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Gordon Lightfoot, Orillia’s favourite native son, returns for concert Saturday
By Amy Lazar
Local News - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 @ 08:00
Dust off those tickets — Gordon Lightfoot is coming back to his hometown for a makeup concert this weekend.
“It’s quite exciting that he’s coming back,” said Opera House building manager Mark Hurst.
“A high percentage of the crowd will have grown up with him or went to school with him, so people have memories with him.”
Lightfoot, 67, was born in Orillia.
He first showcased his vocal talents at St. Paul’s United Church, singing I’m A Little Teapot as a five-year-old Sunday school student.
Just five years later, accompanied by his sister on piano, he cut his first record, the first of many to come.
Lightfoot has performed sold-out concerts all over Canada and the globe, but regularly returned home to the stage at the Mariposa Folk Festival.
Hurst said fans are coming from as far as Germany to see this concert.
In September 2002, Lightfoot was in Orillia promoting his album A Painter Passing Through.
He fell ill, was taken to hospital and eventually underwent surgery.
As a result he had to cancel a show, but promised to return.
This Saturday is the night. The concert begins at 8 p.m. at the Opera House.
The event is sold out. Those with original tickets should trade them in for current tickets at the Opera House before the night of the show, said Hurst.
Proceeds from the concert will go to Orillia’s Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital.
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