Hagerstown Concert 5-12

I was at the Hagerstown concert last Saturday and sent this to friends this morning. I discovered this site on a web search on Gordon Lightfoot and would like to share it with you.

Mike M

Last Saturday, Linda and I went to Hagerstown, MD, which is 45 minutes north from our home in Germantown to see Gordon Lightfoot at The Maryland Theatre.

After seeing Schooner Fare in Annapolis, MD the previous Saturday (A great concert by them, again) Hagerstown is a different extreme from Annapolis. It has been two years since we last been to Hagerstown and the downtown looked like the city put some money into the rebuilding of the area with fresh paint and old fashion street lights, but the signs for "No Cruising from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m." brought back the Redneck image of the town! Linda and I will be cruising from 2:01a.m. till 6:59 p.m. LOL! Where's my 1973 Ford Maverick when I need it most!! Not a hot rod car by any chance!

Anyway, we made it to the theatre fine and the theatre was very impressive. The theartre is the home of the MD symphony and the world known, now retired French horn player, Barry Tuckwell. The theatre was built in 1915 and was nicely renovated. The Organ for the silent era is still there. See pictures at www.mdtheatre.org. Very impressive and great acoustics.

So here we are sitting in our seats in row Q, talking about how wonderful the theatre looks and the usher comes with a group of 6, at ten of eight, who also have the two seats as part of their sitting, that we are in! So we go with the usher and we get seated in row C, right in front of the stage! Neat! Great mistake on the theatre's part!

The concert starts. This is the third time we have seen Lightfoot. Before he performed solo, but this time he had a 4 piece band with the two original back up people from the 1970's who have recorded with him though the years, Rick Hayes, Bass and Terry Clements, lead acoustic guitar.

Gordon Lightfoot is my all time favorite folk singer and they did a great job, very close to the actual recordings. I have most of his CD's, 12 in all plus two out of print albums downloaded from Napster. Musicians deserve to paid for their music, but out of print items is free game if the record companies do not want to put them out in CD form, sad for the performer though, they deserved to be paid for their music. Gordon's voice is a little deeper now, but for someone who is 62 (!) he looks and sounds great. He has a lot of energy. However, if you look at album covers from the 1970's and then see him today, it is a little shocking to see him today. He is very thin, but I am sure he is well. Traveling on the road must be tough, trying to eat well and exercise has to be rough on many performers in all types of music and he looks in great shape overall.

He performed two sets, each an hour long. What is good about Lightfoot, is that he talks very little and plays ALOT of music. Some folk singers talk too much, maybe, and try to be stand up comics, but I think Lightfoot is more comfortable playing music while acknowledging the applause with lots of smiles. The first hour was great.

Song list first set included: Sea of Tranquility, All The Lovely Ladies, The House You Live In(1975), Blackberry Wine (out of print album, 1982), Sundown (1974), If you could read my Mind (1970), Carefree Highway (1974), Canadian Railroad Trilogy (a favorite written in 1967 that inspired Canadian Stan Rogers), I'm Not For Sayin'/Ribbon Of Darkness/Did She Mentioned My Name trilogy, and ended the set with Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald, plus others. Gordon did get very serious before the Wreck Of the Edmund Fitzgerald, saying that no bodies of the 29 men were ever found. Gordon like a Jimmy Buffet hasn't had a top 40 hit since 1978 but still plays to sold out audiences while still putting out new music.

Second set: included Don Quixote (1972), Old Dan's Records (out of print album), Beautiful (1972), A Painter Passing Through (1998),Morning Glory (1986), Baby Step Back (1983), 3 new songs: Shell Fish, No Hotel (taken from a burned out Hotel sign in South America) and Night Time. The encore was Early Morning Rain. He performed other songs in the two sets but who could remember them all!

I have come to a conclusion that places like this Theatre, The Barns of Woltrappe, Birchmere in VA and the Rams Head in Annapolis are so much better than the big outdoor arenas. The acoustics so much better in the smaller venues for music.

Half way through the second set, people started calling out for certain song titles and Gordon had a great response. He was following a written set and said "songs are like tires, they must be rotated". Good response, he has has so many songs and no a bad one in the set, even when you get pass the top 40 hits of the 70's. He has so much material.

Anyway, it was a great concert and a wonderful time at the MD Theatre. We hope to go back for other concerts there in the future. Gordon is sold out tommorrow at the Birchmere and he is off to Ontario for a big tour of his home country and then to the west coast this fall. We hope to see him again someday. So much new folk talent is growing today, too bad it doesn't get any airplay, but if it isn't mainsteam it doesn't get played.

Mike

I was at the Hagerstown concert last Saturday and sent this to friends this morning. I discovered this site on a web search on Gordon Lightfoot and would like to share it with you.

Mike M

Last Saturday, Linda and I went to Hagerstown, MD, which is 45 minutes north from our home in Germantown to see Gordon Lightfoot at The Maryland Theatre.

After seeing Schooner Fare in Annapolis, MD the previous Saturday (A great concert by them, again) Hagerstown is a different extreme from Annapolis. It has been two years since we last been to Hagerstown and the downtown looked like the city put some money into the rebuilding of the area with fresh paint and old fashion street lights, but the signs for "No Cruising from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m." brought back the Redneck image of the town! Linda and I will be cruising from 2:01a.m. till 6:59 p.m. LOL! Where's my 1973 Ford Maverick when I need it most!! Not a hot rod car by any chance!

Anyway, we made it to the theatre fine and the theatre was very impressive. The theartre is the home of the MD symphony and the world known, now retired French horn player, Barry Tuckwell. The theatre was built in 1915 and was nicely renovated. The Organ for the silent era is still there. See pictures at www.mdtheatre.org. Very impressive and great acoustics.

So here we are sitting in our seats in row Q, talking about how wonderful the theatre looks and the usher comes with a group of 6, at ten of eight, who also have the two seats as part of their sitting, that we are in! So we go with the usher and we get seated in row C, right in front of the stage! Neat! Great mistake on the theatre's part!

The concert starts. This is the third time we have seen Lightfoot. Before he performed solo, but this time he had a 4 piece band with the two original back up people from the 1970's who have recorded with him though the years, Rick Hayes, Bass and Terry Clements, lead acoustic guitar.

Gordon Lightfoot is my all time favorite folk singer and they did a great job, very close to the actual recordings. I have most of his CD's, 12 in all plus two out of print albums downloaded from Napster. Musicians deserve to paid for their music, but out of print items is free game if the record companies do not want to put them out in CD form, sad for the performer though, they deserved to be paid for their music. Gordon's voice is a little deeper now, but for someone who is 62 (!) he looks and sounds great. He has a lot of energy. However, if you look at album covers from the 1970's and then see him today, it is a little shocking to see him today. He is very thin, but I am sure he is well. Traveling on the road must be tough, trying to eat well and exercise has to be rough on many performers in all types of music and he looks in great shape overall.

He performed two sets, each an hour long. What is good about Lightfoot, is that he talks very little and plays ALOT of music. Some folk singers talk too much, maybe, and try to be stand up comics, but I think Lightfoot is more comfortable playing music while acknowledging the applause with lots of smiles. The first hour was great.

Song list first set included: Sea of Tranquility, All The Lovely Ladies, The House You Live In(1975), Blackberry Wine (out of print album, 1982), Sundown (1974), If you could read my Mind (1970), Carefree Highway (1974), Canadian Railroad Trilogy (a favorite written in 1967 that inspired Canadian Stan Rogers), I'm Not For Sayin'/Ribbon Of Darkness/Did She Mentioned My Name trilogy, and ended the set with Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald, plus others. Gordon did get very serious before the Wreck Of the Edmund Fitzgerald, saying that no bodies of the 29 men were ever found. Gordon like a Jimmy Buffet hasn't had a top 40 hit since 1978 but still plays to sold out audiences while still putting out new music.

Second set: included Don Quixote (1972), Old Dan's Records (out of print album), Beautiful (1972), A Painter Passing Through (1998),Morning Glory (1986), Baby Step Back (1983), 3 new songs: Shell Fish, No Hotel (taken from a burned out Hotel sign in South America) and Night Time. The encore was Early Morning Rain. He performed other songs in the two sets but who could remember them all!

I have come to a conclusion that places like this Theatre, The Barns of Woltrappe, Birchmere in VA and the Rams Head in Annapolis are so much better than the big outdoor arenas. The acoustics so much better in the smaller venues for music.

Half way through the second set, people started calling out for certain song titles and Gordon had a great response. He was following a written set and said "songs are like tires, they must be rotated". Good response, he has has so many songs and no a bad one in the set, even when you get pass the top 40 hits of the 70's. He has so much material.

Anyway, it was a great concert and a wonderful time at the MD Theatre. We hope to go back for other concerts there in the future. Gordon is sold out tommorrow at the Birchmere and he is off to Ontario for a big tour of his home country and then to the west coast this fall. We hope to see him again someday. So much new folk talent is growing today, too bad it doesn't get any airplay, but if it isn't mainsteam it doesn't get played.

Mike

[Janice]

Great review, Mike. Thanks for sharing your night, sounds like it was wonderful!

Janice

[Sheila Ann]

Very good review, Mike. I was at The Maryland Theatre on Saturday, too, and you captured my thoughts about the concert, the theater and Hagerstown exactly. Never having been to that theater, I was concerned about what I'd find. When I walked in I was excited AND intimidated! I've never been that close to the stage for a performance by someone I admire so much. Even row N is up close and personal!! I realized while I sat there that there was no way I'd ever get the nerve to try to go backstage or "out back". Last summer was my first Lightfoot concert and that was at Wolf Trap...nosebleed section armed with binnoculars. For this one he was RIGHT THERE!! Oh, my! He looked a whole lot better this time than he did through binnoculars! Actually...I thought he looked better period.
The only distraction for me was the constant spotlight reflection off of Rich Haynes' guitar. I guess you could say I have the distinction of having been flashed by Rick Haynes
Yes, indeed, it was a great Mother's Day/birthday present!
Sheila-B

[gatturaje]

Sheila,

The bright lights affected my wife's veiw on Gordon, even after being moved from row Q to Row C due to the ticket office great error! She had a hard time seeing him due to the reflection of light off the bass guitar, but still had a great time. It was great watching all of them play, not just Gordon.

The theatre was really wonderful.

Mike, now a register fan.

[Mike M]

Sheila,

The bright lights affected my wife's veiw on Gordon, even after being moved from row Q to Row C due to the ticket office great error! She had a hard time seeing him due to the reflection of light off the bass guitar, but still had a great time. It was great watching all of them play, not just Gordon.

The theatre was really wonderful.

Mike, now a register fan.