REYKJAVIK 1988 (2CD) by LEONARD COHEN Compact Disc Double LFM2CD644.

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 Cohenperformed in the Icelandic capital, at the city’s indoor sports arena, Laugardalshöll, with a 5,500-person capacity on June 24th ’88, 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 2- CD set.