Went to see Leonard Cohen. Had tremenda noche. Amazing really. Like a wish upon a star. Left la chiquita con Grandma and picked up mi chuchin from work and off to Durham we went. Had never been to Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC), but had directions and we found it easily, parkeo facilito, cinco pesos y pa’ la calle a hangear for a bit before the show. We were hoping to monchear in a new restaurante called the Cuban Revolution, y por suerte it was right across the street from the parking deck. So we go there and, coño, if it’s not the capitalist version de la revolución! It’s a fancy restaurant with giant paintings of JFK, Che and Marilyn Monroe and video screens playing old subtitled newsreels of Fidel in the news in the 50s and 60s. It looked como un restaurante transplantao de Los Angeles a Durham, a long line of people waiting to eat, most looking like mucho dinero and smelling of cat pee perfumes.

We didn’t have time to stand in line, nor did we want to, pero de repente, two seats en la barra. Como anillo al dedo. So we sit down without waiting and order a couple of drinks and some tapas y no lo puedo creer, everything was riquisimo, para chuparse los dedos. I ordered a cubano and it was actually a good cubano, even if the waiter didn’t understand what I was ordering until I said, a Cuban sandwich. Ah ok, that I understand. En serio, man? You work at a Cuban restaurant and you don’t understand what I mean when I say I want un sandwich cubano? No jodas.

Pero hay que decir las cosas como son, the cubano was good, very very good. Tal vez, not the best, como decia el menu (World’s Greatest Cuban Sandwich), but certainly the best within 100 mile radius. I really have had some of the worst cubanos in NC, with lettuce, on French bread, you name it, like it’s just something you call any sandwich. So this was a cubano I could eat again. Nice mustard, good pickles, delicioso. Ah y tambien tenian Presidente beer, which is a tasty Dominican lager that I’ve seldom found in the US, but which always reminds me of Santo Domingo y mi amigo Rey, que en paz descanse. That combination to me made the night, no me importa if the place looks like Planet Hollywood’s version of the Cuban Revolution. Se la comieron con el sandwich y la birra, y san se acabo.

So now, propiamente alimentados y con un par de beers in our bellies we head to the DPAC. Along the way, there’s a nice little bench along a curvy path through a green lawn, and we sit down a fumar un cigarillo. There are speakers on each side of the bench and they’re playing some jazz bastante culeao. Didn’t recognize it, but it was placentero and we sat and smoked a cigarette y cogimos un poco del fresco otoñal. yo y mi mujer. We were feeling bien chevere.

A revolú de gente passed by us going to the show, must have been getting close to door opening time. Jalamos from our cigs and said good evening to los ajoraos as we watched them hurry to the concert hall even though it was all assigned seating.

After we were done, we made our way, suavecito, to the show, and ran into a lot of local songwriters including John Saylor and his lovely wife Jennifer who had upper upper upper balcony seats, like the ones from that joke about the Boricua at the Yankees game who said no no no, no veo nada when the national anthem played and he thought they were asking him, o Jose, can you see? Bueno, pero volviendo al tema, John and Jennifer had the way back balcony seats, super trepaos, and when they scanned their tickets at the door, the ticket person said, oh, you just got bumped to the floor! Guau! La misma cosa had happened to some friends of ours when they went to see Tom Petty. I guess it’s the cool thing for cool cats to do en estos dias, bump those who so want to see the show, they’re willing to do it from the rafters. So John and Jennifer went to their floor seats and we got a couple of beers and wished we would get bumped, but we had decent seats, no complains here. DPAC esta nice, it’s one of those modern theaters probably seats about 3000 with super steep balconies where you feel like you’re gonna fall over if you lean para el wrong lado. But la vista es buena pretty much no matter where you sit. We got our seats, empinamos las cervezas, bought two more, and the show started.

I’ve loved Leonard Cohen for a long time. Mi mamá had an American novio who introduced me to the early Cohen stuff like Bird on a Wire and Suzanne and So Long Marianne. Then in the 90s I got reacquainted with him through the Natural Born Killers soundtrack and the new album he had just released (The Future). That’s really when I developed a deep affection por el viejito. Well, he didn’t disappoint.

Nine person band – keys, drums, bass, steel strings, wind, acoustic strings, and three backup singers. You can see the details of the band here. Dios mio, que banda! The band had some strange combination of old world urban and new world folk. Except for the wind player, they all displayed una calma like the one you see en los viejitos que juegan ajedrez in the park, taking their time before moving that queen to king’s third. Like wise concentrated joy. The wind player seemed a bit like a rocker who missed Midnight Oil, but he still worked very well with the sounds.

All that being said, the band was appropriately subservient to the songs, much like Cohen himself. 75 años tiene el viejito! Seventy-five, setenta y cinco. Si lo pueden creer. Al toque, he launched into Dance Me To The End of Love and The Future. Que monstruo! The first set was incredible:

• Dance Me to The End of Love Play Video *
• The Future Play Video
• Ain’t No Cure For Love Play Video
• Bird On The Wire Play Video
• Everybody Knows Play Video
• In My Secret Life Play Video
• Who By Fire Play Video
• Chelsea Hotel #2 Play Video
• Waiting for the Miracle Play Video
• Anthem Play Video

Casi me meo en los pantalones, had about six beers in me, I did not want to get up, but finally had to, mear en el vaso wouldn’t have been too cool to the nice older couple sitting next to us. So I went to pee during Chelsea Hotel and to my surprise, they were piping the concert in the bathroom. Cheverinski.

During intermission we went to the outdoor smoking patio, and ran into some more friends, and a couple we barely knew told us that they couldn’t stay to watch the second set, and gave us their tickets – 12th row!! Ay papa! Justo cuando we didn’t think this could get any better, we’re suddenly close enough to smell al viejito.

He came back in skipping and hopping, como un singing elf, and proceeded to lay into Tower of Song on a keyboard with a preset program. Y con to’ y eso, it blew my mind. A true testament to the power of his songs.

At 75, el viejito is spry, he is not a rocker by any means, but he sang every song like papá dios was calling him. His voice is super low now, and he made excellent use of it instead of trying to fight it. I personally think his songs sound better sung by a low voiced old man, than they did when he was young, the arrangements of the old acoustic classics like Bird on a Wire, The Partisan and Sisters of Mercy were beautiful, but lo digo otra vez, he could’ve played el show completo on the preprogrammed keyboard and it would’ve still been awesome.

Several songs he started by just reciting the first couple of verses with just a chin chin de organ way in the background, and it was just as bone chilling. He did this for A Thousand Kisses Deep y casi lloro.

En verdad que this guy was such a caballero, dressed in nice suit and hat, bowing at every chance, agradecido de haber nacido, grateful to be there, grateful as grateful can be. Yo creo que el still can’t believe he can do what he’s doing. I can only hope que a los 75 yo puede cantar una canción como las canto el.

He played for 3 hours with a 20 minute intermission. 3 encores. And during every song, mi amor y yo felt they had been written just for us. Even with all the melancholy of songs like So Long Marianne, we felt he was just laying love bare at our feet, just our feet, just for us.

Here’s the second set and encores:
• Tower of Song Play Video
• Suzanne Play Video
• Sisters of Mercy Play Video
• The Gypsy’s Wife Play Video
• New Song Play Video
• The Partisan Play Video
• Boogie Street Play Video
• Hallelujah Play Video
• I’m Your Man Play Video
• A Thousand Kisses Deep Play Video
• Take This Waltz Play Video
Encore:
• So Long, Marianne Play Video
• First We Take Manhattan Play Video
• Famous Blue Raincoat Play Video
Encore 2:
• If It Be Your Will Play Video
• Closing Time Play Video
Encore 3:
• I Tried To Leave You Play Video

Afterwards we drove to OCSC had a last call drink and then headed home. Really una de las mejores and more memorable nights. Gracias viejito y gracias mi amor for a wonderful evening.

*I got the set list from here, and I liked they way they linked to videos of the songs so I did the same, to the same videos they link.