Leonard Cohen can be counted among a small, elite group of masters of songwriting. While luminaries such as Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Paul McCartney are still actively touring and creating albums, the argument can be made that Cohen is more on top of his game than any of the above. His newest album, Old Ideas, presents everything his fans have always loved about Cohen: wry, self-deprecating songs, professionally crafted instrumentation, and expertly penned lyrics. Two weeks ago, Cohen kicked off his tour with back to back nights in Austin.
How do you please a crowd if you have a dozen or more studio albums and hundreds of crowd favorites? For starters, you can play for four hours. Cohen performed what I believe is the longest singular set I’ve ever witnessed, playing a good number of his newer songs from Old Ideas and quite a few more old favorites.
By surrounding himself with some of the most talented musicians imaginable, Cohen’s songs provide intricate instrumentation despite the fact that music has never been their selling point. Throughout the night, the loudest cheers came when the musicians were quelled and Cohen performed rhythmic, spoken poems.
“A Thousand Kisses Deep” stands out as the high point of the evening, embodying everything I love about Cohen. His deep, rattling voice intones a more potent variation of the original lyrics, yet still full of wit, “I’m just another snowman/ Standing in the rain and sleet/ Who love you with his frozen love/ His secondhand physique.” Cohen even spouts of an outright joke halfway through, following the line “I’m working out, but it’s too late” with “It’s been too late for years,” drawing laughter from fans. This song reminds us all that Cohen’s power lies almost entirely in his words, and that’s no detraction.
At 78 years old, Cohen literally scampers around the stage, skipping, kneeling before his guitarist. Often, he falls to his knees at center stage in what appears to be prayerful worship—an action befitting his lyrics full of religious iconography. Only days before the American election the quirky mouth-harp and marching drums of “Democracy” seemed to strike a chord in blue county island that is Austin.
Cohen is currently playing a few dates in his home country of Canada but returns to the States for two dates in Chicago and Detroit surrounding Thanksgiving. Rarely do we get to see a master of this caliber perform. The dates are surely sold out by now, but it’s worth whatever it takes to get a ticket for a show as epic as this one.
