Leonard Cohen: Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 (2009)

Leonard Cohen: Live at the Isle of Wight 1970: Directed by Murray Lerner. With Leonard Cohen, Kris Kristofferson, Judy Collins, Bob Johnston. Forty summers ago on a windswept island just off England’s southern coastline, a young Canadian folksinger-songwriter-poet-novelist named Leonard Cohen delivered the performance of a lifetime.

“I only recently got in Leonard Cohen. Sure, I had heard of him from some minor airplay on college radio with songs like Iu0026#39;m Your Man and First, We Take Manhattan but I wasnu0026#39;t thrilled by his flat and monotonic vocals just like I was not really into Dylan but as I have reached an older age(50), I realized how powerful and deeply these men wrote and performed the songs that I can only now fully appreciate. This concert film was a revelation to me and after learning that so much chaos and disharmony had risen from the discontent from many who felt the greed of concert promoters and ticket sellers(much like what happened at Woodstock), I was amazed at how respectful the crowd was while Cohen performed. Was the crowd sleepy, worn out from the hysteria of a Jimi Hendrix set? Were they tired of the fight that they had endured to see this concert? Perhaps. And perhaps Leonard Cohen was the perfect medicine to sedate and harmonize that huge restless crowd that balmy windy night on the Isle of Wight. Take it in and realize that you have witnessed a miracle.”