Friday, November 18, 2011
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Las Vegas Diary
If someone had told me at the start of the year the journeys I would undertake because of my love for Leonard Cohen I would have laughed at them. Having never being previously out of Ireland I honestly thought Lissadell was the last time I was going to see Leonard perform live on this tour but then came Katowice and while I was home on a day after this concert I just knew I had to try and do my best to get to Las Vegas to the final shows of the tour.
My adventure began a day early thanks to our horrendous weather which made driving conditions dangerous so it was up to Bewleys Airport Hotel for the night. While I did know of other fans that would be on the flight it was a little daunting travelling technically alone to the USA.
On arrival on Thursday morning I was relieve to discover it was relatively quiet and I was able to secure window seats for both flights which I would be taking that day as I had a changeover in Philadelphia. On boarding the plane or “Big Bird” as I’m affectionately calling all planes, I discovered a woman sitting in my seat. I politely told her this to which she was very angry and refused to accept what I was saying. I showed her my ticket with the seat number and offered to help her find her seat if she would show me her ticket. To this she responded that she could read. I’d enough of being polite at this stage and told her if she could read she wouldn’t be in my seat! Eventually she found her ticket and moved to the row in front minus the good window view! Explained why she took my seat!
We had a short delay while Big Bird was being defrosted due to the sub zero temperatures. How I couldn’t wait to arrive in Las Vegas and get some warm sunshine into my bones! The journey across the Atlantic passed relatively quickly as I read magazines and a book. I discovered doing cross words made time fly by! The food while not spectacular was adequate and a lot better than what was to come on the flight from Philly to Vegas. On the first flight we got dinner, snacks and any amount of refreshments mostly free. However the second flight though almost as long only had a snack service and everything except drinks had to be paid for. Of course alcohol if one wanted it had always to be paid for!
On arrival at Philadelphia we were not amused at the long walk to the terminal to get our flight to Las Vegas. It was even worse than Ryanair flights in Dublin. We had the same to contend with on the way back. We wondered where the respect for people travelling long distance was! Although it was very funny to be greeted on entry to the airport to a huge bill board with the message “Senator Michael Nutter welcomes you to Philadelphia”. These sign were all over the airport and make one wonder why he doesn’t change his name!
It was great when we finally set off on the final leg of the journey to Las Vegas. I spent most of this flight talking to a gentleman named David who is a Jehovah’s Witness. We had an interesting debate and while our beliefs are poles apart it was a respectable conversation.
It was interesting walking through Las Vegas International Airport to see the poker machines. Though I had known they would be there it was still a funny sight though nothing to what I would see later. After collecting my suitcase I found a shuttle bus going to my hotel The Imperial Palace. Driving into The Strip I was awestruck at the sights before me. Arriving in the dark with bring lights everywhere is very impactful and even though I’d seen photos and videos nothing prepares the mind for this! One thing for sure I was in a place completely different to Ireland and being surrounded by the Nevada desert meant everything was completely different! Normally in this instance I’d reach for my camera but all I could do was stare!
On arrival at the hotel I opened the door to a huge casino right in the lobby! Ok, where do I check in? Spotting the desk I checked in and then proceeded to find my hotel room. This proved tricky as the hotel was a maze and although I was there four nights I didn’t ever completely know the way to get there and had to make sure to have landmarks. Although the hallways left a lot to be desired I was relieved to enter a clean room, basic but adequate.
After this it was time to go meet other fans at a pre-arranged meet-up at a different hotel. On exiting my hotel I very cagily started walking down the street having become used to having to do this at home in case I’d fall on the ice! It took a few steps to realise I didn’t need to this here as no snow and ice here!
Making my way to the Bellagio I was staring in awe at all the lights around me. Everywhere is brightly lit up in Las Vegas on The Strip. One of the first things I noticed was the replica half size Eiffel Tower. Even at half size it looked impressive. What were also impressive were huge screens advertising the concerts. It was lovely to hear Leonard singing Hallelujah as I made my way down The Strip. It was great to meet up with Mandy in the Bellagio as we had previously met at Lissadell. I also met Judy who is a Facebook friend and whom Mandy was staying with for the duration of the weekend.
After a quick bite to eat it was time to head across to Caesars Palace for another meet up and to set eyes on the Venue. The Colosseum can be seen from the outside but one enters it from inside Caesars Palace. Heading to collect my concert tickets I was very impressed to see a massive poster on the wall of The Colosseum of a smiling Leonard. I got many photos here over the duration of the weekend! I was relieved on collecting my tickets that I would be able to upgrade my ticket for the Saturday show as when I was booking I could only get the 3rd level and I didn’t want to be up there for Leonards last concert!
Walking around Caesars Palace I was very impressed with the decor even though upper class hotels are not usually places I feel comfortable in. While everything was copies they were made with the same material as the originals and it looked and felt fantastic! There was energy about the place which I needed as I had being awake 26 hours at this stage! As we made our way to meet the other fans there was a sea of casinos everywhere we looked. Las Vegas is a 24 hour city which never sleeps and at anytime one would see plenty of people gambling!
After collecting nametags and wrist bands for the concerts and meeting fellow fans I finally answered my body’s call and headed back to my hotel for sleep. However it was to evade me and now on home turf it is still evading me! After 3 hours I went back downstairs and the place was full of life! After managing another couple of hours lie down it was time to meet the women and start on the list of places I wanted to see in Las Vegas. However thanks to my desire to meet my master I didn’t actually get to see that much but I wouldn’t swop meeting Leonard for anything in the world!
We spent most of Friday trying to find him which I have already covered in my write up of meeting him so I won’t go over that again! First thing Friday I had to find Avi and collect photo books which I had pre-arranged to collect. After this we went for breakfast or should I say brunch at Caesars and let’s just say Mandy is a carnivore and leave it at that! We then went for a walk in The Forum shops at Caesars as it was there we were meeting Judy’s friend Doug to get inside info on where we might meet Leonard. Walking through The Forum we felt we were outside as the ceiling was made to look like we were. There were statues everywhere and it looked amazing though with the exception of postcards and the like we bought nothing else there. After this we went to book our helicopter tour of The Grand Canyon as we didn’t book it before we left in case we didn’t arrive due to the weather.
Basically as the rest of Friday is described in my Leonard meet-up report I’ll skip past that to Saturday. It felt great getting up after a massive four hours sleep but lots of adrenaline floating around the blood kept me sustained. After spending Friday looking for Leonard we decided to do something different Saturday and after breakfast we made our way down to see the volcano at The Mirage. We discovered it is only shown after 5pm so decided to come back the following night and instead made our way across to Madame Tussauds. It was great fun “meeting” the stars and having our picture taken with different people including Bono, Lady Gaga, George Clooney, Stevie Wonder and Barack Obama. Lady Gaga had only arrived 2 days previous. As we were exiting the merchandise shop and laughing at some hilarious fridge magnets we noticed we could get wax models of our hands for $12! Bargain, we had to get that.
As we left to head for lunch at The Flamingo we were asked where we are from. Replying Ireland and Scotland the guy said “Scirish” We looked at him in confusion and he claimed there was a race of people called Scirish who were a mix between Irish and Scots. We laughed and disappointed him by telling him this was not true.
Having lunch which came with a free shot of vodka at The Flamingo we could look out at flamingos, black swans and huge fish. We did plan to return on Sunday but didn’t have a chance as time was tight after meeting Leonard. We headed down to The Eiffel Tower expecting a queue but were pleasantly surprised to discover none! For $10 dollars we were also delighted to discover we could stay up there as long as we wished as we had planned on returning on the Sunday to see the night lights. Now we could do day light, dusk and night views all at once as it gets dark very early! To say the views were stunning are an understatement. It was fantastic up there and I was very snap happy and got photos of a gorgeous sky at sunset and also of a fountain display at The Bellagio across the road. After descending the tower we went to look at this from ground level. While the circle formations can be seen for the tower it was still an amazing sight from the ground.
It was then time to head across to Caesars for the second concert. This was a bittersweet moment as while it felt great going to see Leonard for a second night running it was also going be our last chance to see him in concert for the foreseeable future. As with Friday the remainder of Saturday is contained in the other reviews.
Well I couldn’t have imagined for a better start to Sunday and I will be forever grateful I met Leonard. I will treasure our time together in my heart and of course treasure my photos and signed memorabilia as well. After meeting Leonard we had to find a place to check for confirmation email for our Grand Canyon trip and I needed a new memory card for my camera as I had used my last one for my Leonard photos. After having memory card issues in the past I wasn’t going to risk anything happening to these!
We didn’t even have time for lunch which was just as well as even though we hadn’t eaten much in the past 24 hours I wasn’t hungry. Meeting Leonard was sustenance enough! So it was straight back to my hotel for a snack and wait for our limousine to take us from the hotel. As my first time in a limo I wasn’t amused that we were being collected at a back car park! Not very luxurious but maybe it was better that way as I when I was getting in I was less than elegant. On asking how one could be elegant I was told it isn’t easy!
We were driven from the hotel to the airport where we checked in and watched a helicopter safety video. It was then for the 2nd most exciting part of our adventure as we made our way to the helicopter. To say flying to the Grand Canyon was a breathtaking is almost an understatement! It was an absolutely stunning view as we flew over Lake Mead and The Hoover Dam. On the journey there and back we had headphones with commentary and it was explained that there is only approximately enough water to last 25 more years in Vegas! Apparently they use it for energy and are looking at changing that to using the sun. That is a no brainer as plenty of sunshine in Nevada!
As we flew over the Grand Canyon I remembered when someone told me that every time one goes there it looks completely different and I have to agree with that because even though I’ve seen photos and videos this looked like nothing like I’d seen before! We landed at a designated spot for the tours where there were benches and were now incidentally in Arizona. We had a few minutes to walk around and take photos before having a champagne lunch. I was surprised how rocky it was. While I expected rocks I had expected sand too but saw none. It was great seeing cactus in their original landscape.
After taking some photos and having our lunch where I forced myself to eat a small roll as I was didn’t fancy getting dizzy up in the air from the lack of eating even though I wasn’t hungry! Had no such problems with the champagne though! It went down a treat! The journey back to Las Vegas gave us the most stunning sunset I have even seem and ironically it was the eastern skyline that looked the most beautiful as it was a beautiful mix of blue and purple colours. While flying down The Strip was great to do I was on the wrong side of the helicopter to see it properly but I did have my memories of seeing it from The Eiffel Tower. When we arrived at the airport we couldn’t land when planes were taking off so we had to hover over the planes and I enjoyed that! While I dislike travelling on land I can’t say the same for the air and I now have a dream to fly for just one day. It wouldn’t be a good job for me though as I do be raging when I can’t take photos when I’m out with nature!
When we landed we thanked and tipped the captain for a truly memorable evening and headed to get our limousine back to my hotel. I decided to be cheeky and asked the driver to take the long way around so I could see some of the Vegas I missed through trying to find Leonard! He kindly obliged as he had to drop another guy off anyway. I wanted to go to the lobby in Caesars to check email using their wifi so I asked to go there instead. It is across the road for the driver so it wasn’t putting him out but saved our already sore limbs a 30 minute walk as he couldn’t stop outside the front of The Imperial Palace as it hasn’t got a nice driveway like Caesers. That turned out to be a good move as he stopped right outside one of the main entrances which were a much better location than where we were collected!
After checking my email and taking one final walk around Caesars and to the entrance of The Colosseum to once more take in the view of the massive Leonard poster (still in total shock we had seen him in person) we headed down to watch the volcano at The Mirage all the while taking some photos of the night lights of Vegas. While we watched I of course took many photos. If there is one thing Vegas is expert at it is to constantly surprise and this did surprise and it was so stunning we decided to come back for it again so I could record it! We thought it would be a good idea to finally eat and headed across the road to a place called The Steak House. Only this place isn’t a steak house it was another darn casino and the biggest one we had seen at that! I literally couldn’t see the end of it and with Christmas lights added in I had seen enough so we got an ice cream and went back outside to await the volcano. After eating ice cream I realised I still wasn’t hungry and Mandy said she felt the same so we decided to skip dinner and head back to my hotel for a drink and to have a flutter on the slot machines. We had the biggest Strawberry Daiquiri I’d ever seen but one with the least amount of alcohol!
All too soon it was time to say our goodbyes. It was a sad moment as we had shared a brilliant weekend together and will treasure our time with Leonard together forever. I was and am truly grateful for the time I spent with Mandy and Judy and hope our paths cross again.
After packing I headed to bed for what I hoped would be a decent night sleep not needing to be up until after 6am. However being me I woke at 5am. After laying there for a moment I decided to get up and have a final look at The Colosseum which although was across from my hotel I wouldn’t see as I was leaving. I enjoyed those few minutes just before dawn where for once Vegas was peaceful. I then decided to head back upstairs and write my report of the meeting so I’d have it on paper when it was fresh in my mind.
Although the airport was busy it was easy to check in and go through security. I made sure to secure my window seats as I’d being told I’d see the Rocky Mountains. I’d missed this on the way in as it was dark that journey. It was lovely meeting up with Mick Purcell and sharing with him my story of meeting Leonard. He had being my companion on the trip to Lissadell for Leonard’s birthday so to be able to tell him I’d told Leonard this was special. On boarding the plane I was pleased to notice I could see Caesars in the distance and made sure to capture one last image. It is a place I wouldn’t normally like no matter how much I like the statues and decor but as the location where I met Leonard it now has a special place in my heart.
We had almost an hour of a delay here due to some mechanical fault on Big Bird but finally we were given the all clear for takeoff. I was lucky to have a lovely lady beside me for the flight called Melba where she generously listened to story of my adventure. It was great to have wifi for that flight and I showed Melba my review of Leonard’s concert in Lissadell to which she was very complementary. Wifi came in handy to share photos of the stunning views we were lucky to have. For most of the journey we had the most amazing scenery I’d ever seen including Lake Mead, The Grand Canyon and The Rocky mountains. I especially loved passing over The Rocky’s as it reminded me of the wonderful song by John Denver, Colorado Rocky Mountain High! Someone passed a comment at one stage of the journey as to what part of America we might be and as my phone has Google maps I turned it on to discover we were somewhere over South Carolina. Unfortunately my battery was just about dead so I was unable to do this again at a later time again!
On arriving late in Philadelphia we had to rush to get to our connection in time. I was glad to leave for Dublin as I was looking forward to getting home and finally getting a chance to look at my photos! My companion for this journey turned out to be Mick’s niece Jean and we spent a while chatting before dinner arrived. I ate some to keep my strength up and then while Jean decided to sleep I listened to Leonard on my mp3 player while I wrote my concert reviews. Being the first time I listened to his music since meeting him it was very special and I thought I was doing a good job keeping my emotions in check that is a good job until Hallelujah came on. Hearing my favourite song for the 1st time after meeting its creator was overwhelming and I’m glad I had a travel pillow because I couldn’t stop the tears flowing throughout the whole song.
After this I managed to compose myself and was relieved no one had seen this moment. It was a strange feeling a while later when the sun rose as we had left Vegas in daylight and approached and left Philadelphia in darkness and now as we approached Ireland it was getting bright. Of course I knew this would be happening as we would be arriving in Dublin around 9am. While I did wish I could have stayed away longer it was nice to see the Irish coastline as even though we had cloud under us it seemed to clear at just the right time! It was now the end of my wonderful journey which was even better than I could ever have imagined. Now I know meeting Leonard was a big part of this but I have to say while there are some things I don’t like about Las Vegas on the whole I did as it is a photographers paradise and it will always have a special place in my heart as the place I met my master.
My adventure began a day early thanks to our horrendous weather which made driving conditions dangerous so it was up to Bewleys Airport Hotel for the night. While I did know of other fans that would be on the flight it was a little daunting travelling technically alone to the USA.
On arrival on Thursday morning I was relieve to discover it was relatively quiet and I was able to secure window seats for both flights which I would be taking that day as I had a changeover in Philadelphia. On boarding the plane or “Big Bird” as I’m affectionately calling all planes, I discovered a woman sitting in my seat. I politely told her this to which she was very angry and refused to accept what I was saying. I showed her my ticket with the seat number and offered to help her find her seat if she would show me her ticket. To this she responded that she could read. I’d enough of being polite at this stage and told her if she could read she wouldn’t be in my seat! Eventually she found her ticket and moved to the row in front minus the good window view! Explained why she took my seat!
We had a short delay while Big Bird was being defrosted due to the sub zero temperatures. How I couldn’t wait to arrive in Las Vegas and get some warm sunshine into my bones! The journey across the Atlantic passed relatively quickly as I read magazines and a book. I discovered doing cross words made time fly by! The food while not spectacular was adequate and a lot better than what was to come on the flight from Philly to Vegas. On the first flight we got dinner, snacks and any amount of refreshments mostly free. However the second flight though almost as long only had a snack service and everything except drinks had to be paid for. Of course alcohol if one wanted it had always to be paid for!
On arrival at Philadelphia we were not amused at the long walk to the terminal to get our flight to Las Vegas. It was even worse than Ryanair flights in Dublin. We had the same to contend with on the way back. We wondered where the respect for people travelling long distance was! Although it was very funny to be greeted on entry to the airport to a huge bill board with the message “Senator Michael Nutter welcomes you to Philadelphia”. These sign were all over the airport and make one wonder why he doesn’t change his name!
It was great when we finally set off on the final leg of the journey to Las Vegas. I spent most of this flight talking to a gentleman named David who is a Jehovah’s Witness. We had an interesting debate and while our beliefs are poles apart it was a respectable conversation.
It was interesting walking through Las Vegas International Airport to see the poker machines. Though I had known they would be there it was still a funny sight though nothing to what I would see later. After collecting my suitcase I found a shuttle bus going to my hotel The Imperial Palace. Driving into The Strip I was awestruck at the sights before me. Arriving in the dark with bring lights everywhere is very impactful and even though I’d seen photos and videos nothing prepares the mind for this! One thing for sure I was in a place completely different to Ireland and being surrounded by the Nevada desert meant everything was completely different! Normally in this instance I’d reach for my camera but all I could do was stare!
On arrival at the hotel I opened the door to a huge casino right in the lobby! Ok, where do I check in? Spotting the desk I checked in and then proceeded to find my hotel room. This proved tricky as the hotel was a maze and although I was there four nights I didn’t ever completely know the way to get there and had to make sure to have landmarks. Although the hallways left a lot to be desired I was relieved to enter a clean room, basic but adequate.
After this it was time to go meet other fans at a pre-arranged meet-up at a different hotel. On exiting my hotel I very cagily started walking down the street having become used to having to do this at home in case I’d fall on the ice! It took a few steps to realise I didn’t need to this here as no snow and ice here!
Making my way to the Bellagio I was staring in awe at all the lights around me. Everywhere is brightly lit up in Las Vegas on The Strip. One of the first things I noticed was the replica half size Eiffel Tower. Even at half size it looked impressive. What were also impressive were huge screens advertising the concerts. It was lovely to hear Leonard singing Hallelujah as I made my way down The Strip. It was great to meet up with Mandy in the Bellagio as we had previously met at Lissadell. I also met Judy who is a Facebook friend and whom Mandy was staying with for the duration of the weekend.
After a quick bite to eat it was time to head across to Caesars Palace for another meet up and to set eyes on the Venue. The Colosseum can be seen from the outside but one enters it from inside Caesars Palace. Heading to collect my concert tickets I was very impressed to see a massive poster on the wall of The Colosseum of a smiling Leonard. I got many photos here over the duration of the weekend! I was relieved on collecting my tickets that I would be able to upgrade my ticket for the Saturday show as when I was booking I could only get the 3rd level and I didn’t want to be up there for Leonards last concert!
Walking around Caesars Palace I was very impressed with the decor even though upper class hotels are not usually places I feel comfortable in. While everything was copies they were made with the same material as the originals and it looked and felt fantastic! There was energy about the place which I needed as I had being awake 26 hours at this stage! As we made our way to meet the other fans there was a sea of casinos everywhere we looked. Las Vegas is a 24 hour city which never sleeps and at anytime one would see plenty of people gambling!
After collecting nametags and wrist bands for the concerts and meeting fellow fans I finally answered my body’s call and headed back to my hotel for sleep. However it was to evade me and now on home turf it is still evading me! After 3 hours I went back downstairs and the place was full of life! After managing another couple of hours lie down it was time to meet the women and start on the list of places I wanted to see in Las Vegas. However thanks to my desire to meet my master I didn’t actually get to see that much but I wouldn’t swop meeting Leonard for anything in the world!
We spent most of Friday trying to find him which I have already covered in my write up of meeting him so I won’t go over that again! First thing Friday I had to find Avi and collect photo books which I had pre-arranged to collect. After this we went for breakfast or should I say brunch at Caesars and let’s just say Mandy is a carnivore and leave it at that! We then went for a walk in The Forum shops at Caesars as it was there we were meeting Judy’s friend Doug to get inside info on where we might meet Leonard. Walking through The Forum we felt we were outside as the ceiling was made to look like we were. There were statues everywhere and it looked amazing though with the exception of postcards and the like we bought nothing else there. After this we went to book our helicopter tour of The Grand Canyon as we didn’t book it before we left in case we didn’t arrive due to the weather.
Basically as the rest of Friday is described in my Leonard meet-up report I’ll skip past that to Saturday. It felt great getting up after a massive four hours sleep but lots of adrenaline floating around the blood kept me sustained. After spending Friday looking for Leonard we decided to do something different Saturday and after breakfast we made our way down to see the volcano at The Mirage. We discovered it is only shown after 5pm so decided to come back the following night and instead made our way across to Madame Tussauds. It was great fun “meeting” the stars and having our picture taken with different people including Bono, Lady Gaga, George Clooney, Stevie Wonder and Barack Obama. Lady Gaga had only arrived 2 days previous. As we were exiting the merchandise shop and laughing at some hilarious fridge magnets we noticed we could get wax models of our hands for $12! Bargain, we had to get that.
As we left to head for lunch at The Flamingo we were asked where we are from. Replying Ireland and Scotland the guy said “Scirish” We looked at him in confusion and he claimed there was a race of people called Scirish who were a mix between Irish and Scots. We laughed and disappointed him by telling him this was not true.
Having lunch which came with a free shot of vodka at The Flamingo we could look out at flamingos, black swans and huge fish. We did plan to return on Sunday but didn’t have a chance as time was tight after meeting Leonard. We headed down to The Eiffel Tower expecting a queue but were pleasantly surprised to discover none! For $10 dollars we were also delighted to discover we could stay up there as long as we wished as we had planned on returning on the Sunday to see the night lights. Now we could do day light, dusk and night views all at once as it gets dark very early! To say the views were stunning are an understatement. It was fantastic up there and I was very snap happy and got photos of a gorgeous sky at sunset and also of a fountain display at The Bellagio across the road. After descending the tower we went to look at this from ground level. While the circle formations can be seen for the tower it was still an amazing sight from the ground.
It was then time to head across to Caesars for the second concert. This was a bittersweet moment as while it felt great going to see Leonard for a second night running it was also going be our last chance to see him in concert for the foreseeable future. As with Friday the remainder of Saturday is contained in the other reviews.
Well I couldn’t have imagined for a better start to Sunday and I will be forever grateful I met Leonard. I will treasure our time together in my heart and of course treasure my photos and signed memorabilia as well. After meeting Leonard we had to find a place to check for confirmation email for our Grand Canyon trip and I needed a new memory card for my camera as I had used my last one for my Leonard photos. After having memory card issues in the past I wasn’t going to risk anything happening to these!
We didn’t even have time for lunch which was just as well as even though we hadn’t eaten much in the past 24 hours I wasn’t hungry. Meeting Leonard was sustenance enough! So it was straight back to my hotel for a snack and wait for our limousine to take us from the hotel. As my first time in a limo I wasn’t amused that we were being collected at a back car park! Not very luxurious but maybe it was better that way as I when I was getting in I was less than elegant. On asking how one could be elegant I was told it isn’t easy!
We were driven from the hotel to the airport where we checked in and watched a helicopter safety video. It was then for the 2nd most exciting part of our adventure as we made our way to the helicopter. To say flying to the Grand Canyon was a breathtaking is almost an understatement! It was an absolutely stunning view as we flew over Lake Mead and The Hoover Dam. On the journey there and back we had headphones with commentary and it was explained that there is only approximately enough water to last 25 more years in Vegas! Apparently they use it for energy and are looking at changing that to using the sun. That is a no brainer as plenty of sunshine in Nevada!
As we flew over the Grand Canyon I remembered when someone told me that every time one goes there it looks completely different and I have to agree with that because even though I’ve seen photos and videos this looked like nothing like I’d seen before! We landed at a designated spot for the tours where there were benches and were now incidentally in Arizona. We had a few minutes to walk around and take photos before having a champagne lunch. I was surprised how rocky it was. While I expected rocks I had expected sand too but saw none. It was great seeing cactus in their original landscape.
After taking some photos and having our lunch where I forced myself to eat a small roll as I was didn’t fancy getting dizzy up in the air from the lack of eating even though I wasn’t hungry! Had no such problems with the champagne though! It went down a treat! The journey back to Las Vegas gave us the most stunning sunset I have even seem and ironically it was the eastern skyline that looked the most beautiful as it was a beautiful mix of blue and purple colours. While flying down The Strip was great to do I was on the wrong side of the helicopter to see it properly but I did have my memories of seeing it from The Eiffel Tower. When we arrived at the airport we couldn’t land when planes were taking off so we had to hover over the planes and I enjoyed that! While I dislike travelling on land I can’t say the same for the air and I now have a dream to fly for just one day. It wouldn’t be a good job for me though as I do be raging when I can’t take photos when I’m out with nature!
When we landed we thanked and tipped the captain for a truly memorable evening and headed to get our limousine back to my hotel. I decided to be cheeky and asked the driver to take the long way around so I could see some of the Vegas I missed through trying to find Leonard! He kindly obliged as he had to drop another guy off anyway. I wanted to go to the lobby in Caesars to check email using their wifi so I asked to go there instead. It is across the road for the driver so it wasn’t putting him out but saved our already sore limbs a 30 minute walk as he couldn’t stop outside the front of The Imperial Palace as it hasn’t got a nice driveway like Caesers. That turned out to be a good move as he stopped right outside one of the main entrances which were a much better location than where we were collected!
After checking my email and taking one final walk around Caesars and to the entrance of The Colosseum to once more take in the view of the massive Leonard poster (still in total shock we had seen him in person) we headed down to watch the volcano at The Mirage all the while taking some photos of the night lights of Vegas. While we watched I of course took many photos. If there is one thing Vegas is expert at it is to constantly surprise and this did surprise and it was so stunning we decided to come back for it again so I could record it! We thought it would be a good idea to finally eat and headed across the road to a place called The Steak House. Only this place isn’t a steak house it was another darn casino and the biggest one we had seen at that! I literally couldn’t see the end of it and with Christmas lights added in I had seen enough so we got an ice cream and went back outside to await the volcano. After eating ice cream I realised I still wasn’t hungry and Mandy said she felt the same so we decided to skip dinner and head back to my hotel for a drink and to have a flutter on the slot machines. We had the biggest Strawberry Daiquiri I’d ever seen but one with the least amount of alcohol!
All too soon it was time to say our goodbyes. It was a sad moment as we had shared a brilliant weekend together and will treasure our time with Leonard together forever. I was and am truly grateful for the time I spent with Mandy and Judy and hope our paths cross again.
After packing I headed to bed for what I hoped would be a decent night sleep not needing to be up until after 6am. However being me I woke at 5am. After laying there for a moment I decided to get up and have a final look at The Colosseum which although was across from my hotel I wouldn’t see as I was leaving. I enjoyed those few minutes just before dawn where for once Vegas was peaceful. I then decided to head back upstairs and write my report of the meeting so I’d have it on paper when it was fresh in my mind.
Although the airport was busy it was easy to check in and go through security. I made sure to secure my window seats as I’d being told I’d see the Rocky Mountains. I’d missed this on the way in as it was dark that journey. It was lovely meeting up with Mick Purcell and sharing with him my story of meeting Leonard. He had being my companion on the trip to Lissadell for Leonard’s birthday so to be able to tell him I’d told Leonard this was special. On boarding the plane I was pleased to notice I could see Caesars in the distance and made sure to capture one last image. It is a place I wouldn’t normally like no matter how much I like the statues and decor but as the location where I met Leonard it now has a special place in my heart.
We had almost an hour of a delay here due to some mechanical fault on Big Bird but finally we were given the all clear for takeoff. I was lucky to have a lovely lady beside me for the flight called Melba where she generously listened to story of my adventure. It was great to have wifi for that flight and I showed Melba my review of Leonard’s concert in Lissadell to which she was very complementary. Wifi came in handy to share photos of the stunning views we were lucky to have. For most of the journey we had the most amazing scenery I’d ever seen including Lake Mead, The Grand Canyon and The Rocky mountains. I especially loved passing over The Rocky’s as it reminded me of the wonderful song by John Denver, Colorado Rocky Mountain High! Someone passed a comment at one stage of the journey as to what part of America we might be and as my phone has Google maps I turned it on to discover we were somewhere over South Carolina. Unfortunately my battery was just about dead so I was unable to do this again at a later time again!
On arriving late in Philadelphia we had to rush to get to our connection in time. I was glad to leave for Dublin as I was looking forward to getting home and finally getting a chance to look at my photos! My companion for this journey turned out to be Mick’s niece Jean and we spent a while chatting before dinner arrived. I ate some to keep my strength up and then while Jean decided to sleep I listened to Leonard on my mp3 player while I wrote my concert reviews. Being the first time I listened to his music since meeting him it was very special and I thought I was doing a good job keeping my emotions in check that is a good job until Hallelujah came on. Hearing my favourite song for the 1st time after meeting its creator was overwhelming and I’m glad I had a travel pillow because I couldn’t stop the tears flowing throughout the whole song.
After this I managed to compose myself and was relieved no one had seen this moment. It was a strange feeling a while later when the sun rose as we had left Vegas in daylight and approached and left Philadelphia in darkness and now as we approached Ireland it was getting bright. Of course I knew this would be happening as we would be arriving in Dublin around 9am. While I did wish I could have stayed away longer it was nice to see the Irish coastline as even though we had cloud under us it seemed to clear at just the right time! It was now the end of my wonderful journey which was even better than I could ever have imagined. Now I know meeting Leonard was a big part of this but I have to say while there are some things I don’t like about Las Vegas on the whole I did as it is a photographers paradise and it will always have a special place in my heart as the place I met my master.
Leonard Cohen Tour Finale Las Vegas DEC 2010
As a teenager Leonard Cohen practised hypnotism and I sometimes wonder is that what he does to us at his concerts as no matter how many times I've seen him live I always feel compelled to go again. I'm happy to be under this spell though as it meant I have had the best experiences of my life. Having this year alone previously seen Cohen in concert here in Ireland and also in Poland decided I just had to attend the final two shows of the tour so it was off to Las Vegas for only my second ever time out of Ireland. Poland had being the first, such is the impact Cohen has had on my life. Since the concerts at The Colosseum in Caesars Palace Las Vegas were the final two shows of a mammoth three year tour I just knew I had to be there no matter what the sacrifices I'd have to make.
The first of the two shows took place on Friday December 10th with the final show taking place the following night. Both nights saw almost identical set-lists with the only exception being the addition of Born in Chains on the final night. However no two Cohen concerts are the same regardless of set-list and while always brilliant each night had its own special moments and memories.
On the Friday night on entering The Colosseum for the first time I was very taken with the design and compact it looked. It seemed incredibly small for a venue which can hold up to 5000 patrons. I was almost at the rear of the venue for the Friday show but felt like I was close to the stage!
Cohen and his wonderful band entered the stage shortly after 8pm to a wondrous applause from a delighted audience where there were many who like myself had travelled thousands of miles to be able to witness the magic at the end of the tour. Hearing the familiar sounds of the now traditional opening song at a Cohen concert, Dance me to the end of Love I sat back relaxed and all ready to enjoy what I knew would be over three hours of entertainment to come.
As always Cohen and his fantastic band performed to the highest level. It is a testament to Cohen of how well he is respected in the industry that he can attract great musicians in their own right to go on tour with him for three years. The mutual love and respect they all have for each other is there to see and really adds to what is already a perfect formula. During all of the many solo parts for each musician Cohen stands there hat removed head bowed. Even though this is a familiar sight to my eyes it never fails to move me or to impress me. In all the concerts I attend I've never seen this high level of mutual respect before except in an actual band situation. Lead singers may command respect but I've never seen it returned in the same way as Cohen returns it.
I find it hard to pick individual musical highlights as I love all the songs and when each is performed to perfection it is almost impossible to choose individual songs. However as always for me Hallelujah was a standout moment, bittersweet that while I knew I'd hear Cohen perform it again the following night the end was nigh. Other standout songs for me from the first night include Gypsy Wife , a spoken rendition of A thousand Kisses Deep which was unfortunately nearly ruined for me when a woman nearby started moaning really loudly. While initially funny it did become an irritant after a while. To my ears and those beside me it sounded like moans of pleasure, however while talking to a friend after the concert he told me a woman fitting the description I described was being taken off on a stretcher! Mad or ill, it makes me wonder!
Another song which was extra special was the solo performance of Boogie Street by Sharon Robinson who had being absent for some European dates due to illness including the concert I attended in Katowice. I was very happy to see her return and as always her vocals were impeccable. Robinson has co-written many of Cohen'srecent songs where of course he has supplied the lyrics and she the music. Along with the aforementioned Boogie Street two of these songs include Waiting for the Miracle and In My Secret Life. I absolutely love the melodies of both these songs so Robinson will always be held in high respect and I was delighted to see her back and looking and sounding fantastic.
Non-musical highlights included when Cohen described Las Vegas as an unmagical place and a curious place. It does seem a strange place for Cohen to perform as everything is very over the top and extravagant which are descriptions which one could never use when describing Cohen. Usually Cohen introduces Anthem with saying how privileged we are to gather in this privileged place while so much of the world in plunged in chaos which he did indeed return to for the final show but we appreciated the change for one night only!
At the end of this song as it is always the end of the first half Cohen introduces us to his wonderful band. Always eloquent in his introductions it is a part of the show I love and each band member in turn is described in a wonderful way like when he introduces his musical director Roscoe Beck as the pilgrim of perfection. However in recent shows he has taken to giving drummer Raphael Bernardo Gayol an extended introduction. While I had heard about it I had seen it before the Friday night show. My favourite quote from this new extended introduction was when Cohen called him the drummer in the quietest rock and roll band around!
Another personal highlight from the Friday show was during Cohen's thanks at the end of the show. While thanking the fans he acknowledged that many of us had travelled long distances to be there and he couldn't describe us as fans that it was more than that. This touched my heart and it most certainly true that I don't just love Cohen for his wonderful songs, it is indeed more than that!
While I thoroughly enjoyed the Friday concert the Saturday one simply blew me away. I don't think Lissadell will ever be topped for me but this has come very, very close. Right from the start there was a raw energy to everything and the atmosphere was electric. We knew we were in for a very special night but we also knew this would be the final concert for the foreseeable future which meant emotions were heightened right from the off. This could be seen on stage too where everyone seemed to be pushing that little bit extra. It brings new meaning to the phrase 110% as that is what it felt like they were giving.
Nearly every song ended with a standing ovation at the Saturday show from most of the audience. The first song of the Friday show to achieve this was Hallelujah which is performed in the second half of the show to put this in perspective.
There was a very special moment when during the last few minutes of the interval a section of the fans started singing Passing Through and when Cohencame out on stage after hearing the fans he sang a line from it for us. For the final show it had being arrangedvia email to get as many women as possible to wear something with polka dots for the final show in tribute to the lyrics of Closing Time. While I did indeed have a headband on I was too far back to be seen from the stage but it was great to see people waving these items over their heads during the song with some people throwing them on stage!
As mentioned earlier in this report Cohen performed Born in Chains on the Saturday night. Having not being performed the previous night I was very pleased to hear it. There are solos from Sharon Robinson and individual solos from Hattie and Charley Webb. .Mixing these beautiful singers with Cohen's gorgeous voice makes for the most wonderful harmonies and adds such magic to each song. I do love though the solos in this song and also when The Webb Sisters sing If it be Your Will as well as the aforementioned Boogie Street by Robinson. All of the band members play an important roll with many solos throughout. I especially love Javier Mas introduction to Who By Fire, Dino Soldo's solo during Bird on the Wire and a personal favourite has to be Neil Larson's piano solo during my beloved Hallelujah. I also appreciate the important roles of bassist Roscoe Beck, lead guitarist Bob Metzger and of course the master timekeeper Rafael Bernardo Gayol.
Like the Friday night it is is extremely difficult to pick individual highlights apart from of course my precious Hallelujah where on the Saturday night I felt my heart was breaking as I knew it will be long time before I get to hear it performed live again. So Long Marianne is also a personal favourite to hear live and it comes very close to Hallelujah both in my affections and as a personal highlight at each concert. I was very happy when Cohen again recited A Thousand Kisses Deep this time with no interruption. While I love Cohen for his singing of his songs first and foremost this is an absolute gem when it is recited. Cohen who was first a poet is an expert at recitation.
While the end was nigh we really couldn't ask for more as we were treated to almost four hours of magic with only a twenty minute interval. I really felt for Cohen and his band for as heartbroken as we were that the tour was over they has spent three years on the road together and the bond between them all is plain to see. There were tears in my eyes as Cohen said his final thanks to everyone involved over the last three years.
Now the tour is finally over Cohen is heading into studio to record his twelfth album and first since 2004. If the three songs premiered on this tour, Born in Chains, The Darkness and Feels so Good are anything to go by this record will be amongst the best work he has ever released. Rarely is an artist still at the top of his game in his mid seventies but then Leonard Cohen is an unique entity.
After the show on the Saturday night I was lucky enough to meet both Dino Soldo and The Webb Sisters.It was great being able to personally thank them for their contribution to the tour and each show. However nothing will ever beat the moment when on the Sunday morning I actually met Cohen and was personally able to thank him for the effect he has had on my life and for his amazing concerts and that I really do hope he tours again. I also conveyed this wish to his manager Robert Kory who promised he would do his best to make this wish happen.
I say thank you to Leonard Cohen, his wonderful band and crew and will be forever grateful to have being there to witness the magic. For now, I say until we meet again, So Long Leonard Cohen it has being a pleasure to attend these concerts.
The first of the two shows took place on Friday December 10th with the final show taking place the following night. Both nights saw almost identical set-lists with the only exception being the addition of Born in Chains on the final night. However no two Cohen concerts are the same regardless of set-list and while always brilliant each night had its own special moments and memories.
On the Friday night on entering The Colosseum for the first time I was very taken with the design and compact it looked. It seemed incredibly small for a venue which can hold up to 5000 patrons. I was almost at the rear of the venue for the Friday show but felt like I was close to the stage!
Cohen and his wonderful band entered the stage shortly after 8pm to a wondrous applause from a delighted audience where there were many who like myself had travelled thousands of miles to be able to witness the magic at the end of the tour. Hearing the familiar sounds of the now traditional opening song at a Cohen concert, Dance me to the end of Love I sat back relaxed and all ready to enjoy what I knew would be over three hours of entertainment to come.
As always Cohen and his fantastic band performed to the highest level. It is a testament to Cohen of how well he is respected in the industry that he can attract great musicians in their own right to go on tour with him for three years. The mutual love and respect they all have for each other is there to see and really adds to what is already a perfect formula. During all of the many solo parts for each musician Cohen stands there hat removed head bowed. Even though this is a familiar sight to my eyes it never fails to move me or to impress me. In all the concerts I attend I've never seen this high level of mutual respect before except in an actual band situation. Lead singers may command respect but I've never seen it returned in the same way as Cohen returns it.
I find it hard to pick individual musical highlights as I love all the songs and when each is performed to perfection it is almost impossible to choose individual songs. However as always for me Hallelujah was a standout moment, bittersweet that while I knew I'd hear Cohen perform it again the following night the end was nigh. Other standout songs for me from the first night include Gypsy Wife , a spoken rendition of A thousand Kisses Deep which was unfortunately nearly ruined for me when a woman nearby started moaning really loudly. While initially funny it did become an irritant after a while. To my ears and those beside me it sounded like moans of pleasure, however while talking to a friend after the concert he told me a woman fitting the description I described was being taken off on a stretcher! Mad or ill, it makes me wonder!
Another song which was extra special was the solo performance of Boogie Street by Sharon Robinson who had being absent for some European dates due to illness including the concert I attended in Katowice. I was very happy to see her return and as always her vocals were impeccable. Robinson has co-written many of Cohen'srecent songs where of course he has supplied the lyrics and she the music. Along with the aforementioned Boogie Street two of these songs include Waiting for the Miracle and In My Secret Life. I absolutely love the melodies of both these songs so Robinson will always be held in high respect and I was delighted to see her back and looking and sounding fantastic.
Non-musical highlights included when Cohen described Las Vegas as an unmagical place and a curious place. It does seem a strange place for Cohen to perform as everything is very over the top and extravagant which are descriptions which one could never use when describing Cohen. Usually Cohen introduces Anthem with saying how privileged we are to gather in this privileged place while so much of the world in plunged in chaos which he did indeed return to for the final show but we appreciated the change for one night only!
At the end of this song as it is always the end of the first half Cohen introduces us to his wonderful band. Always eloquent in his introductions it is a part of the show I love and each band member in turn is described in a wonderful way like when he introduces his musical director Roscoe Beck as the pilgrim of perfection. However in recent shows he has taken to giving drummer Raphael Bernardo Gayol an extended introduction. While I had heard about it I had seen it before the Friday night show. My favourite quote from this new extended introduction was when Cohen called him the drummer in the quietest rock and roll band around!
Another personal highlight from the Friday show was during Cohen's thanks at the end of the show. While thanking the fans he acknowledged that many of us had travelled long distances to be there and he couldn't describe us as fans that it was more than that. This touched my heart and it most certainly true that I don't just love Cohen for his wonderful songs, it is indeed more than that!
While I thoroughly enjoyed the Friday concert the Saturday one simply blew me away. I don't think Lissadell will ever be topped for me but this has come very, very close. Right from the start there was a raw energy to everything and the atmosphere was electric. We knew we were in for a very special night but we also knew this would be the final concert for the foreseeable future which meant emotions were heightened right from the off. This could be seen on stage too where everyone seemed to be pushing that little bit extra. It brings new meaning to the phrase 110% as that is what it felt like they were giving.
Nearly every song ended with a standing ovation at the Saturday show from most of the audience. The first song of the Friday show to achieve this was Hallelujah which is performed in the second half of the show to put this in perspective.
There was a very special moment when during the last few minutes of the interval a section of the fans started singing Passing Through and when Cohencame out on stage after hearing the fans he sang a line from it for us. For the final show it had being arrangedvia email to get as many women as possible to wear something with polka dots for the final show in tribute to the lyrics of Closing Time. While I did indeed have a headband on I was too far back to be seen from the stage but it was great to see people waving these items over their heads during the song with some people throwing them on stage!
As mentioned earlier in this report Cohen performed Born in Chains on the Saturday night. Having not being performed the previous night I was very pleased to hear it. There are solos from Sharon Robinson and individual solos from Hattie and Charley Webb. .Mixing these beautiful singers with Cohen's gorgeous voice makes for the most wonderful harmonies and adds such magic to each song. I do love though the solos in this song and also when The Webb Sisters sing If it be Your Will as well as the aforementioned Boogie Street by Robinson. All of the band members play an important roll with many solos throughout. I especially love Javier Mas introduction to Who By Fire, Dino Soldo's solo during Bird on the Wire and a personal favourite has to be Neil Larson's piano solo during my beloved Hallelujah. I also appreciate the important roles of bassist Roscoe Beck, lead guitarist Bob Metzger and of course the master timekeeper Rafael Bernardo Gayol.
Like the Friday night it is is extremely difficult to pick individual highlights apart from of course my precious Hallelujah where on the Saturday night I felt my heart was breaking as I knew it will be long time before I get to hear it performed live again. So Long Marianne is also a personal favourite to hear live and it comes very close to Hallelujah both in my affections and as a personal highlight at each concert. I was very happy when Cohen again recited A Thousand Kisses Deep this time with no interruption. While I love Cohen for his singing of his songs first and foremost this is an absolute gem when it is recited. Cohen who was first a poet is an expert at recitation.
While the end was nigh we really couldn't ask for more as we were treated to almost four hours of magic with only a twenty minute interval. I really felt for Cohen and his band for as heartbroken as we were that the tour was over they has spent three years on the road together and the bond between them all is plain to see. There were tears in my eyes as Cohen said his final thanks to everyone involved over the last three years.
Now the tour is finally over Cohen is heading into studio to record his twelfth album and first since 2004. If the three songs premiered on this tour, Born in Chains, The Darkness and Feels so Good are anything to go by this record will be amongst the best work he has ever released. Rarely is an artist still at the top of his game in his mid seventies but then Leonard Cohen is an unique entity.
After the show on the Saturday night I was lucky enough to meet both Dino Soldo and The Webb Sisters.It was great being able to personally thank them for their contribution to the tour and each show. However nothing will ever beat the moment when on the Sunday morning I actually met Cohen and was personally able to thank him for the effect he has had on my life and for his amazing concerts and that I really do hope he tours again. I also conveyed this wish to his manager Robert Kory who promised he would do his best to make this wish happen.
I say thank you to Leonard Cohen, his wonderful band and crew and will be forever grateful to have being there to witness the magic. For now, I say until we meet again, So Long Leonard Cohen it has being a pleasure to attend these concerts.
Meeting Leonard Cohen
Sunday December 12th 2010, the date that showed me dreams can come true will be forever etched on my heart. Meeting Leonard Cohen and being able to thank him in person for the way he has enriched my life is something I will be eternally grateful for.
The road to actually meeting Leonard began on Friday December 9th when we were told by our new found friend Doug of the possible areas around Caesars Palace where we might meet Leonard. This local knowledge proved very useful over the days that followed.
After sussing the entrance which Leonard would arrive and knowing the time, meant we were lucky enough to see him being driven in for the sound check. While we didn’t actually set eyes on him then once the driver exited the building I shouted at him to know had he just dropped off Leonard Cohen to which he confirmed he did.
Having discovered the tower block in which the band and crew were staying after the concert on Saturday and while we didn’t meet Leonard then in which I’m pleased as I don’t think a casino is an adequate location to meet Leonard. However we were ecstatic to meet Dino Soldo and Hattie and Charley Webb where they all stopped to chat and sign my flag and pose for photos. This flag had travelled with me to the concert in Katowice Poland where I was lucky enough to stand at the front for the encores and display it for all the band and Leonard to see my message “Thank you Leonard and co for the magic and memories of Lissadell”.
Although I was a good bit back at the show on Saturday Dino had seen me waving the flag and pointed down at me and waved. He confirmed this when I met him. The Webb Sisters also confirmed that they had seen it as did many of the crew members we also spoke to. I had the longest conversation with Hattie on Saturday night and I told her how I had shaken her father’s hand in Poland and I also told her about how special a photo she had sent to our friend Gill who had given her and Charley a Unified Heart and how Gill was unable to be in Las Vegas but had helped me get there. She was very moved by this and I was very moved by how genuinely nice everyone we met was.
Shortly after this we met Ed Saunders who I thanked for looking after Leonard and asked him could he give me any info on departure. He told me while he didn’t know the location the time would be between 10am and 10.30am. This proved vital when we mixed it with Doug’s local knowledge the following morning.
Having all arrived nice and early Sunday morning Doug discovered where a lot of the crew were waiting so we gathered there to wait. We didn’t have long until Leonard exited the building wearing his trademark suit and hat with sunglasses and his guitar on his back. I had daydreamt about this scenario for so long that I instantly started shaking all over as I walked to where Leonard was standing and signing for Doug and Judy. I could hardly believe the one thing I had wanted to happen in the world more than anything was happening to me right at that moment. For me it wasn’t just about meeting Leonard, it was about thanking him personally for the massive effect he has had on my life. It is very hard for me to convey this in words but suffice to say the effect has being huge!
While I waited I prayed I wouldn’t say something stupid or start crying as I’m a very emotional person so didn’t want to ruin this one opportunity! Thankfully even though I was shaking like a leaf I did nothing I regret.
When Leonard turned to me I told him how special this moment was and how I was shaking he thanked me and told me I was ok. He kept telling all of us how kind we were to which we replied he was the kind one. People say you should never meet your heroes as they don’t live up to your expectations. This most certainly was not the case with Leonard. He was simply amazing and lived totally up to my expectations. He is a total gentleman among the nicest people I’ve ever met.
I had brought with me a lyrics book of Leonard’s songs and at the page for Hallelujah I had inserted my two concert tickets and a photo and a fridge magnet. I asked him if he wouldn’t mind signing one ticket and the lyrics of Hallelujah as it is my personal favourite song of his indeed my all time favourite song. Leonard being the total gentleman signed everything and when I asked him to sign the lyrics to me watching him write it was poetry in motion as he took great care over each letter.
When he finished this I showed him my flag at which he was very impressed. His first word was wow and he told me it was something else. After we posed for a photo with it where we both held it up I asked him to sign it and draw a Unified Heart on it. He said he would try as he isn’t very good at drawing! I told him he was and in any case he would be much better than me at drawing it!
While he was signing all my stuff I told him how much his music means to me and how it caresses my soul. He liked that comment telling me I was very kind. I also told him when I went to see him in Poland alone it was my first time out of Ireland and Las Vegas was my second. He was so kind and seemed touched by my words.
He then signed various bits and pieces for Mandy and Judy and spoke to them for a few minutes too where they shared their stories with him. I was very glad for the company I had while meeting Leonard. Both ladies are genuinely lovely people and helped make my Las Vegas journey a memorable one! Of course without Doug we would have never met him so I was very pleased for him too.
When Leonard was finished signing I asked him for a hug before he left to which he replied of course and he then hugged Mandy and Judy too. He then proceeded to walk towards the exit of Caesers and not wanting to be a nuisance we followed at a respectable distance all the time trying to comprehend what had just happened! As he headed to the area where the buses were parked he would stop every now and then and wave back at us thanking us. We thanked him and told him we loved him.
Then Robert Kory walked out and came over to us. I begged him to help get Leonard back on tour after the album is recorded and to make sure to come to Ireland as we love Leonard and we know he loves Ireland. I told him he’d have few complaints if they did a tour of every venue in Ireland. He told me he always does as he is told and would do his best to make it happen. He then proceeded to walk over to Leonard and the two of them lay against a wall talking and looking to where we were and smiling.
Next for me was the most special moment of all. While we stayed where we were taking photos we trying to make sure we weren’t being to invasive. Suddenly Leonard started walking towards us! We could hardly believe our luck. As he approached us he told us again how kind we were. I’ve just wondered now as I type this did Robert tell him what I said. If so I thank him for this moment where Leonard voluntarily returned to talk to us.
While Mandy asked him to sign one more item I took the opportunity to tell Leonard about my Lissadell experiences. I told him about my first trip for my birthday and seeing the area where the concert was marked out and how special to then return for the concert and how amazing that was. I asked him how it felt for him to be playing there and he said it was something else. I then told him about mine and Mike Purcell’s trip across Ireland back to Lissadell for the unveiling of the plaque at where the tree had being planted in his honour by the forum, a Canadian Maple of course. I said how we stayed in the Pier Head Hotel and how at 12pm on his birthday we put the plaque at the tree. I described where the tree was planted and told him of our desire for him to return. He was visibly touched when I told him this story.
Mandy then told him she had being to see him in Moscow to which he replied it was a rough one. It pained us to think of the uncomfortable time he would have had there as Mandy described the regime to me.
I then asked Leonard could I have one final hug before he left which he obliged and this time we simultaneously kissed each other on the cheek. Now that is a moment which I will never forget. When he walked away this time I decided to go back into the hotel and I knew how generous Leonard had being to us and after he took the trouble to walk back to us I was deeply grateful.
On returning to the hotel we spotted Charley and Dino again and though Dino was busy I was able to share my experience with Charley. I quickly told her the Lissadell story and how much it meant to me. She was very impressed and so nice. I told her I had many photos of all the events on my FB page and I understood if she didn’t want a fan on her page she was welcome to add me for one day just to look at the photos. She was very moved by this and I was shocked to see my words made her eyes well up with tears!! She told me I was so kind, now where had I heard that before! This just overwhelmed me for to my eyes it is Leonard and his wonderful band members that are the kind people for giving us so much time and consideration.
I find it hard finding the right words to describe how much meeting Leonard means to me. This year has being an emotional rollercoaster and had someone told me earlier this year I’d be going to Poland and Las Vegas I’d have laughed at them. I do know one thing though Leonard and his music reaches a place deep inside me that no one else can. He really has enriched my life in more ways than I could ever have imagined. To finally meet him is a dream come true and it can only be described at the best moment of my life. As I wrote my review of the concerts on the flight home I listened to Leonard’s music and the instant Hallelujah came on I was overcome in convulsions of tears of actually have met Leonard and what had came with it. I can only describe this as the best moment of my life.
The road to actually meeting Leonard began on Friday December 9th when we were told by our new found friend Doug of the possible areas around Caesars Palace where we might meet Leonard. This local knowledge proved very useful over the days that followed.
After sussing the entrance which Leonard would arrive and knowing the time, meant we were lucky enough to see him being driven in for the sound check. While we didn’t actually set eyes on him then once the driver exited the building I shouted at him to know had he just dropped off Leonard Cohen to which he confirmed he did.
Having discovered the tower block in which the band and crew were staying after the concert on Saturday and while we didn’t meet Leonard then in which I’m pleased as I don’t think a casino is an adequate location to meet Leonard. However we were ecstatic to meet Dino Soldo and Hattie and Charley Webb where they all stopped to chat and sign my flag and pose for photos. This flag had travelled with me to the concert in Katowice Poland where I was lucky enough to stand at the front for the encores and display it for all the band and Leonard to see my message “Thank you Leonard and co for the magic and memories of Lissadell”.
Although I was a good bit back at the show on Saturday Dino had seen me waving the flag and pointed down at me and waved. He confirmed this when I met him. The Webb Sisters also confirmed that they had seen it as did many of the crew members we also spoke to. I had the longest conversation with Hattie on Saturday night and I told her how I had shaken her father’s hand in Poland and I also told her about how special a photo she had sent to our friend Gill who had given her and Charley a Unified Heart and how Gill was unable to be in Las Vegas but had helped me get there. She was very moved by this and I was very moved by how genuinely nice everyone we met was.
Shortly after this we met Ed Saunders who I thanked for looking after Leonard and asked him could he give me any info on departure. He told me while he didn’t know the location the time would be between 10am and 10.30am. This proved vital when we mixed it with Doug’s local knowledge the following morning.
Having all arrived nice and early Sunday morning Doug discovered where a lot of the crew were waiting so we gathered there to wait. We didn’t have long until Leonard exited the building wearing his trademark suit and hat with sunglasses and his guitar on his back. I had daydreamt about this scenario for so long that I instantly started shaking all over as I walked to where Leonard was standing and signing for Doug and Judy. I could hardly believe the one thing I had wanted to happen in the world more than anything was happening to me right at that moment. For me it wasn’t just about meeting Leonard, it was about thanking him personally for the massive effect he has had on my life. It is very hard for me to convey this in words but suffice to say the effect has being huge!
While I waited I prayed I wouldn’t say something stupid or start crying as I’m a very emotional person so didn’t want to ruin this one opportunity! Thankfully even though I was shaking like a leaf I did nothing I regret.
When Leonard turned to me I told him how special this moment was and how I was shaking he thanked me and told me I was ok. He kept telling all of us how kind we were to which we replied he was the kind one. People say you should never meet your heroes as they don’t live up to your expectations. This most certainly was not the case with Leonard. He was simply amazing and lived totally up to my expectations. He is a total gentleman among the nicest people I’ve ever met.
I had brought with me a lyrics book of Leonard’s songs and at the page for Hallelujah I had inserted my two concert tickets and a photo and a fridge magnet. I asked him if he wouldn’t mind signing one ticket and the lyrics of Hallelujah as it is my personal favourite song of his indeed my all time favourite song. Leonard being the total gentleman signed everything and when I asked him to sign the lyrics to me watching him write it was poetry in motion as he took great care over each letter.
When he finished this I showed him my flag at which he was very impressed. His first word was wow and he told me it was something else. After we posed for a photo with it where we both held it up I asked him to sign it and draw a Unified Heart on it. He said he would try as he isn’t very good at drawing! I told him he was and in any case he would be much better than me at drawing it!
While he was signing all my stuff I told him how much his music means to me and how it caresses my soul. He liked that comment telling me I was very kind. I also told him when I went to see him in Poland alone it was my first time out of Ireland and Las Vegas was my second. He was so kind and seemed touched by my words.
He then signed various bits and pieces for Mandy and Judy and spoke to them for a few minutes too where they shared their stories with him. I was very glad for the company I had while meeting Leonard. Both ladies are genuinely lovely people and helped make my Las Vegas journey a memorable one! Of course without Doug we would have never met him so I was very pleased for him too.
When Leonard was finished signing I asked him for a hug before he left to which he replied of course and he then hugged Mandy and Judy too. He then proceeded to walk towards the exit of Caesers and not wanting to be a nuisance we followed at a respectable distance all the time trying to comprehend what had just happened! As he headed to the area where the buses were parked he would stop every now and then and wave back at us thanking us. We thanked him and told him we loved him.
Then Robert Kory walked out and came over to us. I begged him to help get Leonard back on tour after the album is recorded and to make sure to come to Ireland as we love Leonard and we know he loves Ireland. I told him he’d have few complaints if they did a tour of every venue in Ireland. He told me he always does as he is told and would do his best to make it happen. He then proceeded to walk over to Leonard and the two of them lay against a wall talking and looking to where we were and smiling.
Next for me was the most special moment of all. While we stayed where we were taking photos we trying to make sure we weren’t being to invasive. Suddenly Leonard started walking towards us! We could hardly believe our luck. As he approached us he told us again how kind we were. I’ve just wondered now as I type this did Robert tell him what I said. If so I thank him for this moment where Leonard voluntarily returned to talk to us.
While Mandy asked him to sign one more item I took the opportunity to tell Leonard about my Lissadell experiences. I told him about my first trip for my birthday and seeing the area where the concert was marked out and how special to then return for the concert and how amazing that was. I asked him how it felt for him to be playing there and he said it was something else. I then told him about mine and Mike Purcell’s trip across Ireland back to Lissadell for the unveiling of the plaque at where the tree had being planted in his honour by the forum, a Canadian Maple of course. I said how we stayed in the Pier Head Hotel and how at 12pm on his birthday we put the plaque at the tree. I described where the tree was planted and told him of our desire for him to return. He was visibly touched when I told him this story.
Mandy then told him she had being to see him in Moscow to which he replied it was a rough one. It pained us to think of the uncomfortable time he would have had there as Mandy described the regime to me.
I then asked Leonard could I have one final hug before he left which he obliged and this time we simultaneously kissed each other on the cheek. Now that is a moment which I will never forget. When he walked away this time I decided to go back into the hotel and I knew how generous Leonard had being to us and after he took the trouble to walk back to us I was deeply grateful.
On returning to the hotel we spotted Charley and Dino again and though Dino was busy I was able to share my experience with Charley. I quickly told her the Lissadell story and how much it meant to me. She was very impressed and so nice. I told her I had many photos of all the events on my FB page and I understood if she didn’t want a fan on her page she was welcome to add me for one day just to look at the photos. She was very moved by this and I was shocked to see my words made her eyes well up with tears!! She told me I was so kind, now where had I heard that before! This just overwhelmed me for to my eyes it is Leonard and his wonderful band members that are the kind people for giving us so much time and consideration.
I find it hard finding the right words to describe how much meeting Leonard means to me. This year has being an emotional rollercoaster and had someone told me earlier this year I’d be going to Poland and Las Vegas I’d have laughed at them. I do know one thing though Leonard and his music reaches a place deep inside me that no one else can. He really has enriched my life in more ways than I could ever have imagined. To finally meet him is a dream come true and it can only be described at the best moment of my life. As I wrote my review of the concerts on the flight home I listened to Leonard’s music and the instant Hallelujah came on I was overcome in convulsions of tears of actually have met Leonard and what had came with it. I can only describe this as the best moment of my life.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Leonard Cohen, Lissadell House July 31st 2010
Leonard Cohen and Lissadell House surely a match made in heaven was the thoughts that crossed my mind many times over the last few months as I waited for what could be the most magical concert I’d ever be lucky enough to attend. Cohen having been a lifelong fan of the work of W.B Yeats relished the thoughts of performing there as much as we the fans relished the thoughts of seeing our hero in possibly the most amazing location possible.
Having seen Cohen live last year and that gig transcending Cohen to God like status in my mind I have never before felt so much excitement and impatience in the build up to a gig. Could the tantalising mixture of Leonard and Lissadell really be a recipe for a night we would never forget? The answer to that is a resounding yes! From start to finish this was the most amazing concert I’ve ever been at. Having possibly the greatest poet of our times performing in the place that inspired his hero added a certain magic that I don’t believe I’ll ever witness again in my lifetime.
Playing for an impressive 3 hour 45 minutes with only a 20 minute interval Cohen and his fantastic band delivered to the highest possible standard playing the songs his fans so love to hear and adding in couple of new songs to wet our appetites for the promised new album due in the spring of next year. Dance me to The End of Love was the opening song of this wonderful night followed by The Future and Ain’t no cure for Love in what was a serenely mellow first half. I find it impossible to pick a highlight for this half as every song is a highlight in itself. The mix of Cohen’s sultry tones and the fabulous musicianship of his incredible band was musical poetry to me ears. However as wonderful as all the familiar tunes were I was delighted to hear the first of 3 new songs, Born in Chains. This new song showcases that even in his mid seventies Cohen can still write great melodies and fantastic lyrics. What I especially loved was that Cohen shared the singing of this song with the sublime Webb Sisters and his extremely talented co-writer Sharon Robinson.
Possibly the highlight of the first half wasn’t even the music but for when Cohen said he was delighted to be playing at Lissadell and quoting Yeats “The light of evening, Lissadell, great windows open to the south, two girls in silk kimonos, both beautiful, one a gazelle” before quoting what is possibly his own greatest lyric “Ring the bells that still can ring, Forget your perfect offering, There is a crack in everything, That's how the light gets in”. He then preformed Anthem from which that song lyric came from to take us to the interval.
Like the 1st time I saw Cohen live the 2nd half proved to be my preference even though nearing the end Mother Nature treated us to misty rain! My favourite Cohen songs Hallelujah and So Long Marianne were preformed in this half. Hallelujah is in my humble opinion the greatest song ever written and it has to be my ultimate concert highlight hearing it sung live by its creator. Cohen starts and ends this song on his knees and delivered an outstanding performance that even though familiar to my ears gave me Goosebumps and had tears streaming down my face. Even now as I’m transported back to that moment I find my eyes filling up.
Hallelujah aside, like the 1st half it is extremely difficult to pick individual highlights as everything was sublime. I am probably starting to sound like a cliché but I’m overwhelmed by the intensity of this amazing experience and feel so lucky to have witnessed this magical encounter. It must be noted how brilliant Cohen’s band are. During various moments during the night we were treated to solos form most of the band including Dino Soldo and Javier Mas. As mentioned before as always Cohen’s backing singers, The Webb Sisters and Sharon Robinson were outstanding. The mutual respect between both Cohen and his band is plain for all to see and adds to what is already an excellent ambiance.
Even after the incredible 3 hours and 45 minutes Cohen who will be 76 later this year was still in top form but there had to be an end and it was a touching end when he performed Lover, Lover, Lover which wasn’t even on the setlist. Other songs of note during the night included Famous Blue Rain Coat, Suzanne, In My Secret Life, First we Take Manhattan and I’m Your Man. It was a special moment for me when my friend who accompanied me to the concert started cheering after this song even though she isn’t a massive fan.
I know I could have easily listened for even longer to the concert but respect to Leonard that at his age he puts younger artists to shame and maybe they should take note on how to deliver a night of perfection where it is impossible to find fault in anyway. The fan interaction between Cohen and also amongst us the fans helped make this a night never to be forgotten. There was a big contingent of the “Leonard Cohen Forum” at the concert with over 90 of us having specially made name tags in honour of the special occasion. This interaction with people who are strangers showcased the magic and lure Cohen has amongst his faithful followers.
As I walked out of the Lissadell estate I had feelings of utter happiness and sadness mingled in. Happiness that not only did the gig live up to expectation but managed to surpass it in every possible way but sadness that what will possibly have been the best concert I will ever attend was over. I thank Leonard Cohen for the music, the lyrics and for being such an amazing human being and sharing himself with us and I also thank the Cassidy family for allowing this fantastic concert to take place in their front garden. I and all the other fans will be forever indebted to their generosity.
Having seen Cohen live last year and that gig transcending Cohen to God like status in my mind I have never before felt so much excitement and impatience in the build up to a gig. Could the tantalising mixture of Leonard and Lissadell really be a recipe for a night we would never forget? The answer to that is a resounding yes! From start to finish this was the most amazing concert I’ve ever been at. Having possibly the greatest poet of our times performing in the place that inspired his hero added a certain magic that I don’t believe I’ll ever witness again in my lifetime.
Playing for an impressive 3 hour 45 minutes with only a 20 minute interval Cohen and his fantastic band delivered to the highest possible standard playing the songs his fans so love to hear and adding in couple of new songs to wet our appetites for the promised new album due in the spring of next year. Dance me to The End of Love was the opening song of this wonderful night followed by The Future and Ain’t no cure for Love in what was a serenely mellow first half. I find it impossible to pick a highlight for this half as every song is a highlight in itself. The mix of Cohen’s sultry tones and the fabulous musicianship of his incredible band was musical poetry to me ears. However as wonderful as all the familiar tunes were I was delighted to hear the first of 3 new songs, Born in Chains. This new song showcases that even in his mid seventies Cohen can still write great melodies and fantastic lyrics. What I especially loved was that Cohen shared the singing of this song with the sublime Webb Sisters and his extremely talented co-writer Sharon Robinson.
Possibly the highlight of the first half wasn’t even the music but for when Cohen said he was delighted to be playing at Lissadell and quoting Yeats “The light of evening, Lissadell, great windows open to the south, two girls in silk kimonos, both beautiful, one a gazelle” before quoting what is possibly his own greatest lyric “Ring the bells that still can ring, Forget your perfect offering, There is a crack in everything, That's how the light gets in”. He then preformed Anthem from which that song lyric came from to take us to the interval.
Like the 1st time I saw Cohen live the 2nd half proved to be my preference even though nearing the end Mother Nature treated us to misty rain! My favourite Cohen songs Hallelujah and So Long Marianne were preformed in this half. Hallelujah is in my humble opinion the greatest song ever written and it has to be my ultimate concert highlight hearing it sung live by its creator. Cohen starts and ends this song on his knees and delivered an outstanding performance that even though familiar to my ears gave me Goosebumps and had tears streaming down my face. Even now as I’m transported back to that moment I find my eyes filling up.
Hallelujah aside, like the 1st half it is extremely difficult to pick individual highlights as everything was sublime. I am probably starting to sound like a cliché but I’m overwhelmed by the intensity of this amazing experience and feel so lucky to have witnessed this magical encounter. It must be noted how brilliant Cohen’s band are. During various moments during the night we were treated to solos form most of the band including Dino Soldo and Javier Mas. As mentioned before as always Cohen’s backing singers, The Webb Sisters and Sharon Robinson were outstanding. The mutual respect between both Cohen and his band is plain for all to see and adds to what is already an excellent ambiance.
Even after the incredible 3 hours and 45 minutes Cohen who will be 76 later this year was still in top form but there had to be an end and it was a touching end when he performed Lover, Lover, Lover which wasn’t even on the setlist. Other songs of note during the night included Famous Blue Rain Coat, Suzanne, In My Secret Life, First we Take Manhattan and I’m Your Man. It was a special moment for me when my friend who accompanied me to the concert started cheering after this song even though she isn’t a massive fan.
I know I could have easily listened for even longer to the concert but respect to Leonard that at his age he puts younger artists to shame and maybe they should take note on how to deliver a night of perfection where it is impossible to find fault in anyway. The fan interaction between Cohen and also amongst us the fans helped make this a night never to be forgotten. There was a big contingent of the “Leonard Cohen Forum” at the concert with over 90 of us having specially made name tags in honour of the special occasion. This interaction with people who are strangers showcased the magic and lure Cohen has amongst his faithful followers.
As I walked out of the Lissadell estate I had feelings of utter happiness and sadness mingled in. Happiness that not only did the gig live up to expectation but managed to surpass it in every possible way but sadness that what will possibly have been the best concert I will ever attend was over. I thank Leonard Cohen for the music, the lyrics and for being such an amazing human being and sharing himself with us and I also thank the Cassidy family for allowing this fantastic concert to take place in their front garden. I and all the other fans will be forever indebted to their generosity.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Review of Stevie Wonder 24/06/2010
Having being lucky enough to have seen most bands and singers still alive that I want to see there are only a few acts left on what I call my bucket list of a concert wish list. Topping that list for a long time was Stevie Wonder and finally that dream came true on June 24th 2010. When it was initially announced in April that Stevie was finally making a return to our shores I had tears in my eyes.
As I headed down to The O2 on Thursday evening extremely excited I had an underlying fear of could Stevie live up to my expectations. Arriving at The O2 I was delighted to see I would be at the top of the queue for my entrance as a coveted barrier spot was my desired location. Due to an extended sound check we had a delay of about 20 minutes before entering the venue. I could see some of this through a tiny window but due to good insulation no sound came out to greet us! Finally the doors were open and I very happy to see that our entrance opened first which meant I was the first person to enter the building and had my choice of position along the barrier at the stage! I choose to stand at the gap between Stevie’s keyboard and grand piano. I knew I’d miss seeing some of the band that would be behind him but at least I’d have a great view of Stevie himself.
Finally it was 8pm and we knew that now it wouldn’t be long until we would have a living legend standing before us singing the songs we know and love so well. At approximately 8.20pm this wait was over and Stevie was guided to a certain spot on the stage, he then unaided worked his way to the front of the stage. Right from the start Stevie was totally on form giving a brilliant performance of Master Blaster which he wrote as a tribute to Bob Marley. Dressed in a striking blue African inspired outfit with his trademark sunglasses and dreadlocks Stevie looked great and had a huge smile across his face for most of the night. There were lots of interaction with the crowd from the start and lots of opportunities for a sing-along. The band and backing singers were excellent and included percussionists, guitarists, a drummer, a bass player, keyboard players, sax players and 3 backing singers. For the latter parts of the gig the backing singers were also dancers. The Dublin Gospel Choir came out on stage for the last song of the night and the delight on their faces at being there was plain to see although Stevie didn’t really utilise them to best that he could have done.
It is actually very hard to pick highlights from this concert as nearly every song is a highlight for some reason or other! However my personal highlight would have to be for the audience reaction to Stevie after Living for the City and the tribute to Michael Jackson which followed this. I’ve been to a lot of concerts but never before had I felt such love from an audience for an artist than I did at that moment on Thursday night. All around the venue people were cheering and chanting “Stevie, Stevie.......” I actually became quite emotional during that moment. When it lead into Stevie playing Michael Jackson’s Human Nature on harmonica with one of the backing singers singing parts of the song I had tears streaming down my face. It was a beautiful tribute to The King of Pop on the eve of the first anniversary of his death.
Another of my favourite moments was when Stevie miraculously changed his voice back to when he was a child to play his very first number one hit from when he was 12 years old by appearing to drink a magic potion. Fingertips’ is an upbeat up-tempo song that was made to be played live and was originally released as a live record. It was great seeing Stevie dance while he sang this song. Having watched many of the videos of his songs on YouTube it was plain to see that he is as full of energy and fun now as he was in the 1960’s/70’s. He was even unashamedly flirting with one of his backing singers at one stage telling her to move in closer and wrap her arms around him!
Other musical highlights included sublime performances of Superstition, Uptight, Sir Duke, Signed Sealed Delivered, I Wish and My Cherie Amour. I could possibly list every song he played as everything he played was wonderful. He came out on stage playing a keytar and also played keyboards, grand piano and of course harmonica all to an excellent standard. His vocals are amazing and have the same power now as they did 30/40 years ago. No matter how constructive I try to be I can honestly say I cannot fault this gig in any way. I do admit I would have loved to have heard him play Part Time Lover as it is my favourite of all his songs. However the calibre of what he did play more than made up for that.
I reluctantly left The O2 at the end of the gig knowing I’d fulfilled a dream but wanting that dream to continue. Any fears I had before the gig were unfounded. Stevie lived up to every expectation and more besides. He truly is one of the greats and I’ll be eternally grateful I was lucky enough to have seen him perform live.
As I headed down to The O2 on Thursday evening extremely excited I had an underlying fear of could Stevie live up to my expectations. Arriving at The O2 I was delighted to see I would be at the top of the queue for my entrance as a coveted barrier spot was my desired location. Due to an extended sound check we had a delay of about 20 minutes before entering the venue. I could see some of this through a tiny window but due to good insulation no sound came out to greet us! Finally the doors were open and I very happy to see that our entrance opened first which meant I was the first person to enter the building and had my choice of position along the barrier at the stage! I choose to stand at the gap between Stevie’s keyboard and grand piano. I knew I’d miss seeing some of the band that would be behind him but at least I’d have a great view of Stevie himself.
Finally it was 8pm and we knew that now it wouldn’t be long until we would have a living legend standing before us singing the songs we know and love so well. At approximately 8.20pm this wait was over and Stevie was guided to a certain spot on the stage, he then unaided worked his way to the front of the stage. Right from the start Stevie was totally on form giving a brilliant performance of Master Blaster which he wrote as a tribute to Bob Marley. Dressed in a striking blue African inspired outfit with his trademark sunglasses and dreadlocks Stevie looked great and had a huge smile across his face for most of the night. There were lots of interaction with the crowd from the start and lots of opportunities for a sing-along. The band and backing singers were excellent and included percussionists, guitarists, a drummer, a bass player, keyboard players, sax players and 3 backing singers. For the latter parts of the gig the backing singers were also dancers. The Dublin Gospel Choir came out on stage for the last song of the night and the delight on their faces at being there was plain to see although Stevie didn’t really utilise them to best that he could have done.
It is actually very hard to pick highlights from this concert as nearly every song is a highlight for some reason or other! However my personal highlight would have to be for the audience reaction to Stevie after Living for the City and the tribute to Michael Jackson which followed this. I’ve been to a lot of concerts but never before had I felt such love from an audience for an artist than I did at that moment on Thursday night. All around the venue people were cheering and chanting “Stevie, Stevie.......” I actually became quite emotional during that moment. When it lead into Stevie playing Michael Jackson’s Human Nature on harmonica with one of the backing singers singing parts of the song I had tears streaming down my face. It was a beautiful tribute to The King of Pop on the eve of the first anniversary of his death.
Another of my favourite moments was when Stevie miraculously changed his voice back to when he was a child to play his very first number one hit from when he was 12 years old by appearing to drink a magic potion. Fingertips’ is an upbeat up-tempo song that was made to be played live and was originally released as a live record. It was great seeing Stevie dance while he sang this song. Having watched many of the videos of his songs on YouTube it was plain to see that he is as full of energy and fun now as he was in the 1960’s/70’s. He was even unashamedly flirting with one of his backing singers at one stage telling her to move in closer and wrap her arms around him!
Other musical highlights included sublime performances of Superstition, Uptight, Sir Duke, Signed Sealed Delivered, I Wish and My Cherie Amour. I could possibly list every song he played as everything he played was wonderful. He came out on stage playing a keytar and also played keyboards, grand piano and of course harmonica all to an excellent standard. His vocals are amazing and have the same power now as they did 30/40 years ago. No matter how constructive I try to be I can honestly say I cannot fault this gig in any way. I do admit I would have loved to have heard him play Part Time Lover as it is my favourite of all his songs. However the calibre of what he did play more than made up for that.
I reluctantly left The O2 at the end of the gig knowing I’d fulfilled a dream but wanting that dream to continue. Any fears I had before the gig were unfounded. Stevie lived up to every expectation and more besides. He truly is one of the greats and I’ll be eternally grateful I was lucky enough to have seen him perform live.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Review of Paul McCartney @ The RDS, 12/06/10
As I headed across Dublin to join the queue for Paul McCartney’s second Irish gig in the space of six months I had an underlying fear of if could this gig possibly be as amazing as the one in The O2 in December and would it take away from the memories of that brilliant night if it wasn’t. However it was an unnecessary fear as in some aspects this gig proved to be even better.
Having decided on buying a standing ticket due to cost, queuing for this gig was essential. However to our delight on arriving outside the RDS we found ourselves listening to what turned out to be most of the sound check! As Paul McCartney is renowned for sound checks that include songs which won’t be sung during the gig I was only too happy to listen to this and sing along. I was especially pleased to hear Penny Lane in the sound check as it wasn’t played during the actual gig. Other songs played in sound check that we didn’t hear later included Celebration, San Francisco Bay and Ram On.
On entering the RDS I had only one thing on my mind and that was to have a spot leaning on the barrier. Having the seating between us and the stage made this even more essential and thankfully it was mission accomplished. We had the comfort of something to lean on and a clear view of the stage. I was very happy when The Coronas were announced as support for the gig as not only do I like them it was also good to have live music while we waited for the gig to start. They didn’t disappoint and played a good set including Far from Here, San Diego Song, Listen Dear and Heroes and Ghosts. We were also treated to a brand new song which they haven’t even named yet! Their delight at being the support act to Sir Paul McCartney was plain to see and lead singer Danny O’Reilly voiced this on more than one occasion.
At exactly 8pm we were treated to a massive montage on screens either side of the stage. While it does include excellent images of The Beatles and 1960’s Liverpool after 25 minutes we were very impatient for it to end and the show to start! Just before 8.30pm we got our wish and McCartney and the band came out on stage to loud cheers from the audience. Launching straight into Venus and Mars/ Rockshow it was high energy from the start. This was followed by Jet and All my Loving. Playing an impressive 35 songs there are many highlights to choose from but my favourite moment was during Blackbird. There is something sublime in the simplicity of this song which gives me goose bumps when I hear McCartney sing it live. It was also the 1st song which appeared to get a big response from the majority of the crowd.
The biggest reaction of the night was during Live and Let die where a lot of people got a fright when the fireworks and pyrotechnics kicked off. Darkness had arrived just at the perfect time and the scene was stunning with the addition of a display on the roof of the stage and also the theatrics along the front where we could even feel heat of from our position! The sing-a-long which followed for Hey Jude was pretty magical too. Other musical highlights included when McCartney performed Something, although a Beatles song it was the first song written by George Harrison to appear on an A-Side of a Beatles single. It was a touching moment during the concert along with when he played Here Today which he wrote for John Lennon. I also enjoyed hearing Give Peace a Chance. Other songs played during the night included Eleanor Rigby, Band On The Run, My Love, I’ve Got A Feeling, Let It Be and Yesterday, all of which sounded amazing.
McCartney was in incredible form throughout the whole show with lots of crowd interaction and his attempts at Irish! It brought a smile to our faces when he announced “Is mìse Paul McCartney, in case any of you don’t know”! It was quite funny when someone shouted up “you the man” to whom McCartney replied, yes he is the man but so is every other man! He spoke about trying to avoid reading banners during singing songs as it can be quite distracting but on seeing a banner reading “I’m gonna bang this chick tonight” he couldn’t help but read it and be distracted. The chick in question was the banner owners’ wife! At one stage during the concert a section of the crowd starting singing Happy Birthday to the amusement of McCartney in which he started singing back thanks but it isn’t until Friday!
Throughout the show there was a very impressive back drop at the back of the stage. We were treated to various different images throughout the night including candles for Let it Be, Beatles images during Something and a sunset during the final song of the night Sgt Pepper. The band were in excellent form and seeing Abe Laboriel Jr playing the drums with all his might on the big screens gave me a warm feeling. It is plain to see that they all feel privileged to work with McCartney, especially when he thanked them at the end of the gig.
It didn’t take long for the fear this gig wouldn’t live up to The O2 to disappear. It is a magical feeling to be in the proximity of a Beatle and hearing songs we have listened to all our lives and that inspired a musical generation. McCartney and his band were brilliant and I have no complaints there whatsoever. However I did feel the gig lacked the atmosphere we had at The O2. I put this down to the seating in front of the stage with standing behind. It really took until Live and Let Die for the audience to really come alive. But that aside this gig did live up to expectation in every other way and would I go again? In an instant!
Having decided on buying a standing ticket due to cost, queuing for this gig was essential. However to our delight on arriving outside the RDS we found ourselves listening to what turned out to be most of the sound check! As Paul McCartney is renowned for sound checks that include songs which won’t be sung during the gig I was only too happy to listen to this and sing along. I was especially pleased to hear Penny Lane in the sound check as it wasn’t played during the actual gig. Other songs played in sound check that we didn’t hear later included Celebration, San Francisco Bay and Ram On.
On entering the RDS I had only one thing on my mind and that was to have a spot leaning on the barrier. Having the seating between us and the stage made this even more essential and thankfully it was mission accomplished. We had the comfort of something to lean on and a clear view of the stage. I was very happy when The Coronas were announced as support for the gig as not only do I like them it was also good to have live music while we waited for the gig to start. They didn’t disappoint and played a good set including Far from Here, San Diego Song, Listen Dear and Heroes and Ghosts. We were also treated to a brand new song which they haven’t even named yet! Their delight at being the support act to Sir Paul McCartney was plain to see and lead singer Danny O’Reilly voiced this on more than one occasion.
At exactly 8pm we were treated to a massive montage on screens either side of the stage. While it does include excellent images of The Beatles and 1960’s Liverpool after 25 minutes we were very impatient for it to end and the show to start! Just before 8.30pm we got our wish and McCartney and the band came out on stage to loud cheers from the audience. Launching straight into Venus and Mars/ Rockshow it was high energy from the start. This was followed by Jet and All my Loving. Playing an impressive 35 songs there are many highlights to choose from but my favourite moment was during Blackbird. There is something sublime in the simplicity of this song which gives me goose bumps when I hear McCartney sing it live. It was also the 1st song which appeared to get a big response from the majority of the crowd.
The biggest reaction of the night was during Live and Let die where a lot of people got a fright when the fireworks and pyrotechnics kicked off. Darkness had arrived just at the perfect time and the scene was stunning with the addition of a display on the roof of the stage and also the theatrics along the front where we could even feel heat of from our position! The sing-a-long which followed for Hey Jude was pretty magical too. Other musical highlights included when McCartney performed Something, although a Beatles song it was the first song written by George Harrison to appear on an A-Side of a Beatles single. It was a touching moment during the concert along with when he played Here Today which he wrote for John Lennon. I also enjoyed hearing Give Peace a Chance. Other songs played during the night included Eleanor Rigby, Band On The Run, My Love, I’ve Got A Feeling, Let It Be and Yesterday, all of which sounded amazing.
McCartney was in incredible form throughout the whole show with lots of crowd interaction and his attempts at Irish! It brought a smile to our faces when he announced “Is mìse Paul McCartney, in case any of you don’t know”! It was quite funny when someone shouted up “you the man” to whom McCartney replied, yes he is the man but so is every other man! He spoke about trying to avoid reading banners during singing songs as it can be quite distracting but on seeing a banner reading “I’m gonna bang this chick tonight” he couldn’t help but read it and be distracted. The chick in question was the banner owners’ wife! At one stage during the concert a section of the crowd starting singing Happy Birthday to the amusement of McCartney in which he started singing back thanks but it isn’t until Friday!
Throughout the show there was a very impressive back drop at the back of the stage. We were treated to various different images throughout the night including candles for Let it Be, Beatles images during Something and a sunset during the final song of the night Sgt Pepper. The band were in excellent form and seeing Abe Laboriel Jr playing the drums with all his might on the big screens gave me a warm feeling. It is plain to see that they all feel privileged to work with McCartney, especially when he thanked them at the end of the gig.
It didn’t take long for the fear this gig wouldn’t live up to The O2 to disappear. It is a magical feeling to be in the proximity of a Beatle and hearing songs we have listened to all our lives and that inspired a musical generation. McCartney and his band were brilliant and I have no complaints there whatsoever. However I did feel the gig lacked the atmosphere we had at The O2. I put this down to the seating in front of the stage with standing behind. It really took until Live and Let Die for the audience to really come alive. But that aside this gig did live up to expectation in every other way and would I go again? In an instant!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Sir Paul McCartney 20/12/09
Sunday December 20th 2009 will be forever etched in my mind as the date that music royalty came to town. While the word ‘legend’ is a term used for many artists that are exceptionally good it has become rather overused and therefore not worthy as a title for Sir Paul McCartney. Music royalty seems a much more appropriate term of affection for someone that has transcended everyone else in the business and there can’t be many people who were lucky enough to be in The O2 Arena Sunday night that would disagree with this.
This being only Sir Pauls second solo appearance on Irish shores meant that this was a highly anticipated gig. There was no support on the night and at exactly 8pm we were treated to a massive slideshow of The Beatles and various other images of Liverpool in the 60’s, on huge screens either side of the stage lasting just over 20 minutes with some Beatles remixes playing in the background. While this was enjoyable to see the crowd were starting to get impatient and once the lights dimmed there was a massive roar as Sir Paul and his band came out on stage. Starting with ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ with psychedelic images on a massive screen spanning the entire width of the stage, they were on top form right from the start.
The set list was a mixture of his solo music mixed in with some Wings tunes and of course the obligatory Beatles songs that got the loudest cheers of the night. Highlights of which there were many included excellent renditions of ‘Blackbird’, ‘The Long and Winding Road, ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’, ‘Live and Let Die’, ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Yesterday’. There were tributes to the late John Lennon and George Harrison where McCartney played the ukulele. This was one of at least 5 different instruments that he played. The others included Bass, Guitar, Mandolin and Piano. He also paid tribute to former Wings member Henry McCullough who was in the audience and dedicated ‘My Love’ a song he wrote about his deceased wife Linda, to him.
Contrary to reports I read that suggested that McCartney had very little crowd interaction at recent gigs, the opposite can be said to be true at this gig with there being a constant banter going on between a lot of the songs. Included were his attempts at Irish, ‘Cead Mile Failte’ and ‘Nollaig Shona Duit’. He also spoke about various songs he sang and their origins. Of interest was when he described how the melody for ‘Yesterday’ came to him in a dream and how it took him a few weeks to realise that he it was actually his tune!
Music aside we were also treated to an amazing backdrop behind the stage of various images during the entire gig, an amazing pyrotechnic display during ‘Live and Let Die’ and some fake snow for the season that’s in it at the end of the show. The band were outstanding during the entire show and when McCartney was thanking them at the end the joy on their faces to be lucky enough to be actually playing for him was plain to see.
Only very once in a while do I feel extremely lucky and privileged to be seeing someone in concert. This was one of those rare occasions and to finally have being able to see a Beatle live in concert has being a long time dream come true. Often when we desire something and then get it, it can be a massive disappointment but not here. This concert and seeing Paul McCartney live lived up to every expectation and more besides. It ticked every box and while it is a habit of mine to try and find some constructive criticism this is one gig where that has being impossible and the happy memories of will give me a warm feeling inside for a long time to come.
This being only Sir Pauls second solo appearance on Irish shores meant that this was a highly anticipated gig. There was no support on the night and at exactly 8pm we were treated to a massive slideshow of The Beatles and various other images of Liverpool in the 60’s, on huge screens either side of the stage lasting just over 20 minutes with some Beatles remixes playing in the background. While this was enjoyable to see the crowd were starting to get impatient and once the lights dimmed there was a massive roar as Sir Paul and his band came out on stage. Starting with ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ with psychedelic images on a massive screen spanning the entire width of the stage, they were on top form right from the start.
The set list was a mixture of his solo music mixed in with some Wings tunes and of course the obligatory Beatles songs that got the loudest cheers of the night. Highlights of which there were many included excellent renditions of ‘Blackbird’, ‘The Long and Winding Road, ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’, ‘Live and Let Die’, ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Yesterday’. There were tributes to the late John Lennon and George Harrison where McCartney played the ukulele. This was one of at least 5 different instruments that he played. The others included Bass, Guitar, Mandolin and Piano. He also paid tribute to former Wings member Henry McCullough who was in the audience and dedicated ‘My Love’ a song he wrote about his deceased wife Linda, to him.
Contrary to reports I read that suggested that McCartney had very little crowd interaction at recent gigs, the opposite can be said to be true at this gig with there being a constant banter going on between a lot of the songs. Included were his attempts at Irish, ‘Cead Mile Failte’ and ‘Nollaig Shona Duit’. He also spoke about various songs he sang and their origins. Of interest was when he described how the melody for ‘Yesterday’ came to him in a dream and how it took him a few weeks to realise that he it was actually his tune!
Music aside we were also treated to an amazing backdrop behind the stage of various images during the entire gig, an amazing pyrotechnic display during ‘Live and Let Die’ and some fake snow for the season that’s in it at the end of the show. The band were outstanding during the entire show and when McCartney was thanking them at the end the joy on their faces to be lucky enough to be actually playing for him was plain to see.
Only very once in a while do I feel extremely lucky and privileged to be seeing someone in concert. This was one of those rare occasions and to finally have being able to see a Beatle live in concert has being a long time dream come true. Often when we desire something and then get it, it can be a massive disappointment but not here. This concert and seeing Paul McCartney live lived up to every expectation and more besides. It ticked every box and while it is a habit of mine to try and find some constructive criticism this is one gig where that has being impossible and the happy memories of will give me a warm feeling inside for a long time to come.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Green Day October 21st Review
October 21st was a very apt date to be seeing Green Day in concert for their 21st Century Breakdown album tour. Having been a fan since the release of Dookie and having never seen the band live this was one gig I was really looking forward too. I wasn’t to be disappointed in what was a 2.5 hour spectacular performance by the kings of punk.
After a bizarre few minutes of someone dressed as a pink bear dancing to YMCA at 8.03pm Green Day entered the stage to the sounds of ‘Song of the Century’ blaring out on the loud speakers. This was to be followed by the song ‘21st Century Breakdown’ and also ‘Know Your Enemy’ and ‘East Jesus Nowhere’. All songs from the new album, and following in the footsteps of U2 in opening a concert where all the opening songs are new! The fans however were very happy with this with loads of hands in the air and most people singing along. For the entire concert there was the most amazing backdrop behind the stage which had changing images throughout the gig. It began with the New York skyline and other images included war pictures, roads, skulls and much more!
After those first four songs from the new album it would have seemed logical to start singing some of the older stuff. We would have to wait a while longer for that however. Next up was ‘Holiday’ from ‘American Idiot’. In fact the first 10 songs were made up entirely of the last two studio albums. The last in this section is my personal favourite Green Day song, ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’. There was an amazing image in the back ground of the New York skyline with clouds billowing overhead during the song. During the song I found it very poignant when Billie Joe Armstrong walked from one side of the stage to the other while singing the lyrics ‘I walk a lonely road....’
Just after this Armstrong screamed ‘Are there any oldskool Green Day fans here?’ This caused the crowd to go wild screaming in delight as the band launched into what would be the oldest song of the night, ‘2000 light years away’. This middle set was made up of songs from the albums ‘Kerplunk’, ‘Nimrod’, ‘Dookie’ and ‘Insomniac’. Some fan favourites including the legendary ‘Basket Case’ were all well received while we were transported back to our teenage years and where the newer fans could appreciate the music that made this band the band it is today. There was also melodies of ‘Ironman/The Boys are back in Town’ and ‘Shout/Saints are Coming/Teenage Kicks/Shout’. Along with their own songs these were also well received.
The encore saw a return to songs from ‘21st Century Breakdown’ and ‘American idiot’. After performing the song ‘American Idiot’ to an excellent backdrop of a screen filled with loads of televisions, Armstrong announced that the final song would be ‘Jesus of Suburbia’. This song itself is like listening to a few songs as it is made up of a number of different parts. We would have been happy to leave at this stage having being treated to most of our favourites. However this was not the end. In what would turn out to be one of the nights highlights, Billie came back out and did a solo acoustic set of ‘Last Night On Earth’ from ‘21st Century Breakdown’, ‘Wake me up when September ends’ from ‘American Idiot’ and the final song and another oldskool favourite ‘Good Riddance’ from ‘Nimrod’.
While Billie Joe didn’t really interact that much with the rest of the band and session players it should be noted that they done an excellent job. Armstrong did introduce us to each of the band nearing the end of the night but most of the time he was too busy being a crazy fool and keeping us entertained. One of the bands highlights was seeing the drummer Trè Cool trying on one of the bras!
The music aside this concert had so much more that made it a great night. Billie Joe Armstrong is as crazy now as he was when Green Day 1st came out. He spent much of the concert acting the fool but it had us in hysterics laughing. When I first booked tickets I was very put out that I couldn’t get general admission tickets as I always prefer standing as close to the stage as possible. However I was actually grateful when Armstrong started soaking everyone at the front with water hoses and even a huge water gun. He also had a contraption to shoot t-shirts into the crowd. This crazy stunt was followed by something which unrolled bog roll into the crowd. During this and various other parts of the gig he enlisted the help of willing people from the crowd. One of the few lowlights of the gig involved Armstrong performing some kind of religious ritual on a child. This did not make for comfortable viewing and I could see I wasn’t alone in feeling like this. On lighter note however he also pulled fans on stage to help with singing some of the songs. One of these fans was really impressive and gave it his all.
During many stages of the gig Armstrong would wrap Irish flags around his shoulders. During one such moment the entire crowd started singing ‘Ole, Ole’. He responded to this by saying that is why the Irish are so much better than the Americans. This needless to say had the crowd cheering wildly. He even simulated at one stage wiping his ass with an American flag! After making a comment that he had never seen so many bras’s being thrown up on stage someone threw up a pair of jocks which Armstrong promptly put on his head. Another spontaneous moment saw him moon at the audience!
All the above packed into the 2.5 hours made for a totally enjoyable evening. Every time I go to the refurbished O2 I always impressed with the layout and how this time being a distance back we still had an excellent view. As we left totally fulfilled I was wondering if the rumours are true and will they headline Slane next year. One thing is for sure if they do I will be there.
After a bizarre few minutes of someone dressed as a pink bear dancing to YMCA at 8.03pm Green Day entered the stage to the sounds of ‘Song of the Century’ blaring out on the loud speakers. This was to be followed by the song ‘21st Century Breakdown’ and also ‘Know Your Enemy’ and ‘East Jesus Nowhere’. All songs from the new album, and following in the footsteps of U2 in opening a concert where all the opening songs are new! The fans however were very happy with this with loads of hands in the air and most people singing along. For the entire concert there was the most amazing backdrop behind the stage which had changing images throughout the gig. It began with the New York skyline and other images included war pictures, roads, skulls and much more!
After those first four songs from the new album it would have seemed logical to start singing some of the older stuff. We would have to wait a while longer for that however. Next up was ‘Holiday’ from ‘American Idiot’. In fact the first 10 songs were made up entirely of the last two studio albums. The last in this section is my personal favourite Green Day song, ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’. There was an amazing image in the back ground of the New York skyline with clouds billowing overhead during the song. During the song I found it very poignant when Billie Joe Armstrong walked from one side of the stage to the other while singing the lyrics ‘I walk a lonely road....’
Just after this Armstrong screamed ‘Are there any oldskool Green Day fans here?’ This caused the crowd to go wild screaming in delight as the band launched into what would be the oldest song of the night, ‘2000 light years away’. This middle set was made up of songs from the albums ‘Kerplunk’, ‘Nimrod’, ‘Dookie’ and ‘Insomniac’. Some fan favourites including the legendary ‘Basket Case’ were all well received while we were transported back to our teenage years and where the newer fans could appreciate the music that made this band the band it is today. There was also melodies of ‘Ironman/The Boys are back in Town’ and ‘Shout/Saints are Coming/Teenage Kicks/Shout’. Along with their own songs these were also well received.
The encore saw a return to songs from ‘21st Century Breakdown’ and ‘American idiot’. After performing the song ‘American Idiot’ to an excellent backdrop of a screen filled with loads of televisions, Armstrong announced that the final song would be ‘Jesus of Suburbia’. This song itself is like listening to a few songs as it is made up of a number of different parts. We would have been happy to leave at this stage having being treated to most of our favourites. However this was not the end. In what would turn out to be one of the nights highlights, Billie came back out and did a solo acoustic set of ‘Last Night On Earth’ from ‘21st Century Breakdown’, ‘Wake me up when September ends’ from ‘American Idiot’ and the final song and another oldskool favourite ‘Good Riddance’ from ‘Nimrod’.
While Billie Joe didn’t really interact that much with the rest of the band and session players it should be noted that they done an excellent job. Armstrong did introduce us to each of the band nearing the end of the night but most of the time he was too busy being a crazy fool and keeping us entertained. One of the bands highlights was seeing the drummer Trè Cool trying on one of the bras!
The music aside this concert had so much more that made it a great night. Billie Joe Armstrong is as crazy now as he was when Green Day 1st came out. He spent much of the concert acting the fool but it had us in hysterics laughing. When I first booked tickets I was very put out that I couldn’t get general admission tickets as I always prefer standing as close to the stage as possible. However I was actually grateful when Armstrong started soaking everyone at the front with water hoses and even a huge water gun. He also had a contraption to shoot t-shirts into the crowd. This crazy stunt was followed by something which unrolled bog roll into the crowd. During this and various other parts of the gig he enlisted the help of willing people from the crowd. One of the few lowlights of the gig involved Armstrong performing some kind of religious ritual on a child. This did not make for comfortable viewing and I could see I wasn’t alone in feeling like this. On lighter note however he also pulled fans on stage to help with singing some of the songs. One of these fans was really impressive and gave it his all.
During many stages of the gig Armstrong would wrap Irish flags around his shoulders. During one such moment the entire crowd started singing ‘Ole, Ole’. He responded to this by saying that is why the Irish are so much better than the Americans. This needless to say had the crowd cheering wildly. He even simulated at one stage wiping his ass with an American flag! After making a comment that he had never seen so many bras’s being thrown up on stage someone threw up a pair of jocks which Armstrong promptly put on his head. Another spontaneous moment saw him moon at the audience!
All the above packed into the 2.5 hours made for a totally enjoyable evening. Every time I go to the refurbished O2 I always impressed with the layout and how this time being a distance back we still had an excellent view. As we left totally fulfilled I was wondering if the rumours are true and will they headline Slane next year. One thing is for sure if they do I will be there.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Review of James Keelaghan album 'House of Cards'
Hailing from Canada James Keelaghan releases his 11th studio album ‘House of Cards’, on October 13th. Highly regarded in his homeland having won a Juno award (Canada’s version of the Grammy’s) for previous work Keelaghan’s music is in the genre of folk and easy listening. His early influences include Irish Traditional music and Paul Brady!
The songs on ‘Houses Of Cards’ are stories of relationships, tragic loss and even the weather. The album opens with ‘Safe Home’, a song which tells the story of being away from home and describing the journey along with how he imagines the person left behind will be dealing with his absence. While it has a nice melody and good lyrics as an opening song this comes across as a little weak and may fail to capture listeners as well as an opening song should. It would have being better placed in the middle of the album with a more up tempo song as the first track.
A more suitable opening song would be song four, the title track ‘House of Cards’. This is a much more upbeat song which tells the story of how people enjoy the good times of economic stability but don’t really plan for times of recession and that while people may be wealthy they won’t necessarily be wise. It has a melody that is easy to sing along to after only a couple of listens and there is some also some great guitar playing during this song which also makes good use of wind instruments.
Perhaps the best song on the album is ‘McConvilles’. An excellent story with an excellent melody this song is on par with both Kenny Roger’s ‘Coward of the County’ and Collin Raye’s ‘Love Me’. It tells the story of a barman working in McConvilles pub where there is a whiskey brewed and the owner has a rule that the bottle can never leave the bar. The barman speaks about a man named Jimmy who started drinking there six or seven years ago but died three days previous. After the funeral he announces that he will do something that has never being done before and that he will give a bottle of whiskey to the highest bidder to raise money for Jimmy’s family. The bidding stops at £500 where Jimmy’s workmates hand over their pay-packets and then he hands over the whiskey. As he is walking home past the graveyard he can hear singing with Jimmy’s friends pouring something on the grave to help him on his way. The song opens and closes with the barman describing the pub and where to find it. Keelaghan sings this song is a slow easy tone that fits in perfect with the tone of the story, while playing an acoustic guitar. It is sublime simplicity that can only work on a ballad of this kind.
Another notable song on the album is ‘Twister’ which is at first listen seems to be a bizarre song about the weather but on closer inspection is about how like in a twister opposites don’t attract and that the same can apply in relationships. Like ‘House of Cards’ this song is upbeat with great melodies that after a few listens one will find themselves singing along to.
Looking at the album as a whole and leaving the first song placement aside, it is fair to say that it is evenly balanced and Keelaghan has as a rule linked songs together well and it is an album that flows nicely along. It would appeal to anyone into folk/easy/acoustic music. Artists of comparison would include the aforementioned Collin Raye and John Denver and also his early influence Paul Brady.
Album Rating: 7.5/10
http://www.myspace.com/jameskeelaghan
http://web.me.com/jameskeelo/Keeloweb/KEELOWEB.html
The songs on ‘Houses Of Cards’ are stories of relationships, tragic loss and even the weather. The album opens with ‘Safe Home’, a song which tells the story of being away from home and describing the journey along with how he imagines the person left behind will be dealing with his absence. While it has a nice melody and good lyrics as an opening song this comes across as a little weak and may fail to capture listeners as well as an opening song should. It would have being better placed in the middle of the album with a more up tempo song as the first track.
A more suitable opening song would be song four, the title track ‘House of Cards’. This is a much more upbeat song which tells the story of how people enjoy the good times of economic stability but don’t really plan for times of recession and that while people may be wealthy they won’t necessarily be wise. It has a melody that is easy to sing along to after only a couple of listens and there is some also some great guitar playing during this song which also makes good use of wind instruments.
Perhaps the best song on the album is ‘McConvilles’. An excellent story with an excellent melody this song is on par with both Kenny Roger’s ‘Coward of the County’ and Collin Raye’s ‘Love Me’. It tells the story of a barman working in McConvilles pub where there is a whiskey brewed and the owner has a rule that the bottle can never leave the bar. The barman speaks about a man named Jimmy who started drinking there six or seven years ago but died three days previous. After the funeral he announces that he will do something that has never being done before and that he will give a bottle of whiskey to the highest bidder to raise money for Jimmy’s family. The bidding stops at £500 where Jimmy’s workmates hand over their pay-packets and then he hands over the whiskey. As he is walking home past the graveyard he can hear singing with Jimmy’s friends pouring something on the grave to help him on his way. The song opens and closes with the barman describing the pub and where to find it. Keelaghan sings this song is a slow easy tone that fits in perfect with the tone of the story, while playing an acoustic guitar. It is sublime simplicity that can only work on a ballad of this kind.
Another notable song on the album is ‘Twister’ which is at first listen seems to be a bizarre song about the weather but on closer inspection is about how like in a twister opposites don’t attract and that the same can apply in relationships. Like ‘House of Cards’ this song is upbeat with great melodies that after a few listens one will find themselves singing along to.
Looking at the album as a whole and leaving the first song placement aside, it is fair to say that it is evenly balanced and Keelaghan has as a rule linked songs together well and it is an album that flows nicely along. It would appeal to anyone into folk/easy/acoustic music. Artists of comparison would include the aforementioned Collin Raye and John Denver and also his early influence Paul Brady.
Album Rating: 7.5/10
http://www.myspace.com/jameskeelaghan
http://web.me.com/jameskeelo/Keeloweb/KEELOWEB.html
Friday, August 28, 2009
Review of The Music Show launch with The Script
Wednesday 26th of August saw the official launch of The Music Show 2009 at the Westin Hotel, Dublin. The Music Show in association with Hot Press and 2FM is a two day event on October 3th and 4th at the RDS indoor arena consisting of live music as well as seminars, debates and an exhibition of musical equipment showcasing the best of Irish talent.
As the hottest band of the moment The Script will be unable to make the actual event in October due to prior commitments in Australia. The organisers asked them would they be able to give an interview with Stuart Clark of Hot Press in front of an invited audience of music industry professionals, musicians, music students, fans of the band and other guests. I was lucky enough to be amongst this audience as a winner of a Hot Press competition!
The event due to start at 2.30pm was delayed until 3.15pm as the organisers were hoping that the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Martin Cullen would be present but due to an emergency meeting of the cabinet he was unable to attend.
Hot Press editor, Niall Stokes took the podium and gave us an introduction of what The Music Show would consist of and explained why it was important that The Script should be part of it giving to their massive success over the last year. Their debut self-titled album has recently reclaimed the top position in the Irish charts having being released just over a year ago and has gone 8 times platinum here in Ireland. Having just arrived back for a string of gigs in the US the band are currently in the middle of a five date run in The Olympia.
Niall Stokes then introduced the band and the interviewer Stuart Clark to applause and cheers from the lucky audience. For those who may not know, The Script are a trio consisting of lead singer Danny O'Donoghue, guitarist Mark Sheehan and drummer Glen Power all hailing from Dublin. While Danny and Mark have been working together for over a decade, Glen only joined the fold in 2006. In the words of Sheehan at the interview they knew when they met Power that something just clicked & they instantly knew they would work well together.
The interview lasted approximately 40 minutes. It was well organised with excellent questions from Stuart Clark and even better responses from the especially eloquent O'Donoghue and Sheehan. Power for most of the interview sat back and listened! Areas covered included the amazing success of the last year, the years spent in the US, crazy fans and the diverse acts that The Script have being lucky to support in concert.
At first glance it may seem that The Script have come from nowhere to be this massive success story. We discovered quite a bit about their history to know that this isn't exactly accurate. Of course there is a lot of luck involved but what is not widely known is that O'Donoghue and Sheehan spent a decade in the US carving their career in the music production industry. This work leaded them to work with Teddy Riley, an American record producer, one of their childhood hero's. Up until they met Glen, Danny and Mark worked as producers for other peoples demos. This however was all about to change when Sheehan's mother became terminally ill and the band returned to their homeland and set up a studio in Sheehan’s garage. Tragically nine months later his mother died and only four months after that Danny's father also passed away. Danny was quick to point out that having hematoma meant things were also difficult for Glen at this time. During this extremely painful period in their lives the creative juices flowed and out of the emotional pain came the songs that would make up their debut album. Recorded in the garage studio with lyrics that tell stories of heartache and living in Dublin came the highly successful self-titled album. It is in my opinion one of the strongest debut albums I've ever listened to.They spoke extensively about the different acts that they have supported over the last year. The most special of these have being U2 and Paul McCartney. Danny spoke about how when U2 played Croke Park in 80's that his brother took him to listen outside the stadium as they had no money. He said it was a very special moment when he rang his brother to tell him The Script was actually supporting U2 this time! They also mentioned when they were appearing in New York that Bono sent them Guinness and champagne to make black velvet cocktails with a note attached to say New York isn't big enough for U2 and The Script so U2 were going to leave! It was an interesting story when they told us about supporting Paul McCartney at Citi Field. This is the replacement for Shea Stadium which The Beatles played both the first and last concerts at. Paul McCartney was asked would he therefore open the new stadium. The boys were quick to point out that it was them as the support act and not Paul McCartney that actually played the venue first! It was funny when they described how they were discussing what they should address McCartney as when waked into the room! During this section they described how hard it can be for some acts trying to make it in the US as with the likes of Laura Izibor being categorised into one category. They feel due to the acts they have supported including Adele, Take That and the above mentioned has meant that they are enjoying being exposed in many genres.
Stuart Clark posed a question in relation to piracy. He stated that Aslan have announced that they will no longer release new albums due to this problem and asked the lads what was their take on this. Mark Sheehan believes that piracy can actually work in favour of bands as he reckons that while one person may download the music free that the many people the person tells about the music may actually buy the album. He said that while many people will download there are many more who actually like having the album hard copy with album notes. (I'm in that later group!). Sheehan gave the example that while there has being about 300,000 illegal downloads of The Scripts album there has being sales of almost 1,000,000 copies. He believes that the way to go with music is by doing live shows and that a lot of people with piracy copies will get rid of them and buy the legal version after seeing the concert. It made me wonder was there a dig at Aslan in there somewhere!!!
Once Stuart Clark finished his interview he invited questions from the audience. Someone asked the interesting question about what was the highlight of their careers so far. Danny said that his highlight was the album getting to number 1. He said he was emotional all that day & that it was the proudest moment of his life. One of Glen's rare chances to have some input saw him describe that his highlight is touring & playing in front of big audiences. They all agreed that it is actually easier to play in front of the larger crowds because at smaller venues and especially at home there is so many close friends and family members that they feel the pressure more so at these gigs. However on this home leg of their solo tour they feel it is better for the fans to see them at intimate venues, which is why they choose to play five dates at The Olympia rather than one in The O2.
The final question of the day lead to funniest part of the interview. A lady at the rear of the venue asked how they cope with unwanted female attention. Mark spoke about a recent gig in San Francisco where there was some 'larger' women at the front of the crowd when this 'skinny' woman barged her way forward to the front and left a note at his feet asking was he interested. He pointed to his wedding ring. After the gig the woman made more attempts to get close to him. It turns out she is a police officer!! Poor Danny was in Penny's buying underwear one day in disguise when the lady at the checkouts recognised him and called everyone over to see him. He said he was never more embarrassed in his life.
There came the end to a very enjoyable interview as they had to leave in preparation for their gig in The Olympia. I’m a little disappointed now that I didn’t get tickets for these gigs. I have seen them live twice though. The first time was last August just after the album’s release when they supported Lenny Kravitz and Alanis Morissette in Marlay Park. I was also at the Take That concert in Croke Park this year.
I now wait in anticipation for The Music Show in October having already obtained my weekend ticket months ago. Confirmed artists for the live stage include The Coronas who have a single being released the same week as the show, The Republic of Loose and Imelda May. Both Christy Moore and Paul Brady will be giving seminars. Other participants include Jim Sheridan, Gemma Hayes and Vince Power. All this with more acts to be announced is an absolute bargain at €16 for a weekend ticket.
As the hottest band of the moment The Script will be unable to make the actual event in October due to prior commitments in Australia. The organisers asked them would they be able to give an interview with Stuart Clark of Hot Press in front of an invited audience of music industry professionals, musicians, music students, fans of the band and other guests. I was lucky enough to be amongst this audience as a winner of a Hot Press competition!
The event due to start at 2.30pm was delayed until 3.15pm as the organisers were hoping that the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Martin Cullen would be present but due to an emergency meeting of the cabinet he was unable to attend.
Hot Press editor, Niall Stokes took the podium and gave us an introduction of what The Music Show would consist of and explained why it was important that The Script should be part of it giving to their massive success over the last year. Their debut self-titled album has recently reclaimed the top position in the Irish charts having being released just over a year ago and has gone 8 times platinum here in Ireland. Having just arrived back for a string of gigs in the US the band are currently in the middle of a five date run in The Olympia.
Niall Stokes then introduced the band and the interviewer Stuart Clark to applause and cheers from the lucky audience. For those who may not know, The Script are a trio consisting of lead singer Danny O'Donoghue, guitarist Mark Sheehan and drummer Glen Power all hailing from Dublin. While Danny and Mark have been working together for over a decade, Glen only joined the fold in 2006. In the words of Sheehan at the interview they knew when they met Power that something just clicked & they instantly knew they would work well together.
The interview lasted approximately 40 minutes. It was well organised with excellent questions from Stuart Clark and even better responses from the especially eloquent O'Donoghue and Sheehan. Power for most of the interview sat back and listened! Areas covered included the amazing success of the last year, the years spent in the US, crazy fans and the diverse acts that The Script have being lucky to support in concert.
At first glance it may seem that The Script have come from nowhere to be this massive success story. We discovered quite a bit about their history to know that this isn't exactly accurate. Of course there is a lot of luck involved but what is not widely known is that O'Donoghue and Sheehan spent a decade in the US carving their career in the music production industry. This work leaded them to work with Teddy Riley, an American record producer, one of their childhood hero's. Up until they met Glen, Danny and Mark worked as producers for other peoples demos. This however was all about to change when Sheehan's mother became terminally ill and the band returned to their homeland and set up a studio in Sheehan’s garage. Tragically nine months later his mother died and only four months after that Danny's father also passed away. Danny was quick to point out that having hematoma meant things were also difficult for Glen at this time. During this extremely painful period in their lives the creative juices flowed and out of the emotional pain came the songs that would make up their debut album. Recorded in the garage studio with lyrics that tell stories of heartache and living in Dublin came the highly successful self-titled album. It is in my opinion one of the strongest debut albums I've ever listened to.They spoke extensively about the different acts that they have supported over the last year. The most special of these have being U2 and Paul McCartney. Danny spoke about how when U2 played Croke Park in 80's that his brother took him to listen outside the stadium as they had no money. He said it was a very special moment when he rang his brother to tell him The Script was actually supporting U2 this time! They also mentioned when they were appearing in New York that Bono sent them Guinness and champagne to make black velvet cocktails with a note attached to say New York isn't big enough for U2 and The Script so U2 were going to leave! It was an interesting story when they told us about supporting Paul McCartney at Citi Field. This is the replacement for Shea Stadium which The Beatles played both the first and last concerts at. Paul McCartney was asked would he therefore open the new stadium. The boys were quick to point out that it was them as the support act and not Paul McCartney that actually played the venue first! It was funny when they described how they were discussing what they should address McCartney as when waked into the room! During this section they described how hard it can be for some acts trying to make it in the US as with the likes of Laura Izibor being categorised into one category. They feel due to the acts they have supported including Adele, Take That and the above mentioned has meant that they are enjoying being exposed in many genres.
Stuart Clark posed a question in relation to piracy. He stated that Aslan have announced that they will no longer release new albums due to this problem and asked the lads what was their take on this. Mark Sheehan believes that piracy can actually work in favour of bands as he reckons that while one person may download the music free that the many people the person tells about the music may actually buy the album. He said that while many people will download there are many more who actually like having the album hard copy with album notes. (I'm in that later group!). Sheehan gave the example that while there has being about 300,000 illegal downloads of The Scripts album there has being sales of almost 1,000,000 copies. He believes that the way to go with music is by doing live shows and that a lot of people with piracy copies will get rid of them and buy the legal version after seeing the concert. It made me wonder was there a dig at Aslan in there somewhere!!!
Once Stuart Clark finished his interview he invited questions from the audience. Someone asked the interesting question about what was the highlight of their careers so far. Danny said that his highlight was the album getting to number 1. He said he was emotional all that day & that it was the proudest moment of his life. One of Glen's rare chances to have some input saw him describe that his highlight is touring & playing in front of big audiences. They all agreed that it is actually easier to play in front of the larger crowds because at smaller venues and especially at home there is so many close friends and family members that they feel the pressure more so at these gigs. However on this home leg of their solo tour they feel it is better for the fans to see them at intimate venues, which is why they choose to play five dates at The Olympia rather than one in The O2.
The final question of the day lead to funniest part of the interview. A lady at the rear of the venue asked how they cope with unwanted female attention. Mark spoke about a recent gig in San Francisco where there was some 'larger' women at the front of the crowd when this 'skinny' woman barged her way forward to the front and left a note at his feet asking was he interested. He pointed to his wedding ring. After the gig the woman made more attempts to get close to him. It turns out she is a police officer!! Poor Danny was in Penny's buying underwear one day in disguise when the lady at the checkouts recognised him and called everyone over to see him. He said he was never more embarrassed in his life.
There came the end to a very enjoyable interview as they had to leave in preparation for their gig in The Olympia. I’m a little disappointed now that I didn’t get tickets for these gigs. I have seen them live twice though. The first time was last August just after the album’s release when they supported Lenny Kravitz and Alanis Morissette in Marlay Park. I was also at the Take That concert in Croke Park this year.
I now wait in anticipation for The Music Show in October having already obtained my weekend ticket months ago. Confirmed artists for the live stage include The Coronas who have a single being released the same week as the show, The Republic of Loose and Imelda May. Both Christy Moore and Paul Brady will be giving seminars. Other participants include Jim Sheridan, Gemma Hayes and Vince Power. All this with more acts to be announced is an absolute bargain at €16 for a weekend ticket.
Brendan Keeley, The Moat Naas 21/08/09
Friday 21st August, The Moat Theatre was the venue for the much anticipated Brendan Keeley gig. Having arrived nice & early & enjoying a glass of wine I awaited the call that the auditorium was open. Having never being in this venue I was very interested to see what it looked like inside. Soon enough the call came & I entered the most intimate venue I’ve ever being too. Hearing the sounds of Bruce Springsteen’s The River, Hungary Heart & Atlantic City playing in the background were very pleasing on my Springsteen friendly ears.
A few minutes later at 8.20PM we were introduced to Sam Keeley, Brendan’s 18 year old son who treated us to some tunes. I was really impressed with the maturity of his singing & guitar playing as well as some excellent song writing! A song of note was ‘Paris Lights’ which he wrote after being in Paris for his 18th birthday. I enjoyed that he came across as being very at ease on stage & had very good stage presence. He even took a few swigs from a bottle of Heineken at various times during his set! While his set mainly consisted of original music he also done excellent renditions of Andreas Johnson ‘Glorious’ & The Kings of Leon ‘Sex on Fire’. After playing for approximately half an hour he thanked the audience & said he hoped we would enjoy Brendan.
After an interval of 30 minutes Brendan’s band took their places on stage to cheers from an enthusiastic audience. We could hear Brendan singing a few bars from ‘I’ll always be Lonely’ but we could not see him. Suddenly he appeared from the back of the auditorium & joined his band on stage to where they opened with ‘I can’t believe it’! (We couldn’t believe that this gig had finally arrived after months of waiting, especially after having tickets to a cancelled show in February of this year!)
Brendan than thanked his son Sam for opening the gig & proceeded to sing a song he wrote about him as a child called ‘Eyes of a Child’. Brendan introduced ‘Lady in the Painting’ by telling us the story of how his father was a second hand furniture sales man & that they had many second hand items at home including a painting which Brendan said had eyes that seemed to follow him around the room. Other songs of the first half included ‘Wishing’ & ‘After the Love’. ‘Take the Chains Away’ was dedicated to birthday lady Vera Anderson in the audience with her daughters.
Perhaps the best story of the night belonged to ‘Three o’clock Train’. Brendan spoke about how he used to get the 12.35 train to Dublin for meetings & he would see this man trying to woo a woman to no avail & he would hold an umbrella for her whenever it rained. They eventually got together & the last Brendan heard they had gotten married. Obviously the train times were different as Brendan explained 12.35 was a hard time to fit in a song. He promised us though that every other part of the story was true.
Just before the interval we discovered that ‘Does he really love you’ was Brendan’s highest chart entry before the first of two heart wrenching tributes. ‘This Woman’ was written in dedication to a friend who at the age of 33 died in a car crash leaving behind four young children. Her husband asked Brendan if he could write a song for her.
While Brendan left stage for a few minutes the band treated us to a rendition of Van Morrison’s ‘Moondance’. After this Brendan came back on stage & all the band members left the stage except for the keyboard player, Paul Skelton. They treated us to a song called ‘You Sleep with Angels’. This is from a forth coming musical that Brendan is writing. On first listen this came across as a beautiful song & I look forward to hearing more new songs & of course seeing the musical when it is released.
After this song Brendan started talking about when he was playing in bars when he was starting out. He described how difficult it was to be singing his heart out all evening & getting no attention until he announced the last song & then would get shouts for more! He told us how he would change his voice to catch people’s attention & then he treated us to a couple of examples including a very funny & convincing Christy Moore. One of my gig highlights was when he was using his guitar as a drum while he sang Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Cecelia’. During this song he was joined back on stage by the rest of the band.
Shortly after this he introduced us to each band member in turn. On backing vocals we had Lorraine Nolan & Olivia Mc Ternan. Darren Sweeney was on bass guitar with Nicky Brennan on lead guitar. The aforementioned Paul Skelton on keyboards & backing vocals & on drums was Aaron Masterson. There was excellent playing/singing from everyone in the band. It was a special moment when Lorraine & Brendan dueted on ‘Miss you Tonight’. Brendan personally believes that is the best song he ever wrote.
Between introducing the band & singing the duet Brendan paid tribute to Joe Cocker & sang his only cover of the night, ‘Unchain my Heart’. This song included an excellent guitar solo from Nicky Brennan. The second heartbreaking tribute was for a friend who was paralysed in an accident. Brendan sang ‘Heart & Soul’ for him. This song saw Brendan walking along the front of the audience with most of us now on our feet. Brendan sang it with passion & it is my personal favourite part of the gig.
At numerous stages during the gig people thought Brendan was about to sing ‘I’ll always be Lonely’, but he actually waited until the encore & it was definitely worth the wait sounding as good now as it did when it was first released in 1995. With the audience in excellent form Brendan ended the gig with repeating the brilliant ‘Take the Chains Away’ where he was joined on stage by his daughter. It was a special moment & left me with a warm feeling inside.
After the gig Brendan did a meet & greet with his audience, happily signing autographs & posing for photographs. It was nice talking to Darren & Nicky about the gig while we waited to speak with Brendan. I also had a few words with Sam where I told him I was really impressed with his musical maturity at the age of 18. While speaking to Brendan I told him it was great seeing him & thanked him for a wonderful evening.
While I had seen Brendan sing live years ago in Rose Earley’s in Newbridge I’d never seen him with a band & singing much his own material. As a fan of his music since the release of I’ll always be Lonely 14 years ago this gig was definitely worth going too. The music sounded amazing live & I loved hearing the stories behind the songs. Brendan & his band gave an excellent performance & the passion for what he does was plain to see. The Moat was a great little venue & I loved the intimacy of it all. I now await the release of Brendan’s new album ‘Under a Celtic Sky’ which is being released on September 29th.
A few minutes later at 8.20PM we were introduced to Sam Keeley, Brendan’s 18 year old son who treated us to some tunes. I was really impressed with the maturity of his singing & guitar playing as well as some excellent song writing! A song of note was ‘Paris Lights’ which he wrote after being in Paris for his 18th birthday. I enjoyed that he came across as being very at ease on stage & had very good stage presence. He even took a few swigs from a bottle of Heineken at various times during his set! While his set mainly consisted of original music he also done excellent renditions of Andreas Johnson ‘Glorious’ & The Kings of Leon ‘Sex on Fire’. After playing for approximately half an hour he thanked the audience & said he hoped we would enjoy Brendan.
After an interval of 30 minutes Brendan’s band took their places on stage to cheers from an enthusiastic audience. We could hear Brendan singing a few bars from ‘I’ll always be Lonely’ but we could not see him. Suddenly he appeared from the back of the auditorium & joined his band on stage to where they opened with ‘I can’t believe it’! (We couldn’t believe that this gig had finally arrived after months of waiting, especially after having tickets to a cancelled show in February of this year!)
Brendan than thanked his son Sam for opening the gig & proceeded to sing a song he wrote about him as a child called ‘Eyes of a Child’. Brendan introduced ‘Lady in the Painting’ by telling us the story of how his father was a second hand furniture sales man & that they had many second hand items at home including a painting which Brendan said had eyes that seemed to follow him around the room. Other songs of the first half included ‘Wishing’ & ‘After the Love’. ‘Take the Chains Away’ was dedicated to birthday lady Vera Anderson in the audience with her daughters.
Perhaps the best story of the night belonged to ‘Three o’clock Train’. Brendan spoke about how he used to get the 12.35 train to Dublin for meetings & he would see this man trying to woo a woman to no avail & he would hold an umbrella for her whenever it rained. They eventually got together & the last Brendan heard they had gotten married. Obviously the train times were different as Brendan explained 12.35 was a hard time to fit in a song. He promised us though that every other part of the story was true.
Just before the interval we discovered that ‘Does he really love you’ was Brendan’s highest chart entry before the first of two heart wrenching tributes. ‘This Woman’ was written in dedication to a friend who at the age of 33 died in a car crash leaving behind four young children. Her husband asked Brendan if he could write a song for her.
While Brendan left stage for a few minutes the band treated us to a rendition of Van Morrison’s ‘Moondance’. After this Brendan came back on stage & all the band members left the stage except for the keyboard player, Paul Skelton. They treated us to a song called ‘You Sleep with Angels’. This is from a forth coming musical that Brendan is writing. On first listen this came across as a beautiful song & I look forward to hearing more new songs & of course seeing the musical when it is released.
After this song Brendan started talking about when he was playing in bars when he was starting out. He described how difficult it was to be singing his heart out all evening & getting no attention until he announced the last song & then would get shouts for more! He told us how he would change his voice to catch people’s attention & then he treated us to a couple of examples including a very funny & convincing Christy Moore. One of my gig highlights was when he was using his guitar as a drum while he sang Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Cecelia’. During this song he was joined back on stage by the rest of the band.
Shortly after this he introduced us to each band member in turn. On backing vocals we had Lorraine Nolan & Olivia Mc Ternan. Darren Sweeney was on bass guitar with Nicky Brennan on lead guitar. The aforementioned Paul Skelton on keyboards & backing vocals & on drums was Aaron Masterson. There was excellent playing/singing from everyone in the band. It was a special moment when Lorraine & Brendan dueted on ‘Miss you Tonight’. Brendan personally believes that is the best song he ever wrote.
Between introducing the band & singing the duet Brendan paid tribute to Joe Cocker & sang his only cover of the night, ‘Unchain my Heart’. This song included an excellent guitar solo from Nicky Brennan. The second heartbreaking tribute was for a friend who was paralysed in an accident. Brendan sang ‘Heart & Soul’ for him. This song saw Brendan walking along the front of the audience with most of us now on our feet. Brendan sang it with passion & it is my personal favourite part of the gig.
At numerous stages during the gig people thought Brendan was about to sing ‘I’ll always be Lonely’, but he actually waited until the encore & it was definitely worth the wait sounding as good now as it did when it was first released in 1995. With the audience in excellent form Brendan ended the gig with repeating the brilliant ‘Take the Chains Away’ where he was joined on stage by his daughter. It was a special moment & left me with a warm feeling inside.
After the gig Brendan did a meet & greet with his audience, happily signing autographs & posing for photographs. It was nice talking to Darren & Nicky about the gig while we waited to speak with Brendan. I also had a few words with Sam where I told him I was really impressed with his musical maturity at the age of 18. While speaking to Brendan I told him it was great seeing him & thanked him for a wonderful evening.
While I had seen Brendan sing live years ago in Rose Earley’s in Newbridge I’d never seen him with a band & singing much his own material. As a fan of his music since the release of I’ll always be Lonely 14 years ago this gig was definitely worth going too. The music sounded amazing live & I loved hearing the stories behind the songs. Brendan & his band gave an excellent performance & the passion for what he does was plain to see. The Moat was a great little venue & I loved the intimacy of it all. I now await the release of Brendan’s new album ‘Under a Celtic Sky’ which is being released on September 29th.
U2 Croke Park 25/07/09
It was a beautiful sunny afternoon as we headed out to Croke Park for the U2 360 concert. We arrived outside the magnificent stadium just after 2pm & were pleasantly surprised to find the queue wasn’t as big as we were expecting. We took our place in line & were delighted to receive the coveted wrist bands to the pit area in front of the stage. From seeing the pictures of the previous night we knew that it was a very small pit area & was surrounded by a walkway with bridges connecting it to the stage for the band to walk around.
As we had a 2 hour wait before entering the pitch area we settled down to read the Friday reviews in the papers & listen to a few tunes (U2 of course) on my MP3 player. We were talking to people of various nationalities from Brazilian to Austrian to Scottish who had descended on the city to see their idols in their homeland. Irish fans seemed few & far between! We also signed up to the ONE foundation which works alongside organisations to offer relief in Africa & other places around the world.
Finally one of the moments that we had being waiting for. Doors open & time to get our first views of the mighty claw. It was awe-inspiring! Croke Park on its own is really impressive even to my familiar eyes but seeing this huge piece of art sitting majestically in the stadium was a pretty amazing sight. As we walked into the pit we were just staring up at this over-whelming structure over our heads. It was then time for more pressing matters & finding a spot where we not only had a good view of the stage but also of the ring around it & of a bridge. I spotted a gap at the side with the wall to lean on & seemingly halfway from the stage & a bridge but things are not always what they seem as will be explained later.
It was now shortly after 4pm & another couple of hours wait before the live music began but time passed really quickly & it was soon time for the last toilet visit & to top up on vital water supplies to last us until the show was over. Then camera at the ready let the show begin.
First up were Irish band Republic of Loose. Being honest I was a little disappointed by these. While the music was very good & ‘You know it’ & ‘Comeback Girl’ were great to hear, until the last song there was no crowd interaction. I wasn’t the only one to notice this & indeed Mike Pyro the lead singer himself made comments that we were at a U2 gig & why was everyone so quiet. My own thoughts were that yes we came to see U2 but the reason we were all quiet was all their doing. Another aspect of their set that annoyed me was that they had a photographer with them on stage for a good while which made taking us taking photos really difficult & it came across as somewhat amateur & unprofessional. However they were only the warm-up band so in the run of things they didn’t really matter.
Next up were The Kaiser Chiefs & here were a band who know how to perform & engage their audience. From the 1st notes of ‘Never Miss a Beat’ they were totally on form & in the words of that opening song, they didn’t miss a beat! Lead singer Ricky Wilson was full of energy & spent the set racing around the stage & once he even got into the crowd and was surfed back to the stage with the help of willing fans. Their set list included all the favourites & we all enjoyed hearing ‘Every day I love you less’, ‘Ruby’, ‘I predict a Riot’ & ‘Oh My God’. I had chosen to go to the Saturday gig because The Kaiser Chiefs were supporting & I wasn’t disappointed. They left us all with a satisfied feeling & the knowledge of knowing that U2 would be taking the stage in less than an hour which thankfully passed quite quickly.
At approximately 8.50 David Bowie’s’ Space Oddity’ blared out of the speakers and smoke started bellowing from the centre of the claw. Cheers erupted around Croke Park as a lone Larry Mullen Jnr walked out on stage up to his drum set & the first beats of ‘Breathe’ can be heard as Adam, Edge & Bono walk out on stage to deafening cheers from the crowds. From the start it is a high energy, high octane gig. Starting with 4 songs from the new album was a brave decision but one that worked as the guys went from ‘Breathe’ to ‘No Line On The Horizon’ to ‘Get on Your Boots’ & ‘Magnificent’ with barely stopping to swap guitars. They were all excellent songs which had the crowds already singing along with every word. Altogether there were six songs from the new album performed on the night.
The business end of promoting the new album opened the way for a set filled with great songs & quite a few snippets along the way. ‘Beautiful Day’ was 1st in a line of songs to get this treatment with a little bit of ‘Here Comes the Sun’. A personal highlight was when they sung ‘Angel of Harlem’ with a sample of Michael Jackson’s ‘Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough’. There was no mention of Michael Jackson but I felt it was a nice touch one month to the date he died. Just after this we had a pre-recorded video link up with the space station & the band sang ‘Unknown Caller’ while Bono made references to our claw being a spaceship.
Shortly after this there seemed the weather was conspiring against us as it started raining but as Bono said no one cared about the rain as covers were put up to protect Larry’s drums. It was a surreal moment in the night as the rain started just before ‘The Unforgettable Fire’. Fire & water may not mix but there was going to be no dampening the moment as the huge screen surrounding the inside of the claw started dropping down & separating into sections as it did. With a red glow surrounding the stage there really was a feeling we were looking at a massive fire. With the screen remaining in position & different colours flashing by we were treated to ‘City of Blinding Lights. A few songs later the rain had gone & such was the enjoyment of the gig it hadn’t caused much disappointment to anyone.
During ‘Walk On’ there was images of the Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi on screen who has being under house arrest for 20 years. Bono made an emotional plea for her release. During the song a few dozen people wearing masks of her face walked out along the pit wall. Some fans were also wearing masks that had being given out before the concert. Other similar moments included images of Iran on the screen during ‘Sunday, Bloody Sunday’ & an impassioned speech played on the screens from Desmond Tutu.
The final song before the encore was ‘One’. What is now a familiar sight at recent U2 tours saw Bono asking everyone to light up their mobile phones in what used to be where people lit their lighters with the lights dimmed. It does look amazing & ‘One’ is not only my favourite U2 song but also one of my all time favourite songs so I never tire of seeing this.
We were now nearing the end of the night & 3 songs remained but we wouldn’t be forgetting these in a hurry as Bono emerged on stage with an amazing jacket with what looked like laser lights all down the side. As it was dark at this stage it a spectacular sight. It fitted right in with the song ‘Ultraviolet’. This was followed by crowd favourite ‘With or Without You’ which had us all singing along. The final song of the night was my personal favourite from ‘No Line on the horizon’, ‘Moment of Surrender’. It sounded brilliant live & I hope that it will be released on single so everyone can get to hear it. It was then time to say final thanks & goodbye & the band left the stage to cries of people wanting more & the sounds of Elton John’s ‘Rocket Man’ from the speakers. There was just time to enjoy the final views of the claw on the way out. A few more snaps before we started the trip back home.
My final thoughts on this concert are that it was great seeing U2 in concert after 4 years. They really do leave too long between tours. We were extremely lucky with where we were standing for this gig as the bridge we were ‘near’ turned out to actually be moved quite a lot & for most of the walks that the lads took it was right beside us. Having seen U23D I never thought I’d actually ever stand that close with an uninterrupted view of the band. It was an amazing feeling & made for some great photographic moments. Bono kept referring to how happy they were to be playing in their hometown & thanked us the fans for sticking with them. It makes for a very special concert when you can see that that the band is actually enjoying themselves & not just going through the motions. I have since read complaints about the gig with some fans complaining about the set list. My answer to that was that you can never please everyone & while there are songs I’d have love to have heard I feel it was a balanced set list & included songs spanning their entire career. U2 are one of the best bands in the world & any show they put in is going to be a visual spectacle with guaranteed great music. They consistently come back with excellent new music. I’ve seen them live 3 times now & while Slane will always have a special place in my heart this too was a brilliant gig. One of my thoughts as I left Croke Park was will it be another 4 years before they come back again? I sincerely hope not.
Gwen Langford, 26/07/09
As we had a 2 hour wait before entering the pitch area we settled down to read the Friday reviews in the papers & listen to a few tunes (U2 of course) on my MP3 player. We were talking to people of various nationalities from Brazilian to Austrian to Scottish who had descended on the city to see their idols in their homeland. Irish fans seemed few & far between! We also signed up to the ONE foundation which works alongside organisations to offer relief in Africa & other places around the world.
Finally one of the moments that we had being waiting for. Doors open & time to get our first views of the mighty claw. It was awe-inspiring! Croke Park on its own is really impressive even to my familiar eyes but seeing this huge piece of art sitting majestically in the stadium was a pretty amazing sight. As we walked into the pit we were just staring up at this over-whelming structure over our heads. It was then time for more pressing matters & finding a spot where we not only had a good view of the stage but also of the ring around it & of a bridge. I spotted a gap at the side with the wall to lean on & seemingly halfway from the stage & a bridge but things are not always what they seem as will be explained later.
It was now shortly after 4pm & another couple of hours wait before the live music began but time passed really quickly & it was soon time for the last toilet visit & to top up on vital water supplies to last us until the show was over. Then camera at the ready let the show begin.
First up were Irish band Republic of Loose. Being honest I was a little disappointed by these. While the music was very good & ‘You know it’ & ‘Comeback Girl’ were great to hear, until the last song there was no crowd interaction. I wasn’t the only one to notice this & indeed Mike Pyro the lead singer himself made comments that we were at a U2 gig & why was everyone so quiet. My own thoughts were that yes we came to see U2 but the reason we were all quiet was all their doing. Another aspect of their set that annoyed me was that they had a photographer with them on stage for a good while which made taking us taking photos really difficult & it came across as somewhat amateur & unprofessional. However they were only the warm-up band so in the run of things they didn’t really matter.
Next up were The Kaiser Chiefs & here were a band who know how to perform & engage their audience. From the 1st notes of ‘Never Miss a Beat’ they were totally on form & in the words of that opening song, they didn’t miss a beat! Lead singer Ricky Wilson was full of energy & spent the set racing around the stage & once he even got into the crowd and was surfed back to the stage with the help of willing fans. Their set list included all the favourites & we all enjoyed hearing ‘Every day I love you less’, ‘Ruby’, ‘I predict a Riot’ & ‘Oh My God’. I had chosen to go to the Saturday gig because The Kaiser Chiefs were supporting & I wasn’t disappointed. They left us all with a satisfied feeling & the knowledge of knowing that U2 would be taking the stage in less than an hour which thankfully passed quite quickly.
At approximately 8.50 David Bowie’s’ Space Oddity’ blared out of the speakers and smoke started bellowing from the centre of the claw. Cheers erupted around Croke Park as a lone Larry Mullen Jnr walked out on stage up to his drum set & the first beats of ‘Breathe’ can be heard as Adam, Edge & Bono walk out on stage to deafening cheers from the crowds. From the start it is a high energy, high octane gig. Starting with 4 songs from the new album was a brave decision but one that worked as the guys went from ‘Breathe’ to ‘No Line On The Horizon’ to ‘Get on Your Boots’ & ‘Magnificent’ with barely stopping to swap guitars. They were all excellent songs which had the crowds already singing along with every word. Altogether there were six songs from the new album performed on the night.
The business end of promoting the new album opened the way for a set filled with great songs & quite a few snippets along the way. ‘Beautiful Day’ was 1st in a line of songs to get this treatment with a little bit of ‘Here Comes the Sun’. A personal highlight was when they sung ‘Angel of Harlem’ with a sample of Michael Jackson’s ‘Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough’. There was no mention of Michael Jackson but I felt it was a nice touch one month to the date he died. Just after this we had a pre-recorded video link up with the space station & the band sang ‘Unknown Caller’ while Bono made references to our claw being a spaceship.
Shortly after this there seemed the weather was conspiring against us as it started raining but as Bono said no one cared about the rain as covers were put up to protect Larry’s drums. It was a surreal moment in the night as the rain started just before ‘The Unforgettable Fire’. Fire & water may not mix but there was going to be no dampening the moment as the huge screen surrounding the inside of the claw started dropping down & separating into sections as it did. With a red glow surrounding the stage there really was a feeling we were looking at a massive fire. With the screen remaining in position & different colours flashing by we were treated to ‘City of Blinding Lights. A few songs later the rain had gone & such was the enjoyment of the gig it hadn’t caused much disappointment to anyone.
During ‘Walk On’ there was images of the Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi on screen who has being under house arrest for 20 years. Bono made an emotional plea for her release. During the song a few dozen people wearing masks of her face walked out along the pit wall. Some fans were also wearing masks that had being given out before the concert. Other similar moments included images of Iran on the screen during ‘Sunday, Bloody Sunday’ & an impassioned speech played on the screens from Desmond Tutu.
The final song before the encore was ‘One’. What is now a familiar sight at recent U2 tours saw Bono asking everyone to light up their mobile phones in what used to be where people lit their lighters with the lights dimmed. It does look amazing & ‘One’ is not only my favourite U2 song but also one of my all time favourite songs so I never tire of seeing this.
We were now nearing the end of the night & 3 songs remained but we wouldn’t be forgetting these in a hurry as Bono emerged on stage with an amazing jacket with what looked like laser lights all down the side. As it was dark at this stage it a spectacular sight. It fitted right in with the song ‘Ultraviolet’. This was followed by crowd favourite ‘With or Without You’ which had us all singing along. The final song of the night was my personal favourite from ‘No Line on the horizon’, ‘Moment of Surrender’. It sounded brilliant live & I hope that it will be released on single so everyone can get to hear it. It was then time to say final thanks & goodbye & the band left the stage to cries of people wanting more & the sounds of Elton John’s ‘Rocket Man’ from the speakers. There was just time to enjoy the final views of the claw on the way out. A few more snaps before we started the trip back home.
My final thoughts on this concert are that it was great seeing U2 in concert after 4 years. They really do leave too long between tours. We were extremely lucky with where we were standing for this gig as the bridge we were ‘near’ turned out to actually be moved quite a lot & for most of the walks that the lads took it was right beside us. Having seen U23D I never thought I’d actually ever stand that close with an uninterrupted view of the band. It was an amazing feeling & made for some great photographic moments. Bono kept referring to how happy they were to be playing in their hometown & thanked us the fans for sticking with them. It makes for a very special concert when you can see that that the band is actually enjoying themselves & not just going through the motions. I have since read complaints about the gig with some fans complaining about the set list. My answer to that was that you can never please everyone & while there are songs I’d have love to have heard I feel it was a balanced set list & included songs spanning their entire career. U2 are one of the best bands in the world & any show they put in is going to be a visual spectacle with guaranteed great music. They consistently come back with excellent new music. I’ve seen them live 3 times now & while Slane will always have a special place in my heart this too was a brilliant gig. One of my thoughts as I left Croke Park was will it be another 4 years before they come back again? I sincerely hope not.
Gwen Langford, 26/07/09
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