Wilkes-Barre, PA Show
 

Just got back from the Wilkes-Barre, Pa show and I was pleasantly surprised that it was as every bit good as the last time that I saw him at the same venue 3 1/2 years ago, and in some respects even better. His voice is still a little rough, but it actually sounded better this time around and as the show went on, it improved.
The stage was a simple set up with everyone's instruments and gear in place with elongated orangish/gold triangles serving as a backdrop behind the stage. The last time I saw the show, the backdrop was pretty much the same pattern, but dark green.
During the show, lights with differnt patterns and colors would shine on the backdrop providing the songs with a certain visual depth which was very tasteful.
The band was great. I've seen many concerts over the years and Gord and his band are one of the best live and in the studio for that matter.
The place was a near sellout (about 1,200 out of 1,500 seats) and the crowd was good with no hecklers and he seem sincerely appreciative of the good response after each song.
I don't have a complete setlist and some of the songs may be out of order, but here is what I can remember.

Guinnevere (I think that was the name of it)
Cotton Jenny
Shadows
2-3 Unknowns
In My Fashion
Fourteen Karat Gold
Painter Passing Through
Rainy Day People
Carefree Highway
Hangdog Hotel Room
Sundown
Watchman (My Personal Favorite)
Alberta Bound (First set Closer)

Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Ringneck Loon
Beautiful
Don Quixote
Ribbon of Darkness
Baby Step Back (Excellent)
2-3 Unknowns
If You Could Read My Mind
Early Morning Rain
Song for a Winter's Night (Closer)

Blackberry Wine (Encore)

That's pretty much the setlist. It was a great show and if anyone reading this gets the oppourtunity to. GO!

Re: Wilkes-Barre, PA Show
 

A nice review was promptly posted in the local newspaper at:-
http://www.timesleader.com/features/...0-06-2010.html
and has this fine photo
http://media.timesleader.com/images/...10_BEF6RLU.jpg
but dsdappointingly there is no mention of Sweet Guinevere which he must have introduced as having been specially put into rotation at the request of somebody from PA possibly even Pittsburg and in the audience?
any comment Mr BBNB

Wilkes-Barre review
 

http://www.timesleader.com/features/...0-06-2010.html

>Posted: October 6
Updated: Today at 1:10 AM

Lightfoot inspires with story, songs REVIEW
Legendary singer-songwriter, who’s overcome health issues, still can move an audience.
By Brad Patton bpatton@timesleader.com
Freelance Music Writer

WILKES-BARRE – Early into his performance at the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday evening, it seemed legendary singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot was trying to save his voice.

Amanda hrycyna/for the times leader - photographer

came out promptly at curtain time, absorbed the applause silently and immediately rattled off two songs.

Before the third, he broke the ice with a joke.

“Been through a few changes,” he said, pausing slightly before delivering the punchline. “Couple more women bit the dust.”

The past few years have been hard on Lightfoot and his once-remarkable baritone. He suffered a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm in September 2002, had a tracheotomy and remained in a coma for six weeks. After recovering and returning to the stage, he suffered a mild stroke during a performance in September 2006 that left him without the use of two fingers on his right hand for a time. He briefly used a substitute guitarist while he recuperated, and has played all of his guitar parts as they were written and recorded since early 2007.

His voice might not be what it once was, but the songs he sings still sound as fresh and inspired as the day he wrote them.

Some of the outstanding songs he sang for the Kirby Center crowd included “Beautiful,” “Cotton Jenny,” “Rainy Day People,” and “Alberta Bound” in the first set, and signature tunes like “Early Morning Rain,” “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” and “Blackberry Wine” in the second.

Lightfoot was known mainly as a songwriter in the 1960s as early songs such as “Early Morning Rain,” “For Lovin’ Me,” “Ribbon of Darkness” and “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” were recorded by the likes of Elvis Presley, The Kingston Trio, Bob Dylan, Marty Robbins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Peter, Paul and Mary.

His own recordings were hits in his homeland of Canada between 1962 and 1968, and his first international success was “If You Could Read My Mind,” which reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970 and No. 1 on the magazine’s Adult Contemporary chart.

His only No. 1 on the main Billboard chart was 1974’s “Sundown,” but he topped the AC charts with three consecutive singles: “Sundown” and “Carefree Highway” ( both from 1974) and “Rainy Day People” (1975).

Perhaps his most famous recording, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” about a real-life shipwreck that killed 29 men, reached No. 2 on the pop chart and No. 9 on the AC chart in 1976.

Re: Wilkes-Barre, PA Show
 

I'm not aware of any specific requests for "Sweet Guinevere" by any of the audience or online for that matter. It's just a wild guess, but like '07 when he opened up with "Triangle", both songs seem a little awkward and difficult and it may have been his way of warming up his pipes so to speak, and maybe to see what he was capeable of for that particular show; just my opinion.
For all that he's been through the past eight or so years health-wise, he still has a stage presence and still packs a punch musically.
Also, I forgot to include "I'll Do Anything" in the set-list plus one song about Canadian Geese which was really good.

Re: Wilkes-Barre, PA Show
 

Canada Geese - Restless

Re: Wilkes-Barre, PA Show
 

Thanks Charlene. (Restless)