Leonard Cohen's neverending world tour will actually end in December with four newly announced theater shows in the western United States, his promoter said on Tuesday.

The tireless Canadian folk poet emerged from a 15-year semi-retirement in May 2008 to crisscross large arenas around the world, and will have played more than 240 shows by the time he hangs up his fedora after a two-night stand in Las Vegas on December 10 and 11.

Cohen, who turns 76 later this month, plans to return to the studio next year to record his first album of new material since 2004's "Dear Heather," taking him off the road "for some time," promoter AEG Live said in a statement. He is known to take years to craft a single song.

The final four shows will kick off at Honolulu's Blaisdell Concert Hall on December 4. Cohen will play the Rose Quarter Theater of the Clouds in Portland, Ore., on December 8, and then head to the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

They will mark his first U.S. concerts since last November. He is currently touring Europe again after being laid low by a bad back during the first half of the year. He will return to New Zealand and Australia in October and November, and will finish up in Cambodia on November 27 before traveling to Hawaii.

Tickets for the four U.S. shows will go on sale on September 24, AEG Live said.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman)

COPYRIGHT: (c) Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.