Re: London concert review
I went to the concert in London a bit anxious. Our seats were quite far from the stage (mid way up level three, dead centre). There have been lots of posts with comments from previous concerts about fans being disappointed with low volumes, especially from that kind of distance. Also, I had been fortunate enough to attend the show the night before in Hamilton and I thought Gord’s voice broke a lot on several songs, and that was from much closer (row 7). In our group of four was a friend of mine who had been to one concert (last year sitting very close to the stage) and his wife, who had never seen Lightfoot. The fourth in our group was Anne from Michigan. I was really concerned we would leave with them saying that they had a hard time hearing most of the songs.
I’m happy to report that Gord’s voice was much stronger on Thursday than Wednesday. There was much less breaking until the encore song, Blackberry Wine (which was also the encore song the night before). And the sound levels were excellent.
Also he was very chatty, and some of his intro’s were interestingly long – maybe he was happy to be winding up a fairly long leg of this year’s tour. I didn’t note the set list, but I will try to paraphrase some of the introductory comments:
“Great to be back here in London. Home of the Knights. Home of Darryl Sittler (Char would appreciate that), home of Steve Nash” (which he later corrected to Ric Nash).
“A lot of my family is here tonight. They drove in from Alvinston. They drive in for the Knights’ games.”
“There’s been lots going on lately. Besides the report of my death, there’s been the KERFUFFLE about the Wreck. The kerfuffle started 35 years ago when I wrote the lyrics. There were a number of theories – and I mentioned them all - she may have broke in half at the surface, she may have capsized, she may have been swamped. But I was on a roll for four verses, so I took a little poetic licence, and I said the hatches gave in. The folks at National Geographic did a documentary and they concluded that the ship broke in half at the surface. They are right and that is a relief to the families of the men responsible for the hatches and we have changed the lyrics . . .”
“Are there any daughters here tonight? Are there any daughters here tonight? I’m guessing there are about 2,000 or 2,200. I wrote this for my daughter, when she was a little girl. She has since presented me with two grandchildren. Those grandchildren are older than my two kids from my second marriage” . . . As Fine as Fine Can Be.
Finally before Restless, “This song is about nature and reminds me of a joke . . . How long is the hair on a rabbit’s back? How long is the hair on a rabbit’s back? I’m asking you - How long is the hair on a rabbit’s back?" At this point I was chiding Anne – come on, he wants an answer, you know it, yell it out, but she wouldn’t.
We were really hoping he would reprise Home From the Forest for one more night, but it was not to be. Maybe next time.
Brian
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