Most of those who recognize Leonard Cohen will recognize him as a Canadian singer, songwriter, and musician of some note. However, it is interesting to note that he started out as a poet as well as a novelist, which brought him some measure of recognition but no real financial success. As a result, Cohen went on to launch a new career as a folk musician in the late 1960s, which turned out to be a much more fruitful path for him. In total, Cohen released fourteen studio albums, with the last one being You Want It Darker in 2016.
Summed up, Cohen has been creating art for decades and decades, so it should come as no surprise to learn that he has had a fair amount of impact on the arts scene not just in Canada but throughout much of the English-speaking world. For example, it is interesting to note that Cohen was mentioned in one of Nirvana’s songs, which is rather remarkable considering that Nirvana has long since become a pop culture legend in its own right. Regardless, it is interesting to note that Cohen’s art was even more influential because he had a strong focus on serious themes such as war, politics, and social justice. Curiously, Cohen compared himself to a soldier of sorts at one point in his career, though much of his work has been interpreted to have something of an anti-war message.
Unfortunately, it turned out that You Want It Darker would be the last studio album that Cohen would ever release. In fact, it was released no more than three weeks before he died in his sleep after he had fallen at his home in Los Angeles, though it has been said that cancer contributed to what had happened. Numerous people paid tribute to him at his funeral, which consisted of a Jewish rite that saw him laid to rest in a simple casket of pine at a family plot in a Mount Royal cemetery in Montreal.
What Do We Know about the Tribute Concert for Leonard Cohen?
Montreal honored Cohen by holding a tribute concert in December of 2016, which consisted of not just musical performances but also recitations of some of his written works. However, there will be another tribute concert held on November 6 of 2017 in Montreal, which according to his son Adam Cohen, is where Cohen would have wanted such an event to be held. The list of musicians who will be performing at the tribute concert includes some rather well-known names, with examples ranging from Elvis Costello and Sting to Feist and Lana Del Rey. As a result, it seems safe to say that there is no shortage of people who are interested in showing up, judging by the tickets that have been sold.
For those who are curious, the tribute concert will be held at the Bell Center in Montreal, which is famous for having one of the highest seating capacities in the NHL because of Montrealers’ love of their hockey team. Naturally, it sees plenty of use for cultural uses as well, with this tribute concert being an excellent example thereof.
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