
Listen: Okkervil River Share Live Cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Anthem”
R.I.P. Leonard Cohen
Nov 14, 2016
Leonard Cohen
Legendary singer/songwriter/poet Leonard Cohen‘s death was announced on Thursday even though he actually died last Monday. Okkervil River were performing in Bristol, England on Friday night when the band covered Cohen’s “Anthem,” a song from 1992’s The Future. Instead of waiting for a bunch of poorly shot fan videos to flood the Internet, over the weekend the band shared professionally recorded audio of the song. Listen below.
Frontman Will Sheff had this to say about the cover: “It’s been a terrible week, over here finishing a European tour watching my country slide towards doom. The news of Leonard Cohen’s death had nothing to do with everything else in the news but, in my agitated state, seemed somehow like it did. Cohen was a songwriting hero to me. I opened our Bristol show, the morning after the announcement of his death, with this solo cover of ‘Anthem,’ which sounds distressingly appropriate to the current moment. We did a full band version of ‘So Long, Marianne’ later in the set. This picture was taken on the ferry from Denmark to Germany. Grey afternoon.”
Okkervil River released a new album, Away, back in September via ATO.
Read our recent interview with Okkervil River’s Will Sheff.
(Via Stereogum)
Current Issue

Issue #70
Nov 18, 2022 Issue #70 - My Favorite Movie (Sharon Van Etten and Ezra Furman)
Most Recent
- True Entertainment (Review) — Dutch Uncles
- Counter Melodies (Review) — Maps
- Weyes Blood, Vagabon @ Gothic Theater, Denver, Colorado, March 17, 2023 (Review) — Weyes Blood, Vagabon
- boygenius (Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers) Announce North American Tour (News) — boygenius, Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers, Carly Rae Jepsen, Bartees Strange, Broken Social Scene, illuminati hotties, Claud
- Last Day to Save 20% Off Subscriptions as Under the Radar’s New Issue is About to Ship (News) —
Comments
Submit your comment
There are no comments for this entry yet.