Leonard Cohen back on his perch

The veteran poet and singer Leonard Cohen is due to mark his 75th birthday with a concert tonight at the Palau Sant Jordi stadium in Barcelona, despite having collapsed on stage on Friday night in Valencia after singing three numbers.

The concert at Valencia's Luis Puig Velodrome had to be abandoned when Cohen fainted while performing one of his signature songs, Bird on the Wire. Video running on YouTube shows how he knelt down several times while singing the 1968 classic. It became clear that it wasn't for effect when, during a saxophone solo, he then keeled over sideways. Band members dropped their instruments and ran to him.

His hometown newspaper, the Montreal Gazette, later reported that he had suffered from acute food poisoning.

The audience waited for an hour before band member Javier Mas came out to inform them Cohen was in hospital and would not be be able to return to the stage that night, but hoped to reschedule the show for another time.

Valencia was the penultimate stop on his nine-concert tour of Spain, part of a world tour Cohen never dreamt he would make. He was forced to come out of retirement and make some money after he discovered five years ago that $5m was missing from his pension fund. He won a court judgment against his former manager but is reported to have been unable to collect the cash.

In the event, his renaissance has brought him a lucrative second career, complete with fabulous reviews and adoring crowds. His coffers have been further bolstered by the the success of two cover versions of his song Hallelujah, one by the X Factor winner Alexandra Burke and another by Jeff Buckley. They both became hits last Christmas.

Cohen is reported to be well enough after Friday's scare to play the Barcelona concert. The Palau Sant Jordi stadium has hosted names as diverse as Frank Sinatra, the Spice Girls and Coldplay since it was built for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The Ben Hur Live show current playing at the O2 Centre in London is due there at Christmas. ·