Live in London [PA] [Digipak]

Performer: Leonard Cohen
Artist: Sharon Robinson; Neil Larsen; The Webb Sisters
Engineer: Russell Wilson; Edward Sanders; John Van Nest; Leanne Ungar; Will Hensley; Stephen J. Spencer; John Van Nest; Leanne Ungar; Russell Wilson
Producer: Edward Sanders; Steve Berkowitz; Robert Kory; Edward Sanders; Steve Berkowitz
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Personnel: Leonard Cohen (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Bob Metzger (guitar, pedal steel guitar); Charley Webb, Charles Webb (guitar, background vocals); Javier Mas (12-string guitar, bandurria, lute, archlute); Javier M�s (12-string guitar, bandurria, archlute); Hattie Webb, Hattie Webb (harp, background vocals); Dino Soldo (harmonica, keyboards, wind, background vocals); Neil Larsen (keyboards); Roscoe Beck (upright bass, electric bass, background vocals); Rafael Gayol (drums, percussion); Sharon Robinson (background vocals). Audio Mixers: Jay Ruston; Michael Brauer; Peter Asher. Audio Remasterer: Bob Ludwig. Liner Note Author: John Aizlewood. Recording information: O2 Arena, London, England (07/17/2008). Photographers: Robert Yager; James Cumpsty. Arranger: Leonard Cohen. After taking a decade-and-a-half vacation from live performance, septuagenarian singer/songwriter/saint Leonard Cohen returned to the stage in 2008 for a European tour. During his absence, his popularity had grown to such a degree that his London concert took place at the city's O2 Arena. With the gathered masses sounding suitably enraptured, Cohen can be heard delivering a long program that serves as both career summary and mission reiteration on this double-length live album (FYI, there's also a DVD companion release). Amazingly, Cohen sounds even more vital and intense than the last time he strode the boards, back in the mid-'90s. For all the high-powered cover versions over the years, his cavernously deep voice remains the most effective instrument for delivering his poetic incantations, looming large over a subtle, sympathetic band. He invests '60s classics like "Suzanne" and "Bird on a Wire" with new energy, underlining their continued relevance, while establishing a place in the canon for latter-day gems like "Anthem" and "Democracy," all the while punctuating his performance with carefully placed quips that show his trademark black humor to be in full effect.

Billboard (p.37) - "[T]hese 26 tunes, delivered in his steady rumbling baritone, may have never sounded better, certainly not in one place on one special night."

Montreal's Leonard Cohen was a well-respected poet and novelist before he ever entered the songwriting fray in the 1960s. His dark, poetic vision rivaled that of Dylan, and his songs inspired countless cover versions, by everyone from Judy Collins to Nick Cave. Over the years, he honed his craft to a razor's edge, his passion always expertly undercut by a biting sense of black humor. His early recordings were largely acoustic affairs, but by the end of the 1980s he had reinvented his sound, successfully incorporating synthesizers and contemporary production techniques while still sounding very much like himself (and gaining a new generation of followers in the process).

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