Almost 20 years after his last performance on the island, Leonard Cohen returned to Mallorca to give a concert at the Palma Arena.

Returning to the stage after a 15 year absence, poet, singer and novelist Leonard Cohen performed in front of a large crowd at the indoor Palma Arena on the 11th of August 2009. The modern building was constructed during 2006 and was first used for the World Cycling Track Championships in 2007. When used for cycling events the stadium can seat 5000 people, but the concert configurations increased the capacity to more than that.

Leonard Cohen was born in Montreal, Canada and first came to fame during the late Sixties when he was more popular in the UK than in Canada or America. After a long absence Cohen returned to the stage in 2008 and even played at that year's Glastonbury Festival. His concert this summer in Palma was preceded by performances in Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Turkey. Following the concert in Mallorca, Cohen continued to tour Europe before returning to the American leg of his tour which started in Florida during October.

Another concert that was promoted at the Palma Arena later in the year was Status Quo on who came to the island on the 8th of September as part of their world tour. Anyone who was going to the Cohen concert had the option, 3 days before the concert, of attending a small music festival in the town of Selva in the north west of Mallorca, where the British band Dr Feelgood were performing.