Hartford article-Torrington concert and setlist

[charlene]

http://www.courant.com/entertainment...,1238117.story

Gordon Lightfoot is a different singer now than he was in younger days, his once-rich baritone whittled away at age 72 by time and health problems. His show Monday night at the Warner Theatre in Torrington t was nonetheless a fine accounting of the Canadian troubadour's sonic pleasantries in a laid-back environment.

Lightfoot's four piece band brought a light touch to its accompaniments in the opener "Did She Mention My Name?" Lightfoot's acoustic guitar served the mellow "Carefree Highway," while his recently added lead guitarist Carter Lancaster trimmed its edges with mild electric gilding.

Lightfoot's voice is these days thin and reedy, making for delicate handling of most every lyric in his arsenal of romantically rendered folk. His voice was frail he picked his way across "A Painter Passing Through," but the effect was complementary to the lyric. He pushed as firmly as he could at the lines of "Let it Ride," marking it with precise phrasing where he no longer had available his long-ago deep well of natural sonic appeal.

In a set dominated by relaxed meanders, the percolating country of "Ribbon of Darkness" was sprightly by comparison. Old favorites like "Sundown," reminded how much rich vocal shaping has left Lightfoot's toolkit. On some songs, that tonal shift merely made the moment different than the past, but in the roomy "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," his limits diminished the song's broadest dramatic strokes.

Lightfoot's compositions remain enticing, frequently vivid bits of storytelling, sketched with understated elegance in the likes of "Sweet Guinevere." His range served measured material well, including a placid surveying of the sparse "Restless." He nestled into the jazzy flutter of "Make Way for the Lady," and coolly navigated the simple "Fine as Fine can Be."

The 100-minute show sported many songs more than 40 years old, among them the 1970's "If You Could Read my Mind," built around a matter-of-fact plaintive quality that remains Lightfoot's strength. The pulsating "Baby Step Back" was as close as the show ever got to a high gear, content to stick to deliberate material such as 1967's "Canadian Railroad Trilogy," which closed the set with a pleasant piece of restraint. An encore of "Blackberry Wine" forged another springy trip, one with which Lightfoot kept pace by launching a raspy exhale at its buoyant backdrop.

Gordon Lightfoot's Monday set list:
"Did she Mention my Name?"
"Carefree Highway,"
"Sea of Tranquility,"
"14 Karat Gold,"
"Never too Close,
" A Painter Passing Through,"
"Let it Ride,"
"Rainy day People,"
"Shadows,"
"Beautiful,"
"The Watchman's Gone,"
"Ribbon of Darkness,"
"Sundown,"
"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,"
"Sweet Guinevere,"
"Cotton Jenny,"
"Restless,"
"Home From the Forest,"
"Waiting for You,"
"Make way for the Lady,"
"Fine as Fine can Be,"
"If you Could Read my Mind,"
"Don Quixote,"
"Baby Step Back,"
"Canadian Railroad Trilogy,"
(Encore) "Blackberry Wine."

[BILLW]

Thanks Char! He just keeps on truckin'!

Bill

[Jenney]

Well that saved me the trouble of writing up the setlist! I have to say, not only is the Warner a beautiful restored theater, it has the most comfortable chairs in any theater I've ever been to. The sound was just exquisite during this show, a real treat from where I was sitting. I brought a friend with me who had never been before, so it was nice to hear him so loud and clear. I didn't even get that first set weakness we've all mentioned/noticed.
Just a few add ons, Carter did a great solo in Never Too Close, and his solo in Sundown just keeps getting better and better.
Right after Gord did Sundown, he had to blow his nose, which must have been worse than usual, as he went through his tissue, Rick handed him a tissue, then Carter got up and handed him a small towel. Gord turns around and says "I got snot on my jacket....wardrobe, oh wardrobe...." Interestingly enough (at least to us), my friend does wardrobe and costuming for theater and films, and does a lot of work with the theater we were in. She starts to get up, saying "I"m coming!". Cracked us up. Gord was wearing the red coat at the time, so I was hopeful that maybe it was ruined.....it was fine though....
He made a few comments like before Waiting for You, about his second ex old lady, I was 50, she was 30, I was in heaven!! :ater he made a comment that after touring, one goes home to face the real music.
Someone in the audience yelled out asking how old his guitar was, and he replied it was from the 50's.

Tonight is my last night of my mini vacation, and I'm here in Portland Maine. One of my favorite cities. Can't imagine any shenanagins here, but who knows!?

[loveabiggibson]

Hilarious. Good one, Carter!

[redhead]

Gord turns around and says "I got snot on my jacket...Gord was wearing the red coat at the time, so I was hopeful that maybe it was ruined...

Oh, Jenney...from your mouth to God's ears!!! lol

[brink-]

"Gord was wearing the red coat at the time, so I was hopeful that maybe it was ruined.....it was fine though...."

It is why we love you!!

[jj]

"I got snot on my jacket.."

he could probably work that lyric into a song...perhaps a sequel to the stubbed my toe or polka dot underwear ones

JR, we're gonna miss your observations and how they're delivered

Enjoy

[JohninCt.]

I think the Hartford article was right on about his voice. I seen him a couple years back at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, and his voice was stronger and smoother then. I thought he might have had a slight cold, or the amount of shows he was doing in the past week had his power down a bit. It was a Monday night show and as a mood show it was kind of slowly driven as most Mondays seem to be. Leslie was the road manager again. At the bar in the lobby, they had some posters and they had Gordons picture on them, and then some advertisements for drinks such as "Early Morning Rain" Jaguar Vodka & Seirra Mist, and "Sundown" Tequila Sunrise, and then the rest of the content on the posters were ads for Bud Light. I was able to get a 8x10 size, and thought it would be unusal item to have Gordon autograph. I had Rick sign it. While talking to a couple people, we mentioned how we thought it was something Gordon might not like. While waiting for Gordon to sign it, Leslie saw it. He asked to see it, I handed it to him and I explained where it came from and what it was. He called over the manager of the theater and they had a few minute conversation about no one asking permission to use his photo on this kind of advertising, she assured him that it was only for the lobby and wasn't going any further than that. So it was resolved, but he did mention that she should always get an artists permission first, which I thought was the correct thing to do. Anyway, Leslie gave it back to me and Gordon did sign it for me, but I don't think he really looked at it. Nice night, being that I met Jenny again and got to talk with Rick for awhile, and it was kind of nice to be there with those people that paid $400 for 2 tickets to Public TV, to get to meet Gordon after the show. I liked that there were about 10 of them, showing a good interest in Gordon. They were chaperoned by some lady who told them to hand her their camera and she would take the picture with Gordon for them. When they were done, I asked her to take a picture of me with Gordon, and she said "you aren't with my group, so no I won't" . I said to Gordon "imagine that, how am I supposed to get a picture taken", and Leslie was standing nearby and he seen it all a and said " I'll do it for you". I sure thank him for that, and he was very gracious in the process.
About Carters guitar playing, it is a bit lower in volume level overall than Terrys was, and though he uses a Gretch Tennessean for the electric parts, what I notice is that he has less bite or edge, and I think he could correct it with some gain in his treble controls.
One other thing, have you ever really listened to Rick on the bass? He is Mister Precise, I have never heard him out of time, or out of tune, or miss a note in all these years.
All in all it was a good show for me, but I can remember that all of them are, just that this one had a couple twists to it..