The crowd, predictably, were on their feet again, and there's that wry sense of humour coming into play when they were back for I Tried To Leave You and while he's been known to throw in Ain't No Cure For Love in after Closing Time, that number makes an almost perfect sorry but that's all folks.
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.
And, from db.etree.org, the setlist:
Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane, Australia
Set I
Dance Me To The End Of Love
The Future
Bird On The Wire
Everybody Knows
Who By Fire
The Darkness
Born In Chains
Chelsea Hotel #2
Waiting For The Miracle
Anthem
Set II
Tower Of Song
Suzanne
Avalanche
Sisters Of Mercy
The Gypsy's Wife
The Partisan
Hallelujah
I'm Your Man
A Thousand Kisses Deep
Take This Waltz
Set III
So Long, Marianne
Famous Blue Raincoat
First We Take Manhattan
I Tried To Leave You
Closing Time
Leonard Cohen - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Keyboard.
Roscoe Beck - Bass, Double Bass, Background Vocals
Neil Larsen - Keyboards, Hammond B3, Accordion
Bob Metzger - Guitar, Steel Guitar, Background Vocals
Javier Mas - Bandurria, Laud, Archilaud
Rafael Bernardo Gayol - Drums, Percussion
Dino Soldo - Keyboard, Saxophone, Wind Instruments, Dobro, Background Vocals
Sharon Robinson - Vocals, Shaker
Hattie Webb - Vocals, Harp
Charley Webb - Vocals, Guitar