Music review: Leonard Cohen

Published on Friday 7 November 2008 21:06

***** CLYDE AUDITORIUM, GLASGOW

ANYONE lucky enough to have enjoyed one of Leonard Cohen's comeback concerts this year will have afterwards been engaged in stacking it up alongside the greatest gigs of their life. Caricatured for many years – certainly the 15 or so since he last played in the UK – as a miserablist extraordinaire, Cohen's shows have defied stereotyping with their warmth, intimacy and humour.

This three-hour set, with interval, didn't buck the trend. The 74-year-old Canadian's set was so well practised that even the between-song asides were unchanged from the tour's summer leg. Still, lines about his experimentation with the drugs and religions of the world, and giving up because "cheerfulness kept breaking through" were worth repeating. There were also some minor alterations to the set; for example the song Famous Blue Raincoat, much missed from earlier shows, was here, while Democracy (chorus: "democracy is comin' / to the USA") was pushed to the start, where it enjoyed an understandable ovation. Otherwise hits and fans' favourites flowed freely, including I'm Your Man, So Long Marianne, Suzanne, Tower of Song and First We Take Manhattan. Cohen enjoys a back catalogue of classics and a voice that remains stunningly strong and tender.

The whole band's closing a cappella of Whither Thou Goest, though, did bear the hint of a farewell. Still skipping off stage (literally) at his age, Cohen seems as though he might have more years left in the tank, although surely none of his fans would mind if he chose just to enjoy his retirement now.