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Concert review: Gordon Lightfoot
Above Under picture): If he could read your mind he'd have to translate what he read, eh?
I grew up in a tiny town in western New York state, on the southwest corner of Lake Ontario. Canada was part of our culture. When the weather was clear, we could look across the lake and see the Toronto skyline. When we turned our TV to the Canadian channels, we'd see their favorite sports: hockey (twice a week!) and curling (if you bothered to search for it).
When we turned on their radio, we'd hear their singer/songwriters, guys like Ian Tyson and Gordon Lightfoot. Neither wast Bob Dylan, John Prine or even James Taylor. But they were as satisfying as, say, Seals & Crofts or other lightweight folkies on American radio in the early '70s.
Thursday night, Lightfoot performed at the Uptown Theater, and he drew a big crowd. I'm guessing that a small percentage of the 1,200 or so people who paid as much as $75 for a ticket are real familiar with the history of Canada's sports, entertainment and pop culture (does "Tiny Talent Time" ring a bell?). Nonetheless, most of them seemed real familiar with Lightfoot's music, even his more obscure songs. (Does "Make Way for the Lady" ring a bell?)
Lightfoot (his real surname) is most famous for songs like "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," a folk narrative about the sinking of a steam ship, and "Carefree Highway," about the sinking of a soft heart. He performed both of those Thursday night and gave each his all, which is saying something.
Five years ago, Lightfoot suffered an abdominal attack that pitched him into a coma and nearly killed him. Physically, he looks thin and a bit frail. Vocally, he sounds like he hasn't completely emerged from his medical trauma. Several times the music from his mellow four-piece band nearly eclipsed his faltering voice.
But when the mix was good and his voice was primed and in key, he sounded like the guy in his later 30s who poured through radio 35 years ago, singing standards like "Rainy Day People" and "If You Could Read My Mind."
He started his show at 7:30 p.m. sharp. Halfway through, as promised, he took a 20-minute "break." By the time he finished (slightly after 9:30 p.m.) he'd played all his better songs, and his faithful seemed as ready to call it a night as he was.
If your keeping score, this show felt more like a mid-season curling match than a playoff hockey game: no contact, few surprises but several moments of low-grade satisfaction.
| Timothy Finn, The Star
Partial setlist: Cotton Jenny, Carefree Highway, 14-Karat Gold, Never Too Close, In My Fashion, A Painter Passing Through, Rainy Day People, Shadows, Beautiful, The Watchman, Sundown, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, Make Way for the Lady, If You Could Read My Mind, Don Quixote, Baby Step Back, Early Morning Rain, Blackberry Wine.
Posted at 02:13 AM | Permalink
