A "National Treasure" takes Coliseum stage !
 

"Sunny & warm weather forecast for tomorrow... Beautiful day for Gordon Lightfoot to be in town, look on the papers photo how friendly he looks"!

What A Guy ! :)



http://timestranscript.canadaeast.co...rticle/1004705


Gordon Lightfoot takes Coliseum stage

Published Friday April 2nd, 2010

Latest tour by iconic Canadian singer lands in Moncton tomorrow night

By BRETT ANNINGSON
Times & Transcript Staff

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Gordon Lightfoot was rumoured to have died last February.

http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image....308&size=265x0
Arnie Lee/Times & Transcript

Gordon Lightfoot

Showing the dangerous side of social media, rumours of his death originated on Twitter and then spread to Facebook and became viral from there.

Lightfoot was travelling to work in his car when he heard news of his death on the radio. He immediately phoned the station to set the record straight.

At 71, Lightfoot is alive, well and on the road for his latest tour of Canada, bringing his signature folk music to the stage. His show lands at the Moncton Coliseum tomorrow night.

After health troubles in 2002 which forced him to cancel part of his tour, Lightfoot bounced back two years later to release 'Harmony,'his 20th studio album.

The next year he was inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame and launched a 30-city tour.
Then in 2006 he suffered a transient stroke on stage and could not feel his fingers enough to play the guitar.
He continued the tour a few days later.

Lightfoot took the stage for a recent concert in Toronto and, 10 minutes into a set, looked out at the audience and quoted Mark Twain, saying, "Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."

Something for which his fans are eternally grateful.
Lightfoot really came into his own as a folk and country singer in the 1960s; but his most loved hits began to top the charts in the 70s with classics like 'If You Could Read My Mind,' 'Sundown,' 'Carefree Highway,' and of course 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.'

The list of artists who have recorded their own versions of Lightfoot's songs is astounding; people like Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, Johnny Mathis, Harry Belafonte, and even Sarah McLachlan and John Mellencamp.

He was born in Orillia, the son of a manager for a dry cleaning firm, and really got his start singing in the church choir of the St. Paul's United Church in Orillia. He later found himself performing on local radio, and in local operettas and music festivals.

Lightfoot taught himself guitar in high school and then headed off for the fame and fortune of California.
He studied jazz composition and orchestration for two years at Hollywood's Westlake College of Music, at the same time making money by writing and arranging commercial jingles.

In 1960 he returned to Canada and began to perform with The Swinging Eight, a group featured on TV's Country Hoedown. By 1962 he earned a following in and around Toronto and decided to release two singles, which were played a lot in the city, and a little bit in the rest of the country.

In 1965, Lightfoot signed a management contract with Albert Grossman, who also represented Bob Dylan. That same year, he signed a recording contract with United Artists and released his own version of "I'm Not Saying" as a single.

However, in 1970 he changed record labels and it was under Warner Brothers' Reprise that he had his first major hit with "If You Could Read My Mind."
The rest, as they say, is history.

By the 1990s he was mostly touring, giving just 50 concerts a year by 1998, mainly in North America, while he released two albums in the period.

Lightfoot has won 15 Juno Awards and been nominated for 5 Grammy Awards. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Canadian Country Music Hall Of Fame in 2001. In May 2003, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada and is also a member of the Order of Ontario. In 2004 was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Singer Robbie Robertson calls him a "national treasure."

Re: A "National Treasure" takes Coliseum stage !
 

Gordon Lightfoot in Moncton, NB. 04/03/2010 !

Great show, didn't take the camera inside, should have... those darn camera cops ! :redface:

Lightfoot sounded & looked great, told some jokes... the one about that pale moon & the other about the hare, which I still dont really get. :confused:

He sure did get the audience laughing when he mentioned that he had to change that lyric about 'The Fitzgerald'. His quote went something like "that Gawddamn main hatchway caving in"... :biggrin:

Terry seemed thinner to me, saw him outside back of Coliseum around 6:00 pm smoking, he sures smokes a lot. When they came out for the encore he was giving the audience a hand for a good 15 seconds before he sat down to play.

Rick Haynes had a long white pony tail.

Barry Keane & Mike Heffernan were doing their things as usual.

This time around they had a touring bus, many family relatives with them, Gord told the audience... kids & grown ups. Im guessing they had an Easter Egg Hunt the following morning on the bus for the kids ? :rolleyes:

I hope Corfidian Louise or anyone else @ the concert Saturday night have more to add.

Here are a few pics that I took of the touring bus & the 18 wheeler that hauls the entire gear.

What more can I say than...

What A Guy !

Re: A "National Treasure" takes Coliseum stage !
 

The 18 wheeler backing inside The Coliseum after the show ! :biggrin:

Re: A "National Treasure" takes Coliseum stage !
 

Thanks Jesse-Joe. Yes I was there. It was a great show and I didn't want it to end. I loved sitting in the front and enjoyed seeing the facial expressions between members of the band. I managed to catch Gord's concert at Massey Hall in 2008 (and I used to see him at Massey when I lived in Toronto), but the last two Moncton shows have been especially enjoyable. Could it be that he's more relaxed when he's away from the home crowd at Massey?

I didn't record the set list (sorry) -- but to add to what Jesse Joe wrote, I remember he talked quite a bit about specific relatives of sailors who died on the Fitzgerald who were relieved that the hatchway hypothesis was dismissed because their loved ones may have been held responsible for such a mishap. He mentioned that the band members had lots of kids and relatives, and said that some were there that night, and then he talked of his daughter who has given him two grandkids and said that he wrote "Fine as Fine Can Be" for her when she was 8 years old. He quoted Mark Twain ("Rumours of my death were greatly exaggerated") and then added the amusing line, "There was nothing I could do at that point except put my foot on the accelerator and find the nearest phone." He joked about how the inspiration behind "Waiting for You" was his "latest ex-old-lady" and was quite funny when talking about all the times he found he was always "waiting" for her.

The joke about the hare took me a minute too, but I think it's about male/female rabbit relations ....??

Anyway, it was a wonderful show, the audience was enthusiastic ... and Gord seemed happy, healthy and relaxed.

Louise

Re: A "National Treasure" takes Coliseum stage !
 

Thanks Jesse-Joe. Yes I was there. It was a great show and I didn't want it to end. I loved sitting in the front and enjoyed seeing the facial expressions between members of the band. I managed to catch Gord's concert at Massey Hall in 2008 (and I used to see him at Massey when I lived in Toronto), but the last two Moncton shows have been especially enjoyable. Could it be that he's more relaxed when he's away from the home crowd at Massey?

I didn't record the set list (sorry) -- but to add to what Jesse Joe wrote, I remember he talked quite a bit about specific relatives of sailors who died on the Fitzgerald who were relieved that the hatchway hypothesis was dismissed because their loved ones may have been held responsible for such a mishap. He mentioned that the band members had lots of kids and relatives, and said that some were there that night, and then he talked of his daughter who has given him two grandkids and said that he wrote "Fine as Fine Can Be" for her when she was 8 years old. He quoted Mark Twain ("Rumours of my death were greatly exaggerated") and then added the amusing line, "There was nothing I could do at that point except put my foot on the accelerator and find the nearest phone." He joked about how the inspiration behind "Waiting for You" was his "latest ex-old-lady" and was quite funny when talking about all the times he found he was always "waiting" for her.

The joke about the hare took me a minute too, but I think it's about male/female rabbit relations ....??

Anyway, it was a wonderful show, the audience was enthusiastic ... and Gord seemed happy, healthy and relaxed.

Louise

Re: A "National Treasure" takes Coliseum stage !
 

Sorry for the double reply. The first one seemed to completely disappear and so I thought I needed to re-create it. And then it appeared!
L.

Re: A "National Treasure" takes Coliseum stage !
 

This is the set list from Wayne's Site !

http://www.lightfoot.ca/100403.htm


Set list for Gordon Lightfoot concert in
Moncton, NB... 04/03/2010 !

Did She Mention My Name
Carefree Highway
Sea Of Tranquility
14 Karat Gold
Never Too Close
A Painter Passing Through
Let It Ride
Rainy Day People
Shadows
Beautiful
Cotton Jenny
Ribbon Of Darkness
Sundown
The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald

Triangle
Hangdog Hotel Room
Restless
Fine As Fine Can Be
Clouds Of Loneliness
Waiting For You
Don Quixote
If Children Had Wings
Baby Step Back
If You Could Read My Mind
Early Morning Rain
Song For A Winter's Night
Old Dan's Records

Re: A "National Treasure" takes Coliseum stage !
 

Thanks Louise for adding to the thread there are things that one forgets, but one thing that comes to mind, he said "when I wrote this next song I must have been on a hangover"... "If You Could Read My Mind."

Can you remember what he said about The Maritimes ?? loving it & there was more that I could not understand as he spoke away a bit from his micophone.

I think it was during the encore ! :)

Re: A "National Treasure" takes Coliseum stage !
 

I'm trying to remember ..... Aside from saying that he was glad to be here, he mentioned the weather in St. John's (NFLD), laughed at the fact that it was snowing and cold when they arrived there about a week ago (compared to the summer temperatures we had on Saturday). And he went on a bit about how he liked to think of the area as "the Maritimes" rather than "Atlantic Canada" because all his life he has known it as "the Maritimes." That's all that comes to mind right now. ...?
Where were you sitting?
And thanks for posting the set list from Wayne's site. My only disappointment with the show was that he didn't do the CR Trilogy.

Re: A "National Treasure" takes Coliseum stage !
 

I still call it The Maritimes.. or 'down east'..
and I'm not as old as Gord!

Re: A "National Treasure" takes Coliseum stage !
 

Thanks Misty.... "by George I think I got it finally." :biggrin:

Re: A "National Treasure" takes Coliseum stage !
 

Louise I was in second row, the guy that took the pic for the paper was next to us. :)

Re: A "National Treasure" takes Coliseum stage !
 

Nice photos.Thanks for posting them.

Re: A "National Treasure" takes Coliseum stage !
 

Wow! Great rabbit stories, Misty. Thanks.
As for the Maritimes and Atlantic Canada, until Gord mentioned it, I didn't realize the distinction had anything to do with how old one was!

Re: A "National Treasure" takes Coliseum stage !
 

Thanks for the nice reports, guys! I see where Gord is coming to my area of NJ this summer. These reports are all good for wetting the appetite. It would be my first time catching him live.

Re: A "National Treasure" takes Coliseum stage !
 

The province (there are 10) of Newfoundland is no longer called just 'newfoundland'..it is now newfoundland and labrador. we have another territory (3 now) since i was in school - Nunavut.
When Gordon was in elementary school as when I was, the provinces on the east coast were referred to as The Maritimes. They still are really..lol
They were Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, Actually Newfoundland was not a Canadian province until 1949... Things change..lol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provinc...ries_of_Canada

Re: A "National Treasure" takes Coliseum stage !
 

I enjoyed reading this review. Thanks for posting the setlist/pics too.

Re: A "National Treasure" takes Coliseum stage !
 

YAY Jesse Joe!!! Glad to know GL was in your backyard and you got to see him :clap: thanks for the fabulous write-up!

Re: A "National Treasure" takes Coliseum stage !
 

Nice report folks. No meet and greet after the show?