Birthday treat

Legendary singer Leonard Cohen was in Katowice yesterday, and I managed to get a pair of tickets for the concert - the other one went to my good friend Krzysztof aka Toyah, Poland's political blogger of the year 2009. Now Krzysztof has known the works of Mr Cohen word for word since his teenage years, and as a Katovician, the ticket could not gone to a better recipient. Krzysztof's son Antek and daughter Hanka managed to get their tickets from the sound guy; I got my pair from Graham and Mandy, the parents of Leonard's backing singers, the Webb Sisters. Graham Webb was doing a motivational speech at the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH) which I helped facilitate.

Leonard Cohen (above) sung at the 1970 Isle of Wight festival alongside The Doors, Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis, and is still with us, aged 76, and in outstanding form. Last night, he played for three and half hours. The sincere respect which he has for his musicians, and for his audience, which in turn had nothing but the greatest reverence for Mr Cohen, was something to behold. The gig was an experience like few others. Superb sound and lighting.

Below: The Webb Sisters on the big screens. Their angelic sibling harmonies perfectly complement Mr Cohen's deep low-register voice. The rest of the band were brilliant, as tight as can be imagined after hundreds of gigs together. The audience, 8,000 strong, is on its feet. The band played no fewer than nine numbers as an encore - after two full-length sets.

Below: Krzysztof, backstage with the Webb Sisters. An unforgettable evening, though I had to get up at half past three the next morning to catch the early train back to Warsaw for a breakfast meeting with Marek Belka, the president of the National Bank of Poland. All pics taken on my new second-hand Nokia N82 mobile phone.

The band will be playing Warsaw (Torwar) on Sunday 10 October - I can totally recommend the gig to anyone wanting to see the legendary Leonard Cohen while still (yes!) at the height of his musical powers. [More than one can say for many of his contemporaries!]