http://www.connectionnewspaper.com/?p=1537
Gordon Lightfoot: He still has it.
76 year old Canadian legendary singer and songwriter Gordon Lightfoot put on a show at Peterborough’s Memorial Centre on May 8, 2014 that proved he is alive and well. He joked about his age and health using Mark Twain’s famous remark: “Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated”. Lightfoot was clearly happy to be in friendly Peterborough giving a full 2 set performance with 2 encores for a less than full arena, of mostly aging baby boomers. The current tour, with a highly skilled four person group of musicians features Lightfoot’s personal favourite songs, many of which are not well known. The crowd quietly listened to several such pieces before starting to sing along with Rainy Day People.
The show continued with more of Gord’s Gold later in the first set and in the second set. Everyone was quite comfortable when they heard If You Could Read My Mind. The crowd was thrilled by a strong performance of Canadian Railroad Trilogy, after the performer gave tribute to the Peterborough audience as a particularly good one. Lightfoot spoke of being at Eastern Sound Studios recording a folk song for a new album in 1976, while Stompin’ Tom Connors was recording in the next room. After hearing the song, Stompin’ Tom came over excited, proclaiming “that song is going to be a big hit.” Lightfoot then played the song which turned out to be his most popular one ever: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
After the second encore the audience left exhausted from the long show, but realizing the depth of Gordon Lightfoot goes well beyond the hits we all know and love.