Gord seemed to be jovial on this first evening of his 2009 tour and I had the pleasure to witness it. Having been off for four months (as he mentioned several times) should put anyone in a good mood.
Opening the show with an abbreviated
Cotton Jenny, stopping before he got to the 'sickly South'. He drives right onto
Carefree Highway and into the
Sea Of Tranquility where he found
14 Karat Gold. I was
Never Too Close to see. Pausing to say he recently reached the seven-oh and surprised to still be doing what he does. I was thinking it couldn't be too hard, for he's just
A Painter Passing Through but not
In My Fashion.Or, perhaps, the
Minstrel Of The Dawn. He spoke about the last time he was in Austin. The show was threatened by rain as it was an outdoor concert but they were able to finish the show and were left with only wet chairs. Imagine,
Rainy Day People, seeking shelter in the
Shadows listening to
Beautiful music. About that time I noticed
The Watchman's Gone so I tried to take a picture but a
Ribbon Of Darkness blocked my lens. However, I did get a picture of the clock tower at
Sundown. Gord informed us he would be taking a break after the next song for "twenty minutes, sometimes twenty-one if someone needed to comb their hair" drawing laughter from the audience. Then he educated everyone on
The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald.
After the intermission we all sat in a
Triangle in some
Hangdog Hotel Room while Gord and Rick were dealing with a technical difficulty. There was a problem with an amp. Terry took it upon himself to keep us entertained. Nobody seemed to be
Restless by the delay except for
Me & Bobby McGee.
After replacing the amp, Gord had us drifting on
Clouds Of Lonileness. As we were
Waiting For You, we had to
Make Way For The Lady. If only you
Could Read My Mind right about then. The show was winding down for the evening when
Don Quixote arrived and shouted,
Baby Step Back out of the
Early Morning Rain. Later, he sang a
Song for a Winter's Night.
For an encore we enjoyed
Blackberry Wine.
Overall, it was a very entertaining show. Gord seemed in good spirits throughout the evening even with the amp malfunction. He spoke to the audience several times between songs. Talking about capos and why he uses them. His last trip to Austin as mentioned above. Mentioning friends from Texas including Jerry Jeff Walker and that he was wearing Walker's jacket on the cover of Don Quixote. He talked of Kristofferson before playing Me & Bobby McGee and said Kris and Lisa drove up from Malibu to see his show in Stockton. I believe he said it had been 30 years since Kris had been to one of his shows. Adding he and Kris had done a show together in Peoria "a long time ago, long before the white man and long before the wheel" drawing laughter from the audience, again. He thanked Elvis for playing Early Morning Rain and joked about waiting for the Beatles to retire before receiving recognition. Was excited to be doing 15 shows in the next 20 days through 'Tornado Alley' before heading home for a short break. The only disappointment was no meet and greet out at the docks after the show. After much begging, pleading, bribing, manipulating, etc.. I finally acquired Gord's first LP Lighfoot! from a relative and was hoping to have it autographed. After about twenty minutes of talking to a few (10) other fans we were all informed Gord probably would not be stopping outside due to a large crowd backstage and he was getting tired. Understandable. Having a two and a half hour drive to look forward to I didn't care to stay around hoping that wasn't true. I would try again in San Antonio but this job thing seems to be in the way. However, I hear Biloxi has some damn fine weather in May.
Set List
Cotton Jenny
Carefree Highway
Sea Of Tranquility
14 Karat Gold
Never Too Close
A Painter Passing Through
In My Fashion
Minstrel Of The Dawn
Rainy Day People
Shadows
Beautiful
The Watchman's Gone
Ribbon Of Darkness
Sundown
The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald
Intermission
Triangle
Hangdog Hotel Room
Restless
Me & Bobby McGee
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
Song For A Winter's Night
Encore
Blackberry Wine
Austin 03-03-09 Set List
