St Peter’s Preps For Patron Saint Of Life’s Beautiful Losers
OK, given the demographics of those good folks who visit this site and my decision in 2009 not to to run a post called “Christmas Falls On December 25 This Year,” “2012 Leonard Cohen Tour Begins In 3 Days” certainly merits the title of Most Superfluous Heck Of A Guy Headline.
Leonard Cohen at Gent – 2010
But, for those folks who wandered here by mistake while looking for My Mother’s Ozark House Of Tchotchkes, the bit about suboptimal BDSM safe words, or the definitive discussion of ketchup decantation, I’ll explain. Leonard Cohen, the the Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, novelist, and icon, opens his 2012 Leonard Cohen Old Ideas World Tour in Gent, Belgium on August 12, 2012. You may be excused now.
Cohen fans, on the other hand, are likely to be interested in the work being done at St Peter’s Square in Gent to ready it for the Cohen concerts to be held there on August 12, 14, 15, 17, & 18.
From the Aug 8, 2012 edition of Nieuwsblad [Google English translation]:
Stage Builders are Wednesday at St. Peter’s Square started the construction for the concert of Leonard Cohen. The Canadian singer-songwriter there on Sunday kicked off his world tour with a sold out concert. The stage is, as in 2010, with its back to St. Peter. But unlike last time, there will now be only one entrance, along the Rue Saint-Amand.
Note: Photo #4, the one with the Lady Gaga label on the staging material, is indeed a shot from this article about constructing the stage for the Cohen concerts. I am chagrined to admit that I did not realize Leonard had arranged for an opening act.
click on thumbnails to enlarge
100,000 Tickets Sold To Cohen Concerts In Belgian Since 2008
Leonard Cohen at Gent – 2010
According to Media-Corner [Google English translation],
Since 2008, Cohen sold 100,000 concert tickets in Belgium, an impressive figure in our small country. Between 2008 and 2010 he spent on his audience following locations: Minnewaterpark, Forest National (2x), Sports Palace and St. Peter’s Square (3x). During the premiere week of his new tour, a record number Leonard (vijf!) concerts unique location on the same play. The local sales of his most recent album ‘Old Ideas’ – 30,000 copies sold already-in times of declining record sales spectacular.
Who the man the last few years saw the work, would time and again to his. Entire families, sometimes three-generation-the last four years had themselves moved by the honesty and poetry of the singer and his song.
The same source continues with the obligatory nationalism (aka “Leonard Likes Us Best” Geopolitical Syndrome):
It may be no coincidence that Ghent Cohen chose to open his world tour. He must undoubtedly the hospitality of the city and the enthusiasm of the Belgian public account.
Belgium will, of course, have to contend with similar claims of being Cohen’s constituency of choice from other countries (e.g., Canada, Ireland, Spain, Norway, France, …), municipalities (e.g., Fredericton, Dublin, New York, Montreal, Toronto, Lisbon, Barcelona, …), and cyber-linked communities (e.g., LeonardCohenForum and various Facebook groups).
Best Of 2008-2010 Leonard Cohen World Tour: In My Secret Life – Gent 2010
What better way to get ready for this year’s show than by watching an outstanding performance from the last time Leonard Cohen took Gent?
Leonard Cohen – In My Secret Life (Gent – 8/21/2010)
Video from bridgebud aka Arlene Dick of Arlene’s Leonard Cohen Scrapbook
Credit Due Department: The photos of Leonard Cohen at Gent in 2010 were taken by Hans Kloss
