‘There is a war between rich and poor’

As Leonard Cohen sang live to a lucky few Wednesday, a few unlucky fans battled to hear the Canadian crooner from beyond the walls of the concert hall and became living proof of the singer’s own words: “There is a war between the rich and poor.”

It was a group of fans that Leonard Cohen was not able to see: The free riders who could not afford the high ticket prices but still did not want to miss the Canadian artist’s first performance in Turkey.

They had only one choice – to wait outside the Cemil Topuzlu Concert Hall on Wednesday and listen to Cohen’s music through the walls.

On the way of the concert, some people stopped others and asked for an extra ticket, which was more like “waiting for the miracle,” as one of Cohen’s famous songs suggested.

The ticket prices were between 102 and 275 Turkish Liras, and the cheap seats were already sold out. The lucky ones, who had tickets in their hands, stood in a long queue at the entrance.

Just when everything seemed normal, a group of 20 protesters suddenly gathered at the entrance and started shouting slogans, demanding that Cohen not perform in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Cohen became the center of the activist group’s criticism because he is scheduled to play a concert Sept. 24 and refused to take part in the Cultural Boycott of Israel campaign. Now, Turkish activists were taking their part in protests.

One said, “Everybody knows Israel is a killer,” referring to lyrics from Cohen’s famous song, “Everybody knows,” while another one yelled, “Do as Bono and Roger Waters did, remember Gaza, don’t play Israel.” Some of the audience criticized protesters as they said, “No politics in art,” forgetting Cohen’s lyrics, songs and attitude.

The protesters said, “Go to Ramallah, not Tel Aviv,” but this time forgetting the ticket prices. Could Palestinians attend the concert? “Everybody knows” they could not.

When the clocks struck nine, only protesters and a handful of people were left behind. Cohen fans without tickets gathered in front of the door and found a place for themselves on the low walls, sitting on the stairs. Then Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review reporters joined them and asked a few questions about their uncomfortable but free-of-charge concert night.

“I have known about Cohen for two years, and I love his music. But we do not have tickets because they are really expensive,” Ziya Çavumirza, 29, said. “If it were around 40-50 liras, I could buy one.”

He said he would try his chance once more on Thursday for the last of his back-to-back shows in Istanbul.

“It is Cohen’s first time here in Turkey,” Çavumirza said. “I do not think he will ever come again.”

A few steps away, another group of friends said they spent their money at another festival.

Murat Arda, editor of the Web-based magazine Deli Kasap, was one of the outsiders. “He will be on stage for two nights,” he said. “In spite of that, the tickets are really expensive.”

Unlike Çayumirza, Arda was not planning to go on the second day “because we cannot hear anything from here.”

For 31-year-old Zeynep Arat, it was not only a matter of having 100 liras to spend.

“If I paid that much money for a ticket, I could not have fun thinking whether those songs were worth it,” Arat said.

Another fan, who declined to give his name, disagreed that prices were high.

“It is not worth asking this question even if a single person buys one ticket and if almost all of the tickets are sold,” he said, adding that it was more fun outside the concert hall.

The people gathered outside had poor sound and no vision of Cohen, but the weather and the stars were on their side. It was one of Istanbul’s best summer nights, with a light breeze blowing and the full moon offering a scene while listening to the music.

But it all went sour when the sound from the concert, which was already weak, became totally inaudible after an upscale restaurant next door began playing music.

Just before the first half of the concert ended, security guards tried to evacuate the area saying, “This place belongs to the Harbiye Municipality, and we have the right to get you out of here.” As some “free-riders” refused to leave the place, one security guy said, “If you wanted to listen, you should have bought tickets.”

As people still refused to leave, the security claimed that the staff gave them instructions and that they were “only following orders.”

When the second half of the concert began, a few of the audience left for different reasons. Some of them said they had something important to do but still came for the first hour since they did not want to miss Cohen’s live performance. The ones who gave tens of liras for just an hour and the ones who tried to listen to Cohen through the walls reflected what Cohen wrote in “There Is a War”: “There is a war between rich and poor.”