"I HOPE this is not some sort of compassion for the elderly," opined Leonard Cohen after tumultuous applause greeted his somewhat pedestrian keyboard solo during Tower Of Song.

And it wasn't. It was more idolatry as the audience, perhaps wondering if they would see the like of Cohen passing by this way again, listened in hushed reverence.

That's not surprising as the Canadian is 80 next year. Not that you would know it as he bent, crouched, ran and danced his way through a three-hour, nigh-on 30-song set of two halves on the first British date of the Old Ideas world tour.

The first half of a beautifully staged and lit show was mainly newish songs, many with a klezmer feel, as the sharp suited, behatted Cohen managed to make the BIC feel intimate.

We had the likes of Dance Me To The End Of Love, The Future and the magnificent Who By Fire, complete with lengthy Spanish guitar intro by the virtuoso Javier Mas, interspersed with Bird On A Wire and Everybody Knows.

With a brilliant six-piece band and three singers in Cohen's muse Sharon Robinson and the Webb Sisters, we had a sumptuous sound and a generous host who would reverentially remove his fedora and move to the shadows of the carpeted stage as he allowed his co-performers to express themselves.

Cohen has a reputation as being a melancholy miserabilist as his lyrics certainly reflect love and loss and missed opportunity and regret, but the truth is his demeanour is bright and his performance almost effervescent The second half had a more familiar feel as we heard Suzanne, The Partisan and Alexandra Leaving, before building to Cohen's 'reclaimed' version of Hallelujah and Take This Waltz.

He danced off stage to a standing ovation, returning three times for encores including So Long Marianne, Famous Blue Raincoat, the self-deprecating Going Home and a storming First We Take Manhattan.

The ever-gracious Cohen has reached a far higher level than so many other performers because his words and the exquisite way he presents them seems to transcend mere music and poetry and has created this fabulous show witnessed by a very lucky audience.