Kamloops review

[charlene]

http://www.bclocalnews.com/entertainment/134403428.html
Lightfoot is a lyrical Lazarus

Seventy-three-year-old Gordon Lightfoot​ made first-ever appearance in Kamloops on Tuesday, Nov. 22, playing to a small but fiercely devoted audience of about 1,500 at Interior Savings Centre. 
DALE BASS PHOTO/KT
By Christopher Foulds - Kamloops This Week
Published: November 23, 2011 9:00 AM
Updated: November 23, 2011 9:46 AM

Yes, Gordon Lightfoot could have sauntered onto the stage at Interior Savings Centre on Tuesday night (Nov. 22), told a funny tale and lip-synched to his legendary hits by miming his strong, spectacular voice of 30 years ago.

He didn’t.

That kind of singing scam is best left to the Ashley Simpsons, Britney Spears​ and Madonnas of entertainment, acts whose lyrics and careers are compelling Archie comics next to Lightfoot’s Tolstoy tenure.

The icon turned 73 on Nov. 17 and, during Tuesday night’s concert at ISC before a disappointingly small crowd, his voice often sounded every bit as old as the mouth through which landmark songs were sung.

However, that’s exactly as it should be.

Lightfoot has lived a tough, tough life for more than seven decades and vocal-chord strain on hits like Rainy Day People and Sundown only added to the raw reality of finally seeing Canada’s greatest songwriter of all time performing in Kamloops.

Remember, Lightfoot is the lyrical Lazarus of Canadiana, coming back from the dead in February 2010 to tour again (or so the major media told us as they jumped on a hoax Twitter post lamenting the great man’s demise).

He was hit with an abdominal aneurysm in 2001 and lapsed into a six-week coma. He suffered a stoke onstage in 2006 was performing again in nine days.

Heck, hearing Lightfoot rasp his way through Summer Side of Life while confined to an iron lung and being read last rites would be eminently preferable to being subjected to the inanity of LMFAO, Radiohead, Kanye West​ and the rest of what passes for music these days.

Lightfoot and his oh-so-tight band — Carter Lancaster on lead guitar (replacing longtime Lightfoot mate Terry Clements, who died in February), Mike Heffernan on keyboards, Barry Keane on drums and Rick Haynes on bass — led an adoring crowd through the Lightfoot years.

From Carefree Highway to Let it Ride to Early Morning Rain to Baby Step Back — Lightfoot may not have been as strong in his delivery, but the Kamloops crowd was mesmerized for the entire 90-minute show.

Following a 20-minute intermission, Lightfoot hit his stride, his voice seeming to take command as he opened the second half with The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald (sung 12 days after the 36th anniversary of the sinking of the now-famous Great Lakes freighter, with Lightfoot reminded the crowd the song is “a true story from start to finish.”)

His voice continued to build through Clouds of Loneliness (a heart-shattering song Lightfoot noted was written for his “second ex-old lady”) and If You Could Read My Mind.

It was Lightfoot’s first performance in Kamloops, though he twice reminded the audience he had been in the Tournament Capital once before — when he spent about 30 minutes at the airport en route to one of four Stein Valley Festival benefit concerts in the early 1990s.

And, twice Lightfoot thanked the audience for “coming out on a Tuesday night.”

“Thanks for coming!” one fan volleyed back, to which Lightfoot smiled, bowed his head in his inimitable humble way and sang another timeless song that can only make you smile and sigh.

ENCORE — Bill Jaswal of Jelly Events and Promotions brought Lightfoot to town and, judging by the crowd, it might have been a tough night for the promoter.

The floor was full, but not very many of the bleacher seats in the half-bowl setup were occupied.

But, that’s all the more credit to Jaswal.

Booking Lightfoot transcends marketing and profit. Booking Lightfoot is important as he is, essentially, history on tour.

As with small but devoted crowds showing up at ISC for fellow legends George Jones and Randy Travis​ in past concerts, such bookings add to the foundation of seminal concerts in Kamloops.

Here’s hoping these momentous acts keep coming through the Thompson Valley.

[charlene]

http://www.kamloopsnews.ca/article/20111123/KAMLOOPS0101/111129909/-1/kamloops01/low-turnout-but-they-loved-lightfoot

November 23, 2011

By Mike Youds
Daily News Staff Reporter

With a page or two of the great Canadian songbook to call his own, Gordon Lightfoot gave his first performance ever in Kamloops Tuesday night, one more stop in a career spanning a half-century.

Lightfoot, who just celebrated his 73rd birthday, cut a lean figure fronting for his four-piece band, but ably showed why he is revered as one of the country's greatest songwriters.

"This is the first time we ever played in Kamloops," he said, recalling a visit in the '80s en route to the Stein River Festival near Lytton. "It was about a half-hour 20 years ago."

Riveted at centre stage, the singer and guitarist opened with a series of lesser known songs — Sweet Guinevere, The Watchman's Gone and 14 Karat Gold among them.

Not surprisingly, his pipes — once the gentle tenor with the golden timbre — don't bear the resonance and range they once did. At times his voice seemed strained, though it was Lightfoot through and through on ballads such as The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, If You Could Read My Mind, Beautiful, Early Mornin' Rain and Song for A Winter's Night.

A mostly middle-age-and-up crowd of about 750 fans warmed to the old favourites, songs that helped to define the Canadian cultural landscape of the '60s and '70s when Lightfoot was in his zenith as a songwriter. He gave up songwriting after his last album, 2005's Harmony, and now concentrates solely on performing, which he still loves.

The band and the audience might have been better served in a smaller, soft-seat house such as Sagebrush Theatre. Lightfoot has always had a romantic style to his music, an intimacy that tends to get swallowed up by all arena concrete.

After Winter's Night — a soulful tearjerker Lightfoot wrote in mid-July in Cleveland of all places — the band came back for an upbeat encore of Blackberry Wine.

It was a heatwarming evening of memories wrapped in sweet ballads and melody, that felt a lot like a meeting of old friends.

(The Armchair Mayor was at the concert. Read Mel Rothenburger's take on the event.)

[charlene]

http://armchairmayor.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/only-one-small-disappointment-in-gordon-lightfoot-concert/

Only one small disappointment in Gordon Lightfoot concert
In Arts & Entertainment on November 23, 2011 at 10:35 am

“Ribbon of Darkness,” Syd said last night as we listened to Gordon Lightfoot in the Interior Savings Centre. “He’s gotta do Ribbon of Darkness.”

Sure enough, after opening with a few of his lesser-known songs, he turned to what he called his “more familiar” material, including Ribbon of Darkness.

“Early Mornin’ Rain,” said Syd. “He’s gotta do Early Mornin’ Rain.” After sitting on edge for awhile longer, there it was, Early Mornin’ Rain.


Gordon Lightfood at Interior Savings Centre. (Daily News photo)

“If You Could Read My Mind,” Syd said. “He’s gotta do If You Could Read My Mind.”

“No,” I said. “Edmund Fitzgerald. He’s gotta do Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

I’d come prepared to be disappointed. At 73, how good could Gordon Lightfoot be? He’ll probably have some second-rate band open for him, then come on stage and massacre his oldies with an attempt at re-inventing them, I thought. But no, it was all Lightfoot, vintage Lightfoot.

I bought my first Gordon Lightfoot LP when I was 18. I remember that day, I remember the store, I remember the thrill of putting it on my old record player. I still have it. Little did I know Syd had fallen in love with Gordon Lightfoot when she was barely out of Kindergarten. After 28 years of marriage, we’re still finding things we have in common.

His distinctive, reedy voice isn’t as strong as it used to be, but it didn’t matter. It was like family coming back together after being apart for many years, the crowd quickly warming to this man who has made such a mark on Canadian music.

I almost missed Edmund Fitzgerald. He opened the second set with it while I was visiting the men’s room. The audience thought they’d died and gone to heaven, borne on the wings of the greatest balladeer in our country’s history. And his voice, rather than weakening, grew stronger in the second half, bolstered, perhaps, by Lightfoot’s increasing sense of comfort with an appreciative house.

“Railroad Trilogy,” said Syd. “He’s gotta do Canadian Railroad Trilogy.”

“Encore,” I said. “He’s saving it for the encore. Big finish.”

Of course he would do Railroad Trilogy for his encore. Money in the bank. A given.

Two hours after he’d started, the concert was over, too soon, and Lightfoot and his four-piece band left the stage. The audience stood, the applause and cheering reached its crescendo, and Lightfoot and his band came back. Now, time for Railroad Trilogy.

“This one is a toe tapper,” he said. “We’re gonna tap our way outta here.”

Toe tapper? Railroad Trilogy is many things, but it’s not a toe tapper.

No, it was Blackberry Wine, a toe tapper for sure, but not Canadian Railroad Trilogy. He finished up and walked off the stage again. The crowd cheered. Now, for the big finale, the return to stage for Railroad Trilogy.

Nothing. The crowd got up and started to file out. Syd and I stared at each other.

“Impossible,” she said.

“It can’t be,” I said. “How could he not finish with Railroad Trilogy?”

After all hope had fled, we, too, dejectedly left the building. It was the single disappointment in an otherwise lovely evening. That, and the fact there was no kiosk flogging CDs. Syd really wanted that CD.

Listening to Syd singing Railroad Trilogy on the way home, complete with her own rendition of the instrumentals, wasn’t the same. Better than nothing, mind you, but what we’d yearned for, expected, were sure of, was Gordon Lightfoot performing the greatest Canadian ballad of all time.

Despite that, everyone who was there is thankful for his first-ever Kamloops concert. In the shower this morning, I found myself belting out Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.