[lighthead2toe]

Those were the parting words of Canadian musical icon Gordon Lightfoot as he took his final exit from the stage at the Ottawa Folk Festival last night.

And what a night it was; beautiful grounds with plenty of open space to gather. No chairs unless you brought your own.

Quite chilly though for this time of year but it sure didn't seem to affect the entertainers. They pulled it off as if in room temperature.

Gord was brilliant!

Starting out with "Cotton Jenny" the pipes were fully open by the time he got around to the second verse and the "new day began."

He rolled them out one by one as the crowd grew and he did his work well.

The Gordon Lightfoot way as I always understood it and the audience just loved every minute.

He did all the big ones and from time to time I took note that he substituted a complimentary harmony note in place of reaching for the familiar higher ones that we would be used to hearing over the years. He did it in his own Lightfoot style and made it work to the extent that came as a goosebumping treat for guys like me. I was completely in my element!

Gord wasn't scheduled to do this show. It was Neil Young's gig but Neil's lead guitar player injured his hand and couldn't perform so Neil called Gord to fill in and it was on.

These kind of happenings are not unusual in the music business and based on the information I read in the Ottawa papers today it was quite a successful gig all over. Despite the ticket refunds re the Neil Young cancellation, once word got out that Gord was on to sit in for Neil, a resurgence of ticket sales happened quickly and fortunately I was one.

All is well that ends well.

Thanks for the great evening Gord.

RJ.