Sault Ste.Marie review

[charlene]

http://www.sootoday.com/content/news/full_story.asp?StoryNumber=38866

By Donna Hopper
SooToday.com
Sunday, April 19, 2009

Last night's Gordon lightfoot concert at the Essar Centre, attended by 2,800 somewhat older and somewhat greyer Saultites, was bit low-key compared to most hosted at the arena.

But that doesn't mean it was any less captivating.

At 70 years old, Lightfoot sauntered through two 50-minute sets, received two standing ovations, and made plenty of jokes at the expense of his ex-wives.

Afterward at a meet-and-greet, during which about 30 lucky concert-goers got to hobnob with the man Bob Dylan proclaimed as one of his favourite songwriters and Robbie Robertson dubbed a national treasure, hands were shaken, autographs were signed and the joking continued.

Full coverage of Gordon Lightfoot's Sault Ste. Marie show, including a photo gallery, will be posted on SooToday.com on Sunday afternoon.

[charlene]

http://www.saultstar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1530619

Canadian folk musician Gordon Lightfoot played to a crowd of 2,800 at the Essar Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., on Saturday.

Rachele Labrecque - Sault Star

Lightfoot's Carefree Highway stops in Sault
Canadian icon plays Essar Centre
An animated Gordon Lightfoot performed more than two dozen songs from his 40-plus year career at Essar Centre Saturday.

He reached back to his very first album, 1965's Lightfoot, for Ribbon of Darkness and played a handful of tracks from two discs from the 1990s (Restless and Waiting for You from 1993's Restless and the title track from 1998's A Painter Passing Through).

The Orillia native didn't include any material from his most recent effort, 2004's Harmony.

Lightfoot cracked jokes, made several references to his two failed marriages, telling the audience of about 3,000 his first wife, Brita, "was the best one of the whole lot."

Lightfoot's setlist

Cotton Jenny

Carefree Highway

Sea of Tranquility

Never Too Close

In My Fashion

A Painter Passing Through

Rainy Day People

Shadows

Beautiful

Watchman's Gone

Ribbon of Darkness

Sundown

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

-Intermission-

Triangle

Hangdog Hotel Room

Restless

Minstrel of the Dawn

Waiting for You

If Children Had Wings

Don Quixote

Baby Step Back

Canadian Railroad Trilogy

-Encore-

Song for a Winter's Night

Old Dan's Records

[patybear]

Nice photos! Thanks for the post,Charlene.
patybear

[charlene]

http://www.sootoday.com/content/news/full_story.asp?StoryNumber=38872
By Donna Hopper
SooToday.com
Sunday, April 19, 2009

In a recent interview with MTV's Bill Flanagan, Bob Dylan was asked to name his favourite songwriters.

In addition to Jimmy Buffet, John Prine, Warren Zevon and Randy Newman, Dylan also included Gordon Lightfoot.

When asked what his favourite Lightfoot songs were, Dylan responded with: "Shadows, Sundown, If You Could Read My Mind. I can't think of any I don't like."

The Canadian folk icon performed for 2,800 Sault Ste. Marie fans last night at the Essar Centre.

Despite his 70-year-old frail stature and paper-thin voice, Lightfoot commanded the stage and seemed larger than life.

"I'm grateful that I'm still able to do what I'm doing," he told the audience into his second set.

An understandable statement, considering that Lightfoot suffered serious health issues in 2002, including surviving a six-week coma, multiple surgeries and a tracheotomy.

Divided into two sets, Lighfoot's performance featured a jukebox-like string of hits in the first, and a casual, more spontaneous feeling set of more obscure selections in the second.

Rather than an arena show, Lightfoot somehow made the performance feel like a cozy house concert with friends and fine wine.

Although his voice is now a mere fraction of what it was 20 years ago, almost a whisper at times, he fought hard to deliver a strong performance during Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and succeeded.

He was rewarded for his efforts with a standing ovation.

The night's set list also included Carefree Highway, In My Fashion, Rainy Day People, Ribbon of Darkness, Minstrel of the Dawn, Don Quixote and Baby Step Back.

Following the show, Lightfoot met with fans who recounted stories of previous meetings, the first time they heard their favourite Lightfoot song, and the significance of his contribution to the world of music.

He joked and laughed and offered himself freely for photographs and signatures, all the while lamenting about the cat he couldn't wait to get home to see.

His cat's name is Jomo.

That would be the opposite of Mojo.

SooToday.com finds that really funny for some reason.

[charlene]

Sault Pictures by Donna Hopper