LEONARD COHEN : REYKJAVIK 1988

 

Disc One (82:45)

  1. Dance Me To The End Of Love
  2. Ain't No Cure For Love
  3. Who By Fire
  4. Bird On The Wire
  5. I'm Your Man
  6. Sisters Of Mercy / Heart With No Companion
  7. First We Take Manhattan
  8. Avalanche
  9. Chelsea Hotel
  10. Tower Of Song
  11. Stranger Song
  12. Everybody Knows
  13. Joan Of Arc (with Julie Christensen)

Disc Two (82:03)

  1. Story Of Isaac
  2. Hallelujah
  3. Passing Through
  4. Take This Waltz
  5. The Partisan
  6. If It Be Your Will
  7. Coming Back To You
  8. Suzanne
  9. So Long, Marianne
  10. I Can't Forget
  11. A Singer Must Die
  12. First We Take Manhattan
  13. Famous Blue Raincoat
  14. I Tried To Leave (with Perla Batalla & Julie Christensen)
  15. Whither Thou Goest

Label : Leftfield Media

Venue : Laugardalshöll, Reykjavik, Iceland

Recording Date : June 24, 1988

Quality : FM Recording (A+)

Review (Punk To Heaven) : Leonard Cohen’s I'm Your Man Tour took place between April and November 1998 and consisted of two legs. The first shows of the tour were held in Germany after Cohen and his band went through a short promotional tour across Europe. The first leg of the tour consisted of 56 shows and ran from April to early July. Besides performing in Germany, concerts were held in Netherland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, France, England and Ireland. Unusually for a rock or folk music artist, Iceland and Greece also benefitted with Leonard performing in both Athens and Reykjavik. In July, Cohen and his band performed four concerts in the United States, two in New York City, one in Berkeley and one in Los Angeles. The final leg of the tour began in late September with concerts in Canada, and would continue with further shows in the United States. The final concert of the tour was held in New York City at the Beacon Theatre on November 16th. While many of the shows performed were commended for their excellence by fans and critics alike, it was the concert Cohen performed in the Icelandic capital, at the city’s indoor sports arena, Laugardalshöll, with a 5,500-person capacity on June 24th 1988, which was generally considered the finest of all. Cohen’s version of ‘Hallelujah’ performed at this very event has often been hailed as his best ever rendition of a song, which he must have played 1,000 times. Previously unavailable this quite surreal recording, made for FM Radio Broadcast, is now available for the first time on this superb 2CD set.