Adam Cohen and Cassius mark 10 years since Leonard Cohen’s death with ‘Everybody Knows’ concert

The Story

Ten years after Leonard Cohen died, his son Adam Cohen says he still feels the late singer’s presence in his own life—pointing to the way he sees a shared voice and body type when he looks in the mirror.

In seeking a more deliberate connection to his father’s legacy, Adam Cohen is creating and directing “Everybody Knows Leonard Cohen: The Official 10th Anniversary Concert Celebration,” a family-led tribute that pairs live performances with archival footage as it prepares to tour Canadian stages before continuing into Europe in early 2027.

The concert is set for Toronto’s Meridian Hall on Nov. 7, exactly 10 years after Leonard Cohen’s death. Guests announced for the show include Feist, Rufus Wainwright and Serena Ryder.

Adam Cohen and his 19-year-old son, Cassius, have been working through Cohen’s songs together in their family home in Montreal, with Adam describing the practice as a form of closeness to his grief. “Just playing his songs and really studying them word for word, chord for chord is the closest thing to the grief that I remember of having lost him,” Adam said.

The father-and-son working arrangement also reflects an immediate concern for Cassius’s path after he dropped out of college last summer and said he wanted to be a musician. Adam Cohen hired Cassius as his bass player for performances in Germany and Greece.

Adam Cohen said hearing Cassius perform his father’s songs brings back memories of three generations at the dinner table, adding that he takes pride in his son’s musicianship. “He’s far more accomplished technically than I am,” he said.

Cohen’s legacy includes songs such as “Hallelujah” and “Suzanne,” and Adam said his latest project also pushes him to think about the careful choices behind his father’s writing and sound.

“The common expression is that they don’t make things the way they used to,” Adam said. “His work lasts because it’s imbued with a kind of devotional labour. It aims for a kind of excellence that is a triumph over planned obsolescence.”

Adam Cohen said the tribute is intended to capture “the entirety of the man” rather than reveal a hidden side, describing Leonard Cohen as having an elegance, humility, generosity, intelligence and presence that were “very palpable to anyone who came in his midst.”