Maledette, maledette aspettative! Sempre a riempirmi di tensione, sempre a creare false speranze, sempre a diluire i bei momenti in un mare di apprensione. Quelle degli altri, poi, mi spaventano e mi bloccano a livelli patologici, richiudendomi nella mia “fortezza profonda e misteriosa” a tripla mandata. Maledette!
Eppure cosa succede quando le aspettative non solo vengono rispettate, ma ampiamente superate e dimenticate? La risposta, forse, in questo concerto, l'ultimo della tournée europea di Leonard Cohen di quest'anno, intitolata “Old Ideas”.
La prima aspettativa viene meno già qualche minuto prima del concerto, con un Pavilhão Atlântico pieno contro ogni previsione. Al momento della chiusura delle vendite online, infatti, il concerto era ben lontano dal sold out. La sala, però, è brulicante di gente che chiacchiera in portoghese, in spagnolo, in inglese e il pubblico è variegato anche dal punto di vista dell'età: alla mia sinistra, ad esempio, c'è un'inglese che potrebbe essere mia madre, alla mia destra un tizio di nazionalità indefinita che avrà l'età di mio nonno, io, ventiduenne, nel mezzo. E non ero l'unica, benché non mi aspettassi una grande affluenza di giovani, considerata l'età del protagonista della serata.
Il concerto inizia col quarto d'ora accademico d'ordinanza: sul palco salgono gli ormai più che rodati (ed elegantissimi) musicisti che accompagnano Cohen. La band è quasi identica a quella dei tour del 2008 e 2010, a parte il violinista Alexandru Bublitchi, entrato al posto del sax di Dino Soldo, e il chitarrista Mitch Watkins a sostituire Bob Metzger. Anche la scenografia di luci che trasforma la band in ombre tra un brano e l’altro è praticamente identica a quella usata due anni fa. E se fosse un concerto-fotocopia di quelli già visti nel tour precedente? Pensandoci, il rischio non è poi così ridotto: Cohen è anziano, dal 2010 ad oggi ha visto la fine di un tour mondiale, la pubblicazione di un nuovo disco, la preparazione di un’altra tournée. Ci saranno stati abbastanza tempo ed energie per creare qualcosa di nuovo? E poi quel titolo, “Old Ideas”, non è che faccia proprio sperare bene…
Le note di “Dance Me To The End Of Love”, ormai per tradizione in apertura di ogni concerto, sembrano rendere più tangibile quel timore. Ma basta poco per rendersi conto che è solo questione in scaletta, davvero. Il “lazy bastard living in a suit” che sale sul palco – accompagnato dalla prima standing ovation della serata – è sì lo stesso di due anni fa, sicuramente con qualche ruga in più, ma il suo fascino e la sua capacità di incantare il pubblico sono direttamente proporzionali alla sua età.
Nella setlist si mescolano in un amalgama perfetto brani scritti a partire dal 1967 (anno della pubblicazione di “Songs Of Leonard Cohen”) fino al 2012. Il pubblico freme, si lascia incantare e disorientare dalle parti strumentali che introducono alcuni dei brani, in particolare quelle eseguite con maestria da Javier Mas su oud e bandurria. Gli splendidi arrangiamenti livellano le notevoli differenze musicali tra i vari periodi della produzione di Cohen, senza sminuire o privare le canzoni della loro personalità. Anzi, a volte donando loro nuova vita, come nel caso di molti pezzi degli anni ’80, spesso appesantiti da elettronica ed effetti superflui. Ed è forse a questo che sono serviti gli ultimi anni di tour: a ridisegnare, levigare, cesellare e ripulire fino ad ottenere l’equilibrio perfetto.
Non mancano ovviamente i grandi classici: “Suzanne”, “Hallelujah”, la sensualissima “I'm Your Man”, “Tower Of Song”, “Bird On The Wire”, “The Partisan” (che, tanto per sfatare un mito, non è di Cohen) proposta in una versione notevole, brani che dimostrano quanto l’artista canadese sia entrato nell’immaginario del pubblico presente e non. Graditissime sorprese della serata sono l’intensa “Night Goes On”, “The Guests” (assente dai concerti di Cohen dal 1985) e una splendida versione di “Coming Back To You” regalata al pubblico dalle sublimi Webb Sisters.
La “voce d'oro” roca e invidiabile, le mani vecchie e nodose che stringono il microfono, qualche umana incertezza, i sorrisi e gli inchini rivolti al pubblico, l'immensa umiltà e il rispetto che Cohen mostra verso i musicisti che l'accompagnano sono il marchio indelebile della serata, l'umanità che colpisce al di là della musica in sé.
L’apice della serata è probabilmente il primo bis, “So Long, Marianne”, con un pubblico ormai in piedi sotto al palco e felice di cantare a squarciagola il ben noto ritornello. Io, ovviamente, ho dato volentieri il mio contributo. Il tutto si conclude a quasi quattro ore dall’apertura con l’appropriatissima “I Tried To Leave You” e una cover di “Save The Last Dance For Me” dei The Drifters, trentaduesima canzone della serata.
Le ultime parole di Cohen sono una benedizione per il suo pubblico, quel pubblico che ama e rispetta, davanti cui si inginocchia e si toglie il cappello più volte durante la serata. “May you be surrounded by friends and family, and if this is not your lot, may the blessings find you in your solitude”. Profondamente colpita (quasi commossa, lo ammetto), l’annoto frettolosamente su un block notes prima di uscire nella notte mite di Lisbona.
Per una volta senza traccia di delusione.
Elenco tracce e testi
02 Bird on the Wire (04:15)
like a bird on the wire
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free
like a worm on the hook
like a knight from some old-fashioned book
I have saved all my ribbons for thee
and if I have been unkind
I hope that you will just let it go by
and if I have been untrue
I hope you know it was never to you
like a babe stillborn
like a beast with his horn
I have torn everyone who reached out for me
but I swear by this song
and by all that I have done wrong
I will make it all up to thee
I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch
he said to me "you must not ask for so much"
and the pretty woman leaning in her darkened door
she cried to me "hey, why not ask for more?"
like a bird on the wire
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free
04 So Long, Marianne (07:07)
Come over to the window, my little darling,
I'd like to try to read your palm.
I used to think I was some kind of Gypsy boy
before I let you take me home.
Now so long, Marianne, it's time that we began
to laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again.
Well you know that I love to live with you,
but you make me forget so very much.
I forget to pray for the angels
and then the angels forget to pray for us.
Now so long, Marianne, it's time that we began ...
We met when we were almost young
deep in the green lilac park.
You held on to me like I was a crucifix,
as we went kneeling through the dark.
Oh so long, Marianne, it's time that we began ...
Your letters they all say that you're beside me now.
Then why do I feel alone?
I'm standing on a ledge and your fine spider web
is fastening my ankle to a stone.
Now so long, Marianne, it's time that we began ...
For now I need your hidden love.
I'm cold as a new razor blade.
You left when I told you I was curious,
I never said that I was brave.
Oh so long, Marianne, it's time that we began ...
Oh, you are really such a pretty one.
I see you've gone and changed your name again.
And just when I climbed this whole mountainside,
to wash my eyelids in the rain!
Oh so long, Marianne, it's time that we began ...
13 Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye (03:34)
I loved you in the morning
Our kisses deep and warm
Your hair upon the pillow
Like a sleepy golden storm.
Yes, many loved before us
I know that we are not new,
In city and in forest
They smiled like me and you,
But now it's come to distances
And both of us must try,
Your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.
I'm not looking for another
As I wander in my time,
Walk me to the corner
Our steps will always rhyme,
You know my love goes with you
As your love stays with me,
It's just the way it changes
Like the shoreline and the sea,
But let's not talk of love or chains
And things we can't untie,
Your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.
I loved you in the morning
Our kisses deep and warm,
Your hair upon the pillow
Like a sleepy golden storm.
Yes, many loved before us
I know that we are not new,
In city and in forest
They smiled like me and you
But let's not talk of love or chains
And things we can't untie,
Your eyes are soft with sorrow
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.
15 Suzanne (04:26)
Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river.
You can hear the boats go by,
You can spend the night beside her.
And you know she's half crazy,
But that's why you want to be there.
And she feeds you tea and oranges that come all the way from China.
And just when you mean to tell her that you have no love to give her,
Then she gets you on her wavelength
And she lets the river answer
That you've always been her lover.
And you want to travel with her,
And you want to travel blind,
And you know she will trust you,
For you've touched her perfect body with your mind.
And Jesus was a sailor, when he walked upon the water
And he spent a long time watching from his lonely wooden tower.
And when he knew for certain, only drowning men could see him,
He said: "All men will be sailors then, until the sea shall free them."
But he himself was broken
Long before the sky would open,
Foresaken, almost human,
He sank beneath your wisdom, like a stone
And you want to travel with him
And you want to travel blind
And you think maybe you'll trust him
For he's touched your perfect body with his mind.
Now Suzanne takes your hand and she leads you to the river.
She's wearing rags and feathers from Salvation Army counters.
And the sun pours down like honey on our Lady of the Harbor.
And she shows you where to look, among the garbage and the flowers.
There are heros in the seaweed,
There are children in the morning,
They are leaning out for love,
They will lean that way forever,
While Suzanne holds the mirror.
And you want to travel with her,
And you want to travel blind,
And you know you can trust her
For she's touched your perfect body with her mind.
17 The Partisan (05:13)
When they poured across the border
I was cautioned to surrender,
this I could not do;
I took my gun and vanished.
I have changed my name so often,
I have lost my wife and children
but I have many friends,
and some of them are with me.
An old woman gave us shelter,
kept us hidden in the garret,
then the soldiers came;
she died without a whisper.
There were three of us this morning
I'm the only one this evening
but I must go on;
the frontiers are my prison.
Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,
through the graves the wind is blowing,
freedom soon will come;
then we'll come from the shadows.
Les Allemands étaient chez moi, (The Germans were at my home)
ils me dirent, "Signe toi," (They said, "Sign yourself,")
mais je n'ai pas peur; (But I am not afraid)
j'ai repris mon arme. (I have retaken my weapon.)
J'ai changé cent fois de nom, (I have changed names a hundred times)
j'ai perdu femme et enfants (I have lost wife and children)
mais j'ai tant d'amis; (But I have so many friends)
j'ai la France entière. (I have all of France)
Un vieil homme dans un grenier (An old man, in an attic)
pour la nuit nous a caché, (Hid us for the night)
les Allemands l'ont pris; (The Germans captured him)
il est mort sans surprise. (He died without surprise.)
Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,
through the graves the wind is blowing,
freedom soon will come;
then we'll come from the shadows.
18 Famous Blue Raincoat (06:15)
It's four in the morning, the end of December
I'm writing you now just to see if you're better
New York is cold, but I like where I'm living
There's music on Clinton Street all through the evening.
I hear that you're building your little house deep in the desert
You're living for nothing now, I hope you're keeping some kind of record.
Yes, and Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear
Did you ever go clear?
Ah, the last time we saw you you looked so much older
Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder
You'd been to the station to meet every train
And you came home without Lili Marlene
And you treated my woman to a flake of your life
And when she came back she was nobody's wife.
Well I see you there with the rose in your teeth
One more thin gypsy thief
Well I see Jane's awake --
She sends her regards.
And what can I tell you my brother, my killer
What can I possibly say?
I guess that I miss you, I guess I forgive you
I'm glad you stood in my way.
If you ever come by here, for Jane or for me
Your enemy is sleeping, and his woman is free.
Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes
I thought it was there for good so I never tried.
And Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear
Sincerely L. Cohen
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Di Seb
Quando si parla di artisti del calibro di Leonard Cohen non ci si può non vergognare della propria inutilità.
Probabilmente il miglior concerto di Cohen. Da avere assolutamente.
