Singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen has added a third date to his return to Dublin later this year.

Tickets for the first two shows in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham on September 11th and 12th sold out in hours last week, prompting the additional performance.

The 77-year-old, who broke a 10-year hiatus from live shows by performing at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in 2008, will play the third night on Friday, September 14th.

He credited the audience that night with reducing him to tears with their warmth.

Cohen’s greatest literary hero is WB Yeats. At a show in Lissadell in Sligo two years ago, he took time to travel around Yeats country and says he was deeply moved by his visit. “It was a huge thing for me,” he said.

Earlier this year he released his first new studio album in eight years, Old Ideas. He has been performing consistently for the past four years after leaving behind his life in a Zen Buddhist retreat. A few years ago it emerged that his bank account had all but been cleared out by an ex-manager.

Tickets for the first of the all-seated shows sold in less than 10 minutes and the second a few hours later. Tickets for the third show, priced from €79.50, will be available from 9am on Thursday April 19th.