Leonard Cohen Suffers Lower-Back Injury, Postpones Tour

Posted on Feb 5th 2010 9:36PM by Benjy Eisen
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European fans of Leonard Cohen who are lucky enough to hold concert tickets for the European run of his current world tour are going to have to wait just a little bit longer: Cohen has been forced to reschedule the shows in the wake of a sports-related injury that he suffered while exercising recently.

Don't worry: Cohen, age 75, is on track to make a full recovery, but physicians have advised him to take it easy and follow a four to six month physical therapy plan for the compression injury that he sustained in his lower back. It's the same type of plan prescribed for athletes with similar injuries.

Postponing the run is just a small obstacle in an otherwise storybook comeback that began in May 2008 when Cohen returned to the stage after a prolonged absence. More than four decades into his enormously influential career, Cohen hushed the notoriously loud Coachella crowd last year with a spellbinding performance, proving that he's still on top of his game. More recently, the night before this year's Grammy Awards he was honored by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences with a 2010 Lifetime Achievement Special Merit Award.

"Doctors have confirmed that Mr. Cohen is in otherwise terrific shape, thanks to years of exercise and careful diet," said his manager, Robert Kory, in a statement. "[He] simply needs appropriate time to recover from the lower back injury."

Take your time but hurry up: the world still needs you, Mr. Cohen.