John Adamian on Leonard Cohen

"It's four in the morning … August 1970. … Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight (a DVD and concert album were just released at the end of last year) … captured a pivotal moment in a festival that had its share of problems. … 'Greetings, greetings,' he says. … 'When I was 7 years old my father used to take me to the circus, he had a black mustache and gray vest and a pansy in his lapel, and he liked the circus better than I did.' He goes on to describe how the ring master would get the circus crowd to light matches to give everyone a sense of the crowd’s dimensions. 'Could I ask you, each person, to light a match, so that I could see where you all are? Could each of you light a match so that you sparkle like fireflies at each of your different heights?' he says gesturing to the dark hills filled with campers surrounding the area. 'I know you know why you're lighting them. … There's a lot of people without matches.' … Then he launches into 'Bird on a Wire.' The band sounds great, if a little tired. With three women singing the ethereal oohs that show up again and again in Cohen’s songs and players alternating from banjo and spirited but low-key guitar thrumming'" ("Music: Man on a Wire," New Haven Advocate, 3/25/10).