Leonard Cohen superfans make pilgrimage to Montreal ahead of tribute concert

"I love how cold it is," saysFlorida resident Elizabeth Bacon-Smith, as the rain starts to pelt herduring Sunday's Leonard Cohen tour of Montreal.

November raincan't dampen her mood, which is bright and bubbly as she engages other members of the tour inchit-chat outside Cohen's childhood home in Westmount.

"It's very dark," comments another tourist,as the grey clouds moved in.

"Did someone say'We want it darker?'" he quips.

Cohen fans within earshot laugh at the inside joke.

The tour was organized by members of anonline community of Cohen aficionados. About 100 of them from around the world have flown in for thisday-long tour, as well asMonday'sconcert, Tower of Song: AMemorial Tribute to Leonard Cohen.

Cohen, like an older brother

At 599 Belmont Avenue in the tonyenclave ofWestmount,members of the tour show themselves into Cohen's childhoodbackyard.

The home's current residents have allowed organizers to bringtwobusloads of fans onto the smallpatch of grass from there, they can gaze into Murray Hill Park, where Cohen met his mysterious Spanish guitar instructor as a teen.

Bacon-Smith has been to Montreal to visit Cohen landmarks before, and she travelled to four European countries while he was still alive, followinghis tours.

"He's made all the difference in my life, in how I deal with things," she says. "When I've suffered losses that I shouldn't have, he's kept me from getting bitter."

She plays down her level of fandom, saying she only saw him about 25 times in concert and, despite being the most prolific poster tothe fan forum that brought this group together, she thinks her posts might not be the most well-crafted.

Just the same, Cohen sent her Dance me to end of love,"signed by him, thanking me for all the years of loyalty at my ten-thousandthpost," Bacon-Smith says.

The fan-artist relationship she cultivated with him over the decades resulted inhim invitingher backstage at shows for pictures and autographs and sending her other signed memorabilia.

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She saysshe thought of him as alovingolder brother,guiding her through the tough times in life.

In periods of pain, she says, she's always been able to refer back to Cohen's work for healing.

A chance at closure

The chartered buses weave over Mount Royal and intoMile End, getting temporarily caught in a few tight, residential streets.

Some of its passengers have comefrom Europe, and as far away as Taiwan, for the concert andtour. Montreal-based fans were tojoin members of the tour for a dinner atMoishes, one of Cohen's favourite restaurants,Sunday evening.

Tour co-organizer Chris Karl, from Austria, has been a Cohen fan since she was 12.

She stands up in the bus to give the group tidbits of Montreal know-how, such as how one of their stops, Saint-Viateur Bagel, is the purveyor of bagels to what was Cohen's favourite coffee shop on the Main, Bagels Etc.

She saysit's nice to meet other forum members in person. The Tower of Song concert has given them all an opportunity to come together and get closure after Cohen's death.

"There was no official funeral, and I think this is it," Karl says.

Bruce Schmaltz from Alberta sayshe's in town for the concert because he needs to be part ofthe tribute "to a great man."

"Not many times can you say that in your life, you lived at the same time as one of the great poets, writers," Schmaltz says.

The group islooking forward to Monday's concert and remains curious to see which artists will be on the final cast list Adam Cohen worked so long to perfect.

Trayah Zinger lives in Calgary and is one of the younger Cohen fans on the tour.

"Lyrically, no matter what age you are, if you speak English, it's moving," Zinger says.

The tour was tojoinCohen biographer Sylvie Simmons later in the afternoonfor aperformancein Old Montreal, after seeing the Star of the Sea, the statue atop the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-SecoursChapel that Cohen calls "Our Lady of the Harbour" in the song Suzanne.

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Other stops on the tourincluded Cohen's family synagogue, Congregation Shaar Hashomayim andParc du Portugal, across the street from the home Cohen maintained in Montreal for decades until his death.

Bacon-Smith said she once read in a songbook that watching Cohen onstage was like watching God.

For fans filling the Bell Centre Monday night, the star-studdedcelebration of Cohen's life and work represents more than a concert it is a communal offering.