[KHester]

Gordon’s Concert in Davenport 03/11/2009

We got to the concert site about 90 minutes before the show. I came prepared with the packet I was hoping to give Gordon after the concert.
While we were waiting for the doors to open, I went up to the box office and asked for a venue poster. While the girl at the desk was thinking about it, I showed her the “Ode to Gordon” poem I wrote. I think it helped because she came back with the poster for me. This would be my second venue poster now. Waiting in line we met some new friends and fans discussing how many times we’ve all seen Gordon in concert and his great music.

Gordon came out in a blue dress jacket and he looked good and sounded good. He mentioned his was happy to be here and thanked everyone for coming out on a cold Wednesday night. He opened with his first song “Cotton Jenny” followed by “Carefree Highway”. Gordon’s voice was strong and the sound mix was very well balanced. He closed the first set stating that here’s a song about an event that you probably know from this song. He continued his introduction to the Fitz stating that it was nominated for a Grammy, but lost to Barry Manilow, which was ok because he knew Barry.

Second Set started out with “Triangle” followed by Hangdog Hotel Room which was dedicated to an image he has of Jerry Jeff Walker. Of course the highlight song for me was “If you could read my mind” and it got the normal standing ovation. Gordon threw in his normal hare joke. He mentioned his ears were popping because of the flight in before he went into his closing song “Canadian Railroad Trilogy”. Gordon and the band were great!
Terry got applause throughout the night for his excellent lead guitar.

After the show, we went back to the tour bus to wait for Gordon to come out. It was so cold we were all out there for over an hour waiting. The band finally came out and signed autographs for us, but no Gordon yet. So later we were able to go inside the stage door entrance to wait. We went to a room where we finally got to meet Gordon. There were at least 15 of us waiting. He signed some tickets, albums, a dollar bill, posed for pictures with us.

While we were standing there amongst the crowd, I came up to him and shook his hand and handed him my portfolio with my poem “Ode To Gordon”. I explained to him that I put this together for him to express the strong feelings we have as fans for him and his music. The expression on his face was overwhelming and said “Wow, that was so wonderful and thoughtful”. When I read the poem to him he absolutely loved it and thanked me. He turned around and gave it to one of the crew and put this in my special place in my drawer. The guy said that no one has ever given him anything like this. So you can imagine how deeply moved he was. We got a hug and pictures taken. It was truly a memorable night for all of us.

My girlfriend has become a much bigger fan now that she has met him and realized how nice he is.

I hope to hear from him after giving him my poems.

Take Care,

Kevin & Erin

P.S. Char thanks for the help. By the way, Leslie didn’t make the trip with them.


Set List
Set 1
Cotton Jenny
Carefree Highway
Sea of Tranquility
14 Karat Gold
Minstrel of the Dawn
Never Too Close
Let it Ride
Painter Passing Through
Spanish Moss
Shadows
Beautiful
The Watchman’s Gone
Ribbon Of Darkness
Sundown
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald


Set 2
Triangle
Hangdog Hotel Room
Restless
Clouds of Loneliness
Me and Bobby McGee
Waiting for You
Make way for the Lady
Pony Man
Don Quixote
If You Could Read My Mind
Baby Step Back
Canadian Railroad Trilogy
Encore
Old Dan’s Records

Kevin