A year on the road with Leonard Cohen, by his bandmates

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3GFC_DgtuY

THE FIRST EUROPEAN DATE: IMMA, ROYAL HOSPITAL, KILMAINHAM, DUBLIN, JUNE 13, 2008

Graham Boothby [fan]: I’ve been a fan of Cohen for 35 years. I never, ever dreamed I would see him live. I saw him in Dublin at 8am, walking down the street. I thought: ‘He’s mine when he plays tonight.’ So I let him be. It was the first night of the European tour. He had to get it right, and there wasn’t much interaction with the audience. He came onstage quietly, and the place erupted. “Hallelujah” was the highlight. I was just in tears. There was absolute silence. 10,000 people. After the second encore, people rushed down to the stage and sang along. It was overwhelming. Of course, all the buzz was that he had to tour because his manager had run off with his money. Well, thank you madam, I’m glad you did.

Charley Webb: We tried to say to him that if he put a baseball cap on, and a sweater and an old pair of jeans, he wouldn’t be recognised. But he’s always got his fedora on, and his long mac over the top of his suit. There wasn’t even a glimmer of thought that he might consider wearing anything else.

Sharon Robinson: He’s a devoted workhorse. He works harder than any of the rest of us, and has reserves of energy that no-one can quite tell where they come from. He’s quite a bit happier than when I knew him 30 years ago. We often talk about how hard the work is, being on tour. I asked Leonard once: “But aren’t you enjoying it?” And he did admit that he was enjoying the audience’s involvement in the music, that there was something very special going on.

Hattie Webb: We socialise and have a meal together before the gigs, at the venue. Leonard always has his nutritious smoothie.

Charley Webb: While he eats a very healthy diet, like a Zen Buddhist would, every now and again we discover he’s slipped out the back door and gone to McDonald’s to buy a Filet-O-Fish!

Roscoe Beck: After dinner we’ll be getting dressed. Then we meet in the Green Room about 15 minutes before we go onstage, just hang out and talk as friends before we hit the stage. That’s the way it goes, every time. There are nights out. But a night out with Leonard is not going to be a night at the disco. It’s a long dinner somewhere, coffee afterwards. Good conversation. He’s very open to those he knows.

Javier Mas [guitar; musical director for Spanish Cohen tribute concerts in 2006 and 2007]: He’s like a big brother. We’re together from 10 in the morning till 1 at night. We’ve become very good friends. The only difference between him and us is the age. He’s 74, he has a different day-time schedule, when he rests more than us. And we play concerts for three hours, sometimes more. He needs a lot of rest to make it good, and remember all the lyrics.

Charley Webb: Leonard doesn’t often go out after the show. We often don’t finish ’til 12.30 at night, and that also means there are people who’ve been to the concert around the hotel, seeing if they can see Leonard. It can be very intrusive for him. So often we don’t see him till the next day.

Roscoe Beck: The one concession he’s making for himself is that there’s no meet-and-greet on this tour. There have been quite a few celebrities who’ve come to the shows – and of course everyone wants to meet Leonard. He decided before the tour that meet-and-greets just take too much out of him. He gives everything he’s got into the show. When the show is over, he’s ready to go back to the hotel room.