Leonard Cohen

The first ever “Under the Influence” was a tribute to Leonard Cohen.

There were some fantastic covers including a crowd rousing version of “Tower of Song” by Tom Mckean & the Emperors, Belle Humble’s wistful “So Long Marianne” and Gabriel Kain’s gut wrenching take on “Famous Blue Raincoat”.

I kicked things off with “That’s No Way to Say Goodbye”, which a few people pointed out might have been more fitting at the end.

Of course the real purpose of the night is to showcase new songwriters and we heard some great new songs from Paul Hawkins, Yo Zushi and James Mckeown as well as a fantastically irreverent “Here Come the Popes” from Sgt Buzfuz.