Gordon Lightfoot Forums - Fargo ND, Civic Centre

Hello everyone: I have just completed my own carefree highway tour of 2013, having seen Gord and the guys a total of 8 times. They won't be anywhere close again, so I look forward to what 2014 might bring.

The Civic Center is not the most appealing visual venue my eyeballs have ever seen. Still, the sound was pretty darn good. Gord's sound guy has definitely made for a more appealing experience. Gord's voice was rarely buried in the mix. So kudos to Bob.

Gord came out promptly at 8:00 with his red velvet jacket. Here is the set list:

1) Sweet Guinevere
2) Cotton Jenny
3) Sea of Tranquility
4) All the Lovely Ladies
5) Never Too Close
6) Wild Strawberries
7) Let It Ride
8) Spanish Moss
9) Shadows
10) Beautiful
11) The Watchman's Gone
12) The Wreck of E.F.
13) Carefree Highway
Intermission
14) Now and Then
15) Ribbon of Darkness
16) Sundown
17) Hangdog Hotel Room
18) Restless
19) I'd Rather Press On
20) A Painter Passing Through
21) Waiting For You
22) If You Could Read My Mind
23) Rainy Day People
24) Canadian Railroad Trilogy
25: Encore: Baby Step Back

The sound was great, Spanish Moss segued seamlessly into Shadows. I was surprised that some of the 80's and 90's songs received some initial clapping. Normally, it is only the big ones from the 70's.

He gave Carter a "thumbs-up" after Watchman's Gone. In second half, Gord warmed up to the crowd a little more. Saturday in Fargo was rainy and dreary. Before "Hangdog", he recalled being snowed in one time in Fargo with a "lot" of snow. He said he drank a couple of beers and went to bed.

With "Now and Then", he said that they had had some requests to bring the song back and that it was a good song, just never found a way to work it in to the concert sets over the years.

Gord has found a rearrangement with Trilogy to get through the high notes at the end. A word may get skipped here and there.

I enjoyed talking to a fellow behind me. We both remembered the Fargo concert in 1977 at the old N.D. State University Fieldhouse and that we never dreamed that we would still be going to a concert 36 years later. I asked him if the old fieldhouse was still standing. He said no, they tore it down, but built a new fieldhouse on the same spot!

OK- will start writing about Bemidji shortly. John - Minnesota