Music / Club Cohen, at The Vault, Fyshwick, November 8. Reviewed by HELEN MUSA.

The late Leonard Cohen, who died eight years ago (November 7, 2016) is still well and truly alive to his fans, as performer Mikelangelo was quick to point out when an enthusiastic crowd packed into the Vault on Friday for Club Cohen, subtitled Nightclub of the Afterlife.

Here we saw Mikelangelo, minus the Black Sea Gentleman, embark on a serious project with the specially assembled Band of Mercy and local region artists, Shortis & Simpson, Fred Smith, Alice Cottee, Tracy Bourne, Tom Woodward, Gemma Clare, Peter Campbell and Lily Acheson.

Mikelangelo is a charismatic stage personality, a born performer who openly confessed he would sing most of the numbers – “I’m that kind of guy,” he told the crowd.

That was evident in the first part, as he kicked off with Goin’ Home, I’m Your Man and Manhattan.

But because of the excessive resonance of the concrete Vault, it was all but impossible to hear the words and, given the widespread the view that it was Cohen and not Bob Dylan who should have won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016, this was a problem, one even more obvious when Mikelangelo’s rich baritone overpowered the light voice of  Tracy Bourne in 1,000 Kisses.

He was on firmer ground with his insinuating rendition of You Want it Darker, before a young newcomer from Braidwood, Lily Acheson, took the stage to sing Joan of Arc and The Traitor with a clear, ringing voice.

Audience members were on their feet for Anthem supported by Southern Highlands artist Peter Campbell, before the pace picked up considerably as Tom Woodward took the stage to perform The Future and Tower of Song, letting it rip.

After a short break came the song everybody had been waiting for, Cohen’s Hallelujah, supported by Shortis & Simpson and the Worldly Goods Choir. Their beautiful voices penetrated from time to time, competing with the audience, who by then were singing along.

Soon enough, Fred Smith took the stage to sing the bio-song, Lenny. Here, supported by only a couple of musicians, Smith sang with quiet assertion, but could be heard perfectly as he articulated the life and art of Cohen.

The same could be said for Moya Simpson as, accompanied by Shortis on keyboard, she sang Raincoat and Goodbye with affecting clarity.

The latter part of the evening featured some very famous songs, such as Marianne, Avalanche, supported by Alice Cottee and Worldly Goods, and Bird on a Wire, with Gemma Clare.

It was no surprise that Michelangelo chose a song both joyous and sad – Dance Me to the End of Love — to finish his program (although a round of encores followed as they dispersed).

It was what the crowd of music and Cohen-lovers had come for.