Portsmouth VA show

[New 12 String Mike]

I posted this in DSR's Virginia thread, but thought I'd make a new thread too.

It was a good show, but it was hot. Crowd was a little rowdy for a Gord show. He started one song over because of the shouting. Tuning on his D-18 went off several times. He had to stop and retune for the opening chord on "Restless." My wife and I had a few talkers in the row behind us which was annoying.

Met a couple of guys next to me that used to gig together as an acoustic group and really knew his stuff. We had a nice chat during the break about guitars and Gord's songs. I invited them here, hope they show up.

Last night was the first time I've seen Terry singing a little harmony bit for a show. I knew he did it, but first time I've noticed it.

He did Fitz with the new line. I was hoping for CRT, since I wanted to check his 12-string strumming for the slow part.

One funny bit, his right sleeve caught something sticky and, with the heat and humidity, was sticking to his guitars. A couple of times the sleeve pulled at a point that it caught his arm enough to notice on both the 6 and 12. He finally said something to the guys about putting jelly on his guitars.

Sorry I didn't record a set list.

First time I've been able to see him in back to back years.

Had a good time.

[stargazer]

I too attended the Portsmouth show. Here's the set list followed by some comments:

Triangle
Cotton Jenney
14Ct Gold
Never Too Close
In My Fashion
Painter Passing Through
Spanish Moss
Shadows
Beautiful
Carefree Highway
Hangdog Hotel Room
Ribbon of Darkness
Sundown
Watchman's Gone
Alberta Bound
BREAK
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Ring Neck Loon
Let It Ride
If Children Had Wings
If You Could Read My Mind
Restless
Baby Step Back
Early Morning Rain
Song For a Winter's Night
ENCORE: Blackberry Wine

Rick came out wearing a pair of stylish 'shades' even though the sun was low behind the pavilion - does he moonlight as a jazz basist? The shades came off after a few numbers. As usual Gord's voice was weakest on the first few songs and improved as the night wore on. Gord seemed tired from the tour (this was stop #13 out of 14) the weather was very hot and humid. This climate was, I'm sure, responsible for Gord having to re-tune his guitars on stage sevral times during the concert - something I've seldon seen him do and certainly not as many times as he did last night. He also commented that the sleeve of his red velvet jacket (worn during the first set) was sticking to his guitar body. He looked at Mike and joked that somone in the band had put something sticky, maybe jam, on his guitar. The house was not sold out but the crowd was one of the most enthusiastic ones I've seen at a Lightfoot concert in a long while. There were several standing ovations throughout the concert and many shout-outs/catcalls from the audience. Gord and the band seemed to appreciate the audience response and gave it their all. One fan that Gord recogized in the audience was Doreen (I hope I've spelled your name right) flew in from California and proudly displayed her autographed and illustrated Lightfoot tribute jacket. We had great seats in the center of row G of the orchestra [Thanks Valerie for the advance sale tip off!] They were great except for the yahoo behind us who kept talking too loudly during the concert. The house sound mix was pretty good, except Barry's drums somewhat overpowered the other instruments at times. And, as usual, Terry's guitar was softer than I personally like [This is the usual case and I've resigned myselt to it]. This issue became a problem only during Baby Step Back when Terry's solos were unusually muted for some reason. Gord talked a fair bit between songs. He told the story about Elvis 'leaving the building' in Buffalo before he could get to meet him. He also said that he really liked Elvis's version of Early Morning Rain. He also said the Bruce Springstein and his great talent of varied song tempos inspired Ring Neck Loon. He mentioned that He'd written If Children Had Wings while his wife and kids were away in Europe. I also noticed Rick singing harmony during some songs.

All in all a great concert. I hope he's rested by tonight's gig at Wolf Trap which will doubtlessly be another hot/humid one. Gord and the band deserve a cool rest after this segment of the tour.

[Wes Steele]

Thank you for the report of the concert...

I like the setlist...but I love the report of the comments that Gord makes.

Good Job Everybody....