Manitowac/Eau Claire
Hi there everyone. I'm back from 965 miles zigzagging around Wisconsin the past three days. At least there were still lovely pockets of autumn leaves to keep me company. Also, thousands of Holstein cows in the pastures too.
On the way to Manitowac, I drove by the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field. As a lifelong Vikings fan, it was my first, and perhaps last visit. Actually, the museum looks interesting.
About 50 miles south of Green Bay is Manitowac. I did get down to a park off Lake Michigan which was lovely. Downtown Manitowac really looks tough economically. Lots of closed storefronts. Near the lake sits the Civic Theater.
The hall is fairly small (1,100) but very homey. I was front and center about 10 rows back. I spoke with an usher and the crowd was about 650. The economy isn't helping Gord in some of these hard hit rustbelt towns.
Someone has posted the set list and it matched mine.
I would characterize the performance as average. Gord's voice was pretty good in spots, weak in others, notably "Painter Passing Through." He spoke of the tour having 13 guys on it. 5 band, 4 stagehands, 2 truck drivers, and 2 pilots. He provided the name of the aircraft they use and said it was small. He said something about it being manufactured by an Israeli firm in Tel Aviv. Gord introduced "Fine as Fine Can Be" with a very loving description of his children. I did enjoy hearing "Home from the Forest" the first time - so glad Gord is putting in a rarity into the set list.
Next day was back to the other side of Wisconsin at the State Theatre in Eau Claire. It is not the prettiest theatre I had ever seen- the hall is actually long and narrow. But the place was sold out. I would say the performance was better than the night before. Here's the set list for Eau Claire:
Sweet Guinevere
Cotton Jenny
14 Karat Gold
Never Too Close
In My Fashion
A Painter Passing Through
Christian Island
Shadows
Beautiful
Carefree Highway
Hangdog Hotel Room
Ribbon of Darkness
Sundown
The Watchman's Gone
Alberta Bound
Wreck of the E.F.
Ring Neck Loon
Don Quixote
Clouds of Loneliness
Let It Ride
If Children Had Wings
If You Could Read My Mind
Baby Step Back
Restless
Early Morning Rain
Song for a Winter's Night
Encore: Blackberry Wine
Right away, the highlight was hearing "Sweet Guinevere" for the first time ever. I thought Gord might say something about the rescue of the copper miners in Chile that was ongoing at the time, but he did not.
Gord introduced Ring Neck Loon by saying it was inspired by his attending a Bruce Springsteen concert. Bruce had performed an acoustic song whose arrangement was very sparse, but packed an emotional punch. He wanted to write a song like that.
He introduced "Clouds of Loneliness" telling the audience about how the Harmony album was made and that it is his favorite song off the album. (I would prefer either River of Light or Sometimes I Wish, but that's just me.)
After finishing one of the 12-string songs, Gordon smiled and said the guitar had a lot of "bark" in it tonight. He said that sounded like a song title, "Bark Like a 12-string." He then said that he has two young Golden labs at his house that his ex-wife bought. He said they bark loud too! So Gord - the dog lover now.
I was in the front row right in front of Michael Heffernan. At intermission, I was able to chat with Gitchee Gumme (Ruth), Claudia and RJ. Since Gordon is not appearing in Minnesota this year, this was the closest chance. We are all hoping that Gord comes back to Minnesota in the spring of 2011 as a warm-up for his Massey Hall dates.
Anyway, two concerts down. One concert to go. Wausau or bust. It's getting late and I'll probably describe that concert tomorrow night. Teaser: It was the best of the three !
John /Minnesota
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