http://www.torontosun.com/2015/05/31...at-casino-rama
REVIEW
Lighthearted Gordon Lightfoot delights at Casino Rama 2
BY JANE STEVENSON, POSTMEDIA NETWORK
FIRST POSTED: SUNDAY, MAY 31, 2015 10:03 AM EDT | UPDATED: SUNDAY, MAY 31, 2015 10:11 AM EDT RAMA -
Singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot got a hometown welcome on Saturday night at Casino Rama given he was born just down the road in Orillia.
“Welcome home, Gordon!” said a male audience member just three songs into Lightfoot’s 90-minute set, which opened with Sweet Guinevere and ended with the encore tune Cold On the Shoulder.
“Thank you - very nice to be back home again,” said Lightfoot, dressed in his trademark blue velvet jacket, white dress shirt and black slacks. “It’s always the occasion to come back.”
Then the legendary folk artist briefly (and badly) tried his hand at comedy: “What did the three-headed English monster say? (in a British accent) Allo, Allo, Allo.”
Thankfully for us, Lightfoot kept his day job, so to speak, singing and playing a variety of acoustic guitars, and even dedicated a song, Home From the Forest, to fellow musician Ronnie Hawkins, who was in the crowd.
“Are you out there Ronnie? We’re doing your tune right now - in your honour, Ronnie Hawkins!”
The 76-year-old Lightfoot, who played his usual four-night residency at Massey Hall last November, returned to his hometown area backed by his trusty yet restrained four-piece band - bassist Rick Haynes, keyboardist Michael Heffernan, drummer-percussionist Barry Keane and lead guitarist Carter Lancaster.
“We just flew in here from Reading, Pennsylvania, this afternoon,” said Lightfoot. “We’ve really been doing some hard travelling here. It’s kind of fun.”
Hits like Rainy Day People, Beautiful, Carefree Highway, Sundown, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, If You Could Read My Mind, Baby Step Back and Early Morning Rain got the biggest audience response but Did She Mention my Name and Ribbon of Darkness did produce actual clapalongs from the rowdy crowd.
Lightfoot also touched upon his near-death experience when he suffered an abdominal aortic aneurysm.
“I wrote a little tune about Orillia,” he said of the song, Couchiching.
“The first time I was (going to) sing it was at the Orillia Opera House, and the next day I was in the hospital, that was back in 2002.”
Thirteen years later, Lightfoot is still at it and even if he’s a paler, thinner version of his former physical self, with a more clipped and weaker vocal delivery, it’s still great to have him around given his songs are gold.
SET LIST:
Sweet Guinevere
The Watchman’s Gone
Waiting for You
Now and Then
14 Karat Gold
Minstrel of the Dawn
Drifters
Rainy Day People
Home From the Forest
Let it Ride
Beautiful
Couchiching
Carefree Highway
Did She Mention my Name
Ribbon of Darkness
Sundown
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
I’d Rather Press On
A Painter Passing Through
If You Could You Read My Mind
Restless
Baby Step Back
Early Morning Rain
ENCORE:
Cold On the Shoulder
CASINO RAMA-ORILLIA-May 30-2015
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