Leonard Cohen
Bournemouth BIC
11th November, 2008

Not many 74 rear old performers can still provoke screams of adulation, but Cohen maintains a palpable twinkle in his eye, despite the tidy and dignified nature of his 150-minute show. The audience appreciates his willingness to roll out all his career-defining songs and shows it by annoyingly clapping every opening chord and every instrumental solo. Fedoras are the order of the day (even for the road crew), as the poet spends much of the set on his knees, admiring the work of either his virtuoso guitarist, Javier Mas, or the excellent female backing singers. The music is impeccably polished but, apart from First We Take Manhattan, never gets out of first gear. Still, it doesn’t intend to. It’s music for the brain and the heart, not the feet or the soul.