http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/art...282058111.html
It was class time Saturday night at the MTS Centre, and one of Canada's great oral historians was leading the session.
Once again, Gordon Lightfoot sang The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the hit that has kept the memory of the Nov. 10, 1975, maritime disaster, and the 29 lives that were lost, alive.
CONCERT REVIEW Gordon Lightfoot Saturday, Nov. 8The MTS CentreAttendance: 4,500Four stars out of five
The SS Edmund Fitzgerald would have been a long-forgotten maritime disaster if it hadn't been for Lightfoot's song. Instead, it's become a bit of Canadian history we don't have to learn in social studies class.
In the waning days of 2014, the song is also keeping Lightfoot's legacy alive, as he finished up a tour of western Canada Saturday before 4,500 folkies at Winnipeg's hockey arena, which was converted into a nifty concert hall for the evening.
The 75-year-old folk legend -- he turns 76 on Nov. 17 -- was once declared deceased on the Internet in 2010. He's lived through a series of health scares during the 21st century, and he was inhaling Otrivin periodically during Saturday's concert.
He joked about the news story, which will be his right for the rest of his career. He paraphrased Mark Twain, saying "I'm Gordon Lightfoot, and reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."
Later on, he poked fun at crack smokers in Big Smoke and provided some insight into his songwriting and guitar-playing.
He had plenty of energy and excellent guitar-picking skills Saturday to give the Edmund Fitzgerald another proper musical memorial. He also performed several of his massive hits that are almost a soundtrack of the 1960s and '70s folk-music revival.
Lightfoot even dusted off some rarely performed deep cuts, such as The Pony Man and Much to My Surprise, which must have been a treat for his most ardent of fans.
Lightfoot wore a plush red velvet jacket for his opening set, which included note-perfect renditions of Rainy Day People, Shadows, Sundown and, of course, Carefree Highway, which rose to No. 1 on the charts at a time when a No. 1 hit was worth a whole lot more than an audio trifle streamed for micro-dollars.
A four-piece band backed up the legend, and lead guitarist Carter Lancaster provided the solos that made Carefree Highway, and Edmund Fitzgerald, which was played after an intermission, so memorable.
The concert even included a costume change -- take that, Cher -- as Lightfoot returned to the stage for a second set in a blue velvet jacket as plush as the red one.
The show was more than two hours long, including an intermission, and appeared to take a toll on Lightfoot. A couple of times during the final set he bent over, seemingly mustering up the energy to continue. Or perhaps it was to muster up the will to play a song like the Canadian Railroad Trilogy, which he wrote way back in 1967, the year the Toronto Maple Leafs last won the Stanley Cup, one more time.
alan.small@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @AlanDSmall
WINNIPEG,Manitoba-Nov.8-2014
