Rolling Stone Australia — July 2017

2006-07 DAFT PUNK

¥IN THE EARLY AUGHTS,electronic-dance live “performances” were rare-

lymorethanoneortwodudesnoddingtheirheadsaroundlaptops.

AllthatchangedatCoachellaonApril29th,2006,whenDaftPunk

unveiled their genre’s most dazzling musical spectacle. In the over-

heated,overcrowdeddarknessofthefestival’sSaharaTent,twohel-

meted, robotlike figures – Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de

Homem-Christo – stood inside a 24-foot aluminum pyramid cov-

ered in high-intensity LED panels and performed their catalogue

as a megamix to nearly 40,000 fans. “It was the most synced-up we

everfelt,”Bangaltersaid.Whatmighthavebeenalegendaryone-off

becamea2007tourthatblewmindsacrossEurope,theU.S.,Japan

andAustralia,inspiringthelikesofSkrillexanduntoldothers. W.H.

¥FOR DECADES,Brian Wilson avoid-

ed even talking aboutSmile,the

psychedelic follow-up to the Beach

Boys’ Pet Sounds he shelved under

the stresses of drug abuse and psy-

chiatric problems. At a 2002 Pet

Sounds show in London, though,

someone said to the promoter, “How

can we possibly top this?” The idea

of a Smile tour came up. “We all kind

of chuckled,” says Wilson keyboard-

ist Darian Sahanaja. But 20 months

later, after poring over the old Smile

tapes, Wilson walked onstage and

finally delivered on his decades-

old promise of a “teenage sympho-

ny to God”, bringing rock’s most

famous unheard album back to life.

From the first celestial harmonies

of “Our Prayer” much of the audi-

ence was in tears. Backstage after-

ward, Wilson was exultant, shout-

ing, “I did it!” ANDY GREENE

¥IT STARTED ASafinan-

cial rescue mission.

After Leonard Cohen

learned, at age 70, that

his manager/sometime-

lover had absconded

with most of his life sav-

ings, he realised that his

only chance of replen-

ishing his funds was to

go on tour. Cohen wasn’t

sure how many fans

he had left, so he first

agreed only to a test run

of theatre dates in far-

flung Canadian towns.

Though he’d never

much enjoyed touring,

Cohen was a unique-

ly charismatic live performer. Even

those first shows stretched past the

two-hour mark, mixing elegant re-

arrangements of 1960s classics like

“Suzanne” and “Bird on the Wire”

with more recent tunes like “Waiting

for the Miracle” and “Boogie Street”.

His voice had deepened considerably,

but that only gave it more authority

and character. “It’s like he was whis-

pering into your ear,” says longtime

backup singer Sharon Robinson.

The shows were spectacular, and

word-of-mouth spread quickly. By

2009, Cohen was selling out arenas

all over Europe, and eventually he hit

20,000-seaters in America, includ-

ing Madison Square Garden. The

tour eventually ran for 387 shows

across five years. Even as he neared

his 80th birthday, he kept adding

new songs and stretching the run-

ning time to three and a half hours,

even skipping offstage before the en-

cores. “Leonard was really good at

conserving his strength and block-

ing out distractions and prioritis-

ing his energy,” says Robinson. “He

lived an almost monastic lifestyle

even though he wasn’t a real monk.”

By the time he played his final

show, in Auckland, New Zealand,

Cohen had gone from cult favou-

rite to cross-generational icon. After

he closed that performance with a

sprightly “Save the Last Dance for

Me”, he doffed his hat, took a deep

bow and walked off the stage, smil-

ing. “I want to thank you,” he said

to the audience. “Not just for to-

night, but for all the years you’ve paid

attentiontomysongs.” A.G.

LEONARDCOHEN

2008-13 WORLDWIDE TOUR

ALIVE

TOUR

FEBRUARY20,2004

BRIAN WILSON

THE ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL

1998 AMERICAN TOUR

PEARLJAM

76 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com July, 2017

¥BY THE MID-NINETIES,Pearl Jam

wereinseriousdangerofimplod-

ing, thanks to intraband tensions

and a self-defeating war against

Ticketmaster that had left them al-

most unable to tour. But they started

over with 1998’s aptly namedYield,

their most collaborative album yet,

andwhentheyhittheroadwitha

new drummer, Soundgarden’s Matt

Cameron, the shows fulfilled their

promise as one of rock’s all-time

greatliveacts.Newtracks(“Given

to Fly”, “Do the Evolution”) were in-

stant crowd favourites, and classics

like “Alive” sounded bigger than ever.

“We’re making up for lost time here,”

EddieVeddertoldthecrowdone

night. “Thanks for waiting.” A.G.

ROB VERHORST/REDFERNS/GETTY IMAGES

PHISH'S

WILDEST

SHOWS

Tweezerfest

DALLAS, 1994

With the

Who’s

“Sparks” and

Prince’s

“Purple Rain”

popping up

along the

way.

Glens

Falls, NY

1994

Phish play

the Beatles’

entire White

Album.

Las Vegas

2014

A spooky

instrumental

second

set with

haunted-

house sound

effects.

Cohen in

Holland,

2008

Vedder

in 1998