Music unlocks the human spirit. Leonard Cohen is a keymaster. We finally had the pleasure of seeing the man perform live in concert on October 17th, 2009. It was a metaphysical jailbreak.

When the spark inside the body is released by music, it flows toward the highest common denominator. Freedom seeks love. With Leonard Cohen guiding the dance, a beacon of exquisite bliss ignited the arena and called all beings to fellowship. Our party quickly included the whole universe.

Non-physical intelligence appreciates excellence and gravitates toward penultimate performance. Dino Soldo played the best harmonica I have ever heard, and soon we were surrounded by aliens and angels. Javier Mas taught long lost demons to speak Spanish. Roscoe Beck boomed the thunderstick deep until the lava gnomes bubbled forth. Neil Larsen brought shimmering chimera into being, often in the form of legendary lounge lizards. Bob Metzger tickled tingly tarantula up and down the spine. Rafael Gayol made sure that each vertebrae in the room was on point. Sharon Robinson twisted a tempered twin tower taking Leonard deep into her heart and out into ours. Charley and Hattie Webb sweetly soothed the Seraphim within, and all were ecstatically enlarged.

These people understand the process. The music itself is the Goddess. The players are her conduits. The audience is the fuel. The theater grounds the charge and places it for reference. All segments synchronize in sublime communion, and the winged serpent takes flight. On October 17th, 2009 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, it was lifted higher than ever before.

We were treated to a whole set of new arrangements in the first half of the show, then settled back into our seats by traditional favorites in the second. Three encores sent us off into the evening for the first night of the rest of our lives. Each human body that entered the building was changed forever.

Thank you Leonard Cohen. We will never be the same.

All photographs by hassan, from the actual show.

You can click here for video of the performance.