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There is just one more sleep to go to the start UK tour and Leonard Cohen fans all over the UK are beside themselves with excitement and anticipation.

The tour opens in Bournemouth, a traditional British seaside resort on the south coast with beautiful sandy beaches and couple of historic piers.
The town has a temperate climate and, according to the BBC, it looks like the weather gods may be kind to us on Monday, even though August Bank Holiday Monday is traditionally a wash out. (The Beeb have now updated their forecast to show some showers on Monday afternoon, just to remind us that it IS August Bank Holiday!) The downside of a favourable forecast is that the place is likely to be very crowded and we may struggle to find a parking space before the show ......

The concert will take place at the Bournemouth International Centre (BIC), a conference, exhibition and entertainment centre in the heart of the town. The BIC was built in the mid 1980s and the Windsor Hall (venue for the concert) has a seating capacity of 4,200. Leonard last played there on 11 November 2008.
See you there!

Wendy

Mabeanie1 wrote:and the Windsor Hall (venue for the concert) has a seating capacity of 4,200. Wendy

How wonderful for all of you! I was so wrong to think that all the European venues this time around are large.

MaryB wrote: I was so wrong to think that all the European venues this time around are large.

I'm not sure I would regard these venues (the Brighton and Cardiff venues have a seated capacity of 4,500 and 5,000 respectively; the other venues are much larger*) as small Mary - they are still barn-like arena type venues - but they are small arenas.

Windsor Hall:
Wendy

*Manchester: 21,000, Leeds: 13,500; Birmingham: 14,000, London O2: 20.000

Small as compared to the only one I'll be attending in Europe this time around

From the Webb Sisters yesterday:

Charley and Hattie ‏@thewebbsisters
and it's back on home soil! http://fb.me/1GyUf4THn

Wendy

According to the BIC website today, the show starts at 7:30 pm (= 7:45 pm??) There is an 11:00 pm curfew. I suspect this may be the pattern for the whole of the UK tour.

Wendy

Mabeanie1 wrote:According to the BIC website today, the show starts at 7:30 pm (= 7:45 pm??) There is an 11:00 pm curfew. I suspect this may be the pattern for the whole of the UK tour.

Wendy

A late start and a strict curfew costs 2 or more songs.
So hoping for a prompt start and 'curfew flexibility' from time to time.

‏@Buster_Bear - Bournemouth International Centre. A very civilised arena venue. Full of old people. pic.twitter.com/AbmZP4cUgz

@IntegrityRecs - 10 minutes and counting before Mr Leonard Cohen takes the stage. #imyourman pic.twitter.com/DzzPFT8OHX
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BSnTjvMCMAE6axf.jpg

@jrlc48 - Edge of my seat in #bournemouth #leonardcohen pic.twitter.com/ipy06fRfAX

@gleedowen - Brilliant. Have just seen Leonard Cohen play for nearly three hours, and he is a dude; a 78-yr old very sprightly dude.

@AbiCutler - Saw Leonard Cohen tonight, he sang Hallelujah - made the night completely worth it. #iwastheyoungestpersonattheconcert

@Buster_Bear - I really must try and remember that Leonard Cohen's backing singers are the Webb Sisters and not the Webb Twins.

@Rikkiebags - At nearly 79, Leonard Cohen is still an utterly stupendous performer. On stage at 7:40, finally left at 11pm. Take that Springsteen.

@stevepullen - Just got in from seeing the wonderful Leonard Cohen in convert. He and his his fantastic musicians put the current bands to shame.

@PeterFederico - Just saw Leonard Cohen & very talented musicians & singers that play with him do an amazing 3 hour gig in Bournemouth

@lizcoops - Leonard Cohen live. Wow. Absolutely incredible. 360 mile round trip def worth it.... Haven't done my share of the driving yet though...

@hols14HL - LEONARD COHEN WAS INCREDIBLE http://instagram.com/p/dfi6QmwuHS/
http://distilleryimage10.ak.instagram.c ... 0e7b_7.jpg

A great show to open the UK tour with. Setlist (as posted on the setlist thread):

Set 1
Dance Me to the End of Love
The Future
Bird on a Wire
Everybody Knows
Who By Fire
The Gipsy's Wife
The Darkness
Amen
Come Healing
Lover Lover Lover (+band intro)

Set 2
Tower of Song
Suzanne
Chelsea Hotel
Waiting for the Miracle
Anyhow
The Partisan
Alexandra Leaving (Sharon Robinson)
I'm Your Man
Hallelujah
Take this Waltz

Encores
So Long Marianne
Going Home
First We Take Manhattan

Famous Blue Raincoat
If It Be Your Will (Webb Sisters)
Closing Time

I Tried to Leave You

I'm still waiting for a concert report!

I was apprehensive about this venue but I needn't have worried. Much more intimate than the O2, Leonard had the enthusiastic audience in the palm of his hands. He started at 7.40pm and finished promptly at 11pm, presumably because of the curfew. Even so, with a 20-minute interval, Leonard and the band put in a solid three hours. One more encore, perhaps, and we'd have had Anthem! I couldn't pick out a favourite song but I loved Sharon Robinson's solo version of Alexandra Leaving. So Long, Marianne had the audience on their feet and singing along. Altogether a great night.

Oh my God! They left out "Anthem"?!!! This is unthinkable. Ano no "Sisters of Mercy"!!! This is terrible!

John, we heard Anthem and Sisters of Mercy at the O2 in June.

John Etherington wrote:Oh my God! They left out "Anthem"?!!! This is unthinkable. Ano no "Sisters of Mercy"!!! This is terrible!

...true, but during 'Lover' we did get a few chanted lines of Ozymandias ('and on the pedestal...and despair') to introduce Rafael and in homage to Shelley. Another wonderful night, if slightly truncated by the curfew.

(EDIT: In the interests of accuracy and public humiliation, and thanks to Raincoat's recording - it was of course 'Darkness' and the lines: 'I met a traveler from an antique land. He said two vast and trunkless legs of []...[] Look on my works ye mighty and despair'. Sometimes memory is not enough!)

Here we go - some good video -

Uploaded by Phil Laxton

Everybody Knows
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7hj4DSOujw