And In Conclusion...

So, how do you sum up proceedings? Simple. Here's the recipe.

Take a seventy-six year old figure of moderately iconic status, and back him up with an outstanding aggregation of musicians, including the stunningly good Javier Mas on assorted guitar-related items and the extroverted Dino Soldo on various wind instruments. 

Throw in angelic backing vocals from Sharon Robinson and the sublime Webb sisters (Leonard's tag, and one with which you can't help but concur).

Put those players in front of an excellent rhythm section (long term MD Roscoe Beck on bass and Rafael Bernado Gayol on drums).

Add keyboards from Neil Larsen for light and shade. That's a rather good starting point.

Mix the whole into a finely tuned, polished and buffed presentation that might not vary too much from night to night but ensures that while there might be shows that aren't quite stellar (you can't, after all, be right up there every night of a lengthy tour) you're never going to leave the audience feeling that you've failed to deliver.

And if that formula gives the possibility that Leonard Cohen graces these shores with his presence in a couple of years' time (a big if, but if it's going to happen you'd think this is the formula that'd do it) that's fine with me.

I'll definitely be back if Leonard is.

Setlist

© Ian Hughes 2015