Leonard Cohen Touring The States, First Time In 15 Years

As Leonard Cohen took to the historic Beacon Theatre stage Thursday in New York for his first stateside performance in fifteen years, AEG Live announced a run of North American engagements including dates throughout Canada and a sunset performance at the Coachella Festival in Indio, California. Tickets go on sale to the Canadian public beginning March 2, 2009. CBC Radio 2 is the Canadian broadcast presenter of the Leonard Cohen World Tour 2009.

The North American engagements will extend the phenomenal series of performances Mr. Cohen performed recently in the UK, Europe, Australia and Canada. The performances have been overwhelmingly received abroad, with over 80 five star reviews. As the London Daily Telegraph plainly stated, it is "an extraordinary night of music."

As he has been throughout his most recent tour, Mr. Cohen will be joined by Sharon Robinson and the Webb Sisters – who have wowed crowds around the world with their rich and complementary background vocals. Also joining Mr. Cohen on stage are Roscoe Beck (bass, vocals), Neil Larsen (keyboards & Hammond B3 accordion), Bob Metzger (electric, acoustic & pedal steel guitar), Javier Mas (bandurria, laud, archilaud, 12 string acoustic guitar), Rafael Gayol (drums, percussion), Dino Soldo (sax, clarinet, dobro, keys).

Members of Best Buy Canada’s Reward Zone loyalty program will have the opportunity to purchase tickets to select Canadian concert dates three days before they go on sale to the general public. For full details go to: www.bestbuyrewardzone.ca.

American Express® Cardmembers will have the opportunity to purchase tickets to all Canadian concert dates via Front Of The Line® before the general public. For full details go to: www.americanexpress.ca/frontoftheline.

Sony Music Entertainment Canada has previously announced that, on March 31, 2009, they will release Leonard Cohen’s Live In London, a musical chronicle of the legendary singer-songwriter-musician-poet’s historic July, 17, 2008 concert at London’s O2 arena.

Full Tour Dates

April 2: Austin, Texas (Long Center)
April 3: Grand Prairie, Texas (Nokia Theatre)
April 5: Phoenix (Dodge Theatre)
April 7: San Diego (Copley Hall)
April 10: Los Angeles (Nokia Theatre)
April 13: Oakland, Calif. (Paramount Theatre)
April 17: Indio, Calif. (Coachella Festival)
April 19: Vancouver (GM Place)
April 21: Victoria, B.C. (Save-On Foods Memorial Centre)
April 23: Seattle (WaMu Theatre)
April 25: Edmonton, Alberta (Rexall Place)
April 26: Calgary, Alberta (Jack Singer Hall)
April 28: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (Credit Union Centre)
April 30: Winnipeg, Manitoba (MTS Centre)
May 3: Minneapolis (Orpheum Theatre)
May 5: Chicago (Chicago Theatre)
May 9: Detroit (Fox Theatre)
May 11: Columbia, Md. (Merriweather Post Pavilion)
May 12: Philadelphia (Academy of Music)
May 14: Waterbury, Conn. (Palace Theatre)
May 16: New York (Radio City Music Hall)
May 19: Hamilton, Ontario (Copps Coliseum)
May 21: Quebec City, Quebec (Pavillon de la Jeunesse)
May 22: Kingston, Ontario (K-Rock Centre)
May 24: London, Ontario (Labatt Centre)
May 25: Ottawa, Ontario (National Arts Centre)
May 29: Boston (Wang Theatre)
June 2: Morrison, Colo. (Red Rocks)