Asheville

[ellen]

Set list

Cotton Jenny
Carefree Highway
Sea of Tranquility
14 Karat Gold
Never Too Close
In My Fashion
Painter Passing Through
If Children Had Wings
Shadows
Beautiful
The Watchman’s Gone
Ribbon of Darkness
Sundown
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Intermission

Triangle
Hangdog Hotel Room
Restless
Clouds of Loneliness
Waiting for You
Make Way for the Lady
If You Could Read My mind
Don Quixote
Baby Step Back
Early Morning Rain
Blackberry Wine

Encore: Old Dan’s Records

[Dream Street Rose]

Tonight was the second concert of GordQuest 2008. The audience was quiet at first. Then it seemed like Gordon just grabbed them. You could still tell he had a bit of a cold but no one seemed to mind. People sitting around us were talking at intermission about how good he sounded and they were happy to be there. At the end there was a lot of screaming for him to come back. They loved him and let him know it. Rick, Mike, Barry and Terry seemed to be having a good time too. It felt good to be around friends and enjoy having a good time. Time to get some sleep before we take off for Chattanooga.

DSR

[solserenade]

first post, Hi Everyone
.........

Asheville show was wonderful! The "quiet at first" crowd, i interpreted as this isn't very loud, but sounds awesome, so we best be absolutely quiet to hear every nuance ... of which there was many!

for instance, the backup vocals on *i think* - oh can't remember what song -- were sung without any amplification (mics) ... and were audible up front.

they played my fave song - that worked.

Gordon made an absolutely classic wise-crack, or joke, kinda in response to a very loud (uh, a bit out of hand IMO) woman expressing her love for him, etc (3 times) ... just about peed my pants he was so funny!

by the way, he looked *fantastic* - i was in awe, admittedly, being a fan since a little kid (i'm 43 now).

it was beatiful! -- thanks for comin' to 'Carolina !!!

Peace, and Love,
Rob.

[Kathy Number Four]

Welcome to the "Gord Board", Rob and Ellen . Glad you enjoyed the concert (wish I coulda been there ). Rob, be sure to go to the thread "You Were There (Lightfoot '08)" to be added to the list of attendees that "RM" is so kindly keeping track of for us.

[Jesse Joe]

Welcome to the "Gord Board" from me as well Rob and Ellen. Really happy for you, hope you will share more of your Lightfoot stories with the rest of us Lightheads.

[charlene]

Welcome to CORFID ! It sounds like a very special night for you despite the 'out of hand' interruptions!
Glad to hear Gords looking good too!
Coulda been SUNDOWN that the background vocals were heard..??

[charlene]

from a blog: http://timpeck.blogspot.com/2008/02/...lightfoot.html
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Gordon Lightfoot

Folk music legend Gordon Lightfoot performed at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in Asheville tonight. His first ever performance here. I don’t want to say that the audience skewed a little older, but three people died before the intermission.

Seriously, it was a fine concert — really fine. More of a tribute to a long and great career. Lightfoot was all about bidness. Very little on stage banter. He came on stage and started the first set before the applause died down. This continued, workmanlike, for each song on through to the encore. He did, at one point, share some old stories and one bad joke. His old bandmates were there: Terry Clements and Rick Haynes. The song selection was wide-ranging, but he seemed to favor his middle period, and "Shadows" in particular.

As was to be expected, the arrangements were spare, gentle, and masterfully punctuated. Lightfoot, gaunt and approaching seventy, sang quietly and sometimes strained for his old register. All in all, I was proud to be in his presence and say: “Farewell old friend, good friend.” I have always considered Lightfoot to be the Walt Whitman of folk music.

[Rainbow Trout]

Podunklander wanted me to let everyone know she made it to Chattanooga for tonights show. I think she had some bad weather to go through and I'm really glad she is there safe. I am heading that way about 1:00, so hopefully no bad weather, even tho we had snow this morning. We'll report on the show when we return.

[Auburn Annie]

"the Walt Whitman of folk music" - I like that.

[Jesse Joe]

Sounds pretty good to me as well Annie. Thanks Char for the post.

[gene]

I've been tied up on work-related stuff since the concert, but I did want to offer a few final observations:

-- The auditorium is said to hold around 2,400 seats. They weren't all filled, but it wasn't that far from being a sellout, either.

-- You knew right away that you were in the company of a room-full of Lightfoot aficionados. During the songs (with the exception of a couple of brief clap-alongs), there was rapt attention and respectful silence, followed by thunderous applause. My wife and I had attended four Lightfoot concerts prior to this one, starting in 1974, and we couldn't recall another with this level of enthusiasm and artist / audience connection. He was as into it as we were.

-- His voice is different now, but his command of that voice is undiminished, absolute, and masterful.

-- As someone observed, the audience "skewed a little older," but we were a bit surprised at the representation of younger folks who attended. As a rough guesstimate, perhaps 20% or so of those around us might have been under 40.

-- A special moment occurred when he noted the presence in the audience of John Stockfish, who had played bass on his earlier albums. "A great bass player!" observed Lightfoot in his warm words of welcome.

He had never played Asheville before, but the area turned out to be a heckuva venue for him. Here's hoping he comes our way again soon.

Gene

[RM]

Nice reviews...thanks.