Shut Out

So my dreams of seeing Leonard Cohen suffered a setback this morning. While I focused on my job, my trusted surrogate attempted to secure three tickets to his now-sold-out show at the Beacon Theatre on February 19. Sadly, no go. Whatever tickets had survived the fan club presale were long gone within 10 minutes. Bummer.

Now, I'm generally a free market guy and I put a decent amount of trust in capitalism. That probably makes me a rare specimen among music bloggers. At the same time, if you want to expand this discussion for a brief moment to our larger economic woes, I'll be the first guy to tell you that loosened regulations are partially to blame. Anyway, I don't want to expand that conversation because it has nothing to do with Leonard Cohen.

Sadly, as has been well documented, Cohen was horribly robbed by his old manager and has been in financial trouble ever since. That's why this 74 year-old is back on tour. Hell, he's even older than the Allmans and the Stones. So, when I know that he's using these shows to make money that he desperately needs, it's a little sad to see the resale market on StubHub asking $800+ for his tickets. Even he, for all his need, was willing to price these tickets with a modicum of fairness. He hasn't played this country in 15 years and, at his age, its certainly possible that he won't be going on any sort of extended tour.

Wouldn't it be nice, for once, if his actual fans bought the tickets and enjoyed the show? Rather than a bunch of brokers (or wannabe brokers) who are just looking to make a quick buck on a special show?

I'm not typically one to complain about scalpers. They are the people who facilitate getting tickets out to those most willing to pay a lot for them. In a sense, they protect the folks who's lives don't put them in front of a computer all moments of the day. But, occasionally, wouldn't it be nice if they didn't get in the way of some good fans getting to see a performer they love at a reasonable price?

It Goes Like This, the Fourth, the Fifth...

It should surprise no one that when I picked the graphic that adorns the top of this page, I did not do so at random. It's just not my style.

If you look closely, you'll see that the notes and underlying lyrics are from the opening verse of Leonard Cohen's masterpiece, "Hallelujah." The oft-covered beauty is a study in simplicity. And unlike Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," it didn't need a radical reworking to become as famous as it is. Rather, it needed only the plaintive voice of Jeff Buckley. If you need evidence, listen to the nearly-equal versions by Rufus Wainwright, KD Lang and John Cale. (Oh, and I think some dude from American Idol did it, too.)

Now interestingly, I just learned, Cale decided to record Hallelujah after hearing Cohen perform the song at the Beacon Theatre in New York. That recording came out for the first time in 1991. Just two years later, Cohen performed his final show in the United States.

That is, until next month!!!

Leonard Cohen is coming back to the Beacon. Apparently fan club members already have access to buy tickets, but the general on sale is Friday morning at 9 a.m. If I can get the cheap seats in the back, I intend to go, but I can't afford to contribute $250 to the My-Business-Manager-Blew-My-Retirement-Fund Fund.

Anyway, assuming I get tickets, I'm going to have to start listening to all my Leonard Cohen again. I have a lot of it, but I've probably never paid as much attention to it all as I should have. That said, readers, if anyone would like to leave their top 3 albums in order in the comments section, I wouldn't mind the guidance.

Allmans and Phish and The Dead... Oh my!!

Well 2009 could not be off to a faster start on the concert front. In the first six months of this year, the New York area has a chance at jam-trifecta! I'm just hoping to bear witness.

First, the Allmans will be back at the Beacon this March, after a one-year hiatus. Gregg is fully recovered from hepatitis C and the brothers are ready to rock the Upper West Side for another 10 nights. I've seen the Allmans in a bunch of different venues and let me tell you, they're always better at the Beacon. I've seen them sound sleepy and lackluster, but when they take up their yearly residency in my neighborhood, they're wide awake. I'll be there Saturday, March 14th. Yogi's will be missed.

Next up, the Dead in April. The boys are back together, joined by Ratdog's Jeff Chimenti on keys and the hardest working man in show business, Warren Haynes, on vocals and guitar. Warren, of course, will have just been here with the Allmans and will be joining the Dead tour just three weeks after the Beacon shows wrap up. This is the first tour to reunite Bobby, Billy, Mickey and Phil since 2004 and was brought about by a successful one-time effort last year on behalf of Barack Obama. Presale Dead tickets go up today at noon. I'm nervous and excited. It's not a cheap ticket, but it's a show I can't miss.

Finally (phinally?), Phish is back and will make their way through the area in June. This is their first tour together since before Trey's drug DWI up in Vermont. Fortunately, his fans weren't bound by the same conditions of his probation. The great news, they're playing Jones Beach! I've always felt they're more of a club band than a stadium band, despite their outsized fan-base. Granted, the shitty news is exactly the same. I have my ticket requests in for both shows, but I'm not particularly hopeful. A lot of folks are hoping to cram into that amphitheater. We'll see how it goes.

So that's the morning word. I'll be sure to let you know how I do on the Dead seats. And of course, if you find yourself with an extra, you know how to find me!