The Best Of The 2008-2010 Leonard Cohen World Tour: Bird On The Wire

The Best Of The 2008-2010 Leonard Cohen World Tour

It’s been 18 months since Leonard Cohen last performed in concert, and it’s a bit less than two months until the 2012 Leonard Cohen Old Ideas World Tour begins – the perfect time to feast on the best of the 2008-2010 Leonard Cohen World Tour. Today’s offering is the Oct 22, 2009 performance of “Bird On The Wire” at the Tower Theatre in Philadelphia.

Leonard Cohen – Bird On The Wire  (October 22, 2009)

While Leonard Cohen was a remarkably consistent performer throughout the 2008-2010 World Tour, “Bird On The Wire” is one of his songs that did seem to vary in caliber from one concert to the next. My sense is that the difference in quality is a function of Cohen’s timing. I once listened to a recording of several takes of the same song during a Sinatra rehearsal and was struck by the impact that barely perceptible fluctuations in his timing had on his work. I think that principle may also hold true for Cohen’s “Bird On The Wire.” Hitting the phrases a fraction of a moment too late or too early would diminish the song.

Regardless, the performance of “Bird On The Wire” from the Oct 22, 2009 Philadelphia concert strikes me as precisely on the mark.

The video also features exemplary solos by Bob Metzgar on guitar and Dino Soldo on saxophone, but it is clear that those efforts are an extra, a delectable bonus that is attendant upon rather than integrated into the essential core provided by Leonard Cohen.

Leonard Cohen – “Bird On The Wire” – Tower Theatre, Philadelphia – 10-22-09

Video from sturgess66