performances, and witnessing the opening Auckland concert I think his playing at these shows now entirely

meshes into the seamless fabric of the band’s playing. http://www.soulpancake.com/question/43444/720860/do-you-think-that-leonard-cohen-at-the-age-of-76-is-still-sexy.html And You Turn In Disgust Tower of Song: As on the previous “down under” A Thousand Kisses Deep: Before reciting the tour, LC joked about his keyboard, saying that poem, LC spoke briefly about having recently “this things’s pretty sophisticated .. you read a blog on the topic “can a man of 76 be probably haven’t seen anything like this down sexy”. He said he particularly liked one here.” comment which said “yes, but in a repulsive way”. During the poem, towards the end, there Avalanche: There was a lyric substitution were some different stanzas (compared to what (compared to the original version) — I never I’ve previously heard) … they started “Well knew how much I wanted you / O love beyond that’s my story, I admit it’s broken and it’s belief bleak”.

The Eigenharp: After discussions on the Leonard If It Be Your Will: During LC’s spoken recitation Cohen Forum, I was keeping an eye out for this at the beginning, just after he said “I will speak nifty device. Dino only seemed to play it on two no more” a kiwi woman from the audience songs, one of which was Chelsea Hotel he used loudly yelled out “NEVER!” it to play some violin type strings. When he’s playing it, that thing lights up like a Xmas tree! Take This Waltz: As with some of the European performances, LC replaced “I want you, I want The Partisan: I can’t really put my finger on you, I want you” with “Te Quiero, Te Quiero, Te why, but this performance of this song seemed Quiero” (Spanish for ”I Love You”), which he ‘punchier’ than other times I heard it. Maybe a sang to Javier bit of a rearrangement? Closing Time: After the last verse, LC gave a Hallelujah: There was the obligatory namecheck longish spoken outro with words I hadn’t — last night it was “I didn’t come to Auckland to previously heard. The basic gist was that he’s fool you” like to drink with us the whole night through, but they’re wiping down the bar and all the I’m Your Man: “if you want to try another kind drunks are getting into their cars … I never got of love, I’ll wear an old man’s mask for you” to tell you how beautiful you are. We Took Outselves to Someone’s Bed And There We Fell Together Quick As Dogs And Truly Dead Were We