I recently noticed the following (rather ominous) post at the newsgroup: "...Saratoga that fateful night, and indeed it was after Shadows that he [Lightfoot] couldn't go any further..." Does anyone know what happened at the "Saratoga" concert, why he "couldn't go any further"? Thanks.

I recently noticed the following (rather ominous) post at the newsgroup: "...Saratoga that fateful night, and indeed it was after Shadows that he [Lightfoot] couldn't go any further..." Does anyone know what happened at the "Saratoga" concert, why he "couldn't go any further"? Thanks.

I know that a few of the fans at this site attended the Saratoga concert. I did not, so my knowlege of it is second-hand.

According to my understanding (please correct me someone if I'm wrong), Saratoga in the early 80's (1983? 1984?) was the concert where Gord hit rock-bottom with his drinking. He was visibly drunk and unable to complete the concert, performing just a few songs.





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"And the laughter came too easy for life to pass me by."

I know that a few of the fans at this site attended the Saratoga concert. I did not, so my knowlege of it is second-hand.

According to my understanding (please correct me someone if I'm wrong), Saratoga in the early 80's (1983? 1984?) was the concert where Gord hit rock-bottom with his drinking. He was visibly drunk and unable to complete the concert, performing just a few songs.





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"And the laughter came too easy for life to pass me by."

by late 1982, Gordon was completely sober, so it must've been late '81, early '82.

p.s. re: sober since '82: & he has remained so ever since!

There was a concert at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga, NY on August 18, 1981 (it's listed on http://www.lightfoot.ca/). It sounds about right time-wise. A friend told me about it. I don't recall if he was at the concert, or had heard about it so I'm not sure if this is first, second or what hand info. It seems people were shouting from the audience requesting songs. Gord got mad, made some not-too-polite comment to them through the mic and walked off the stage. I'm glad he came back up after that. Not all artists care enough about making music to face the music.

I remember a concert in Salt Lake City sometime in the early eightys when Gordon fell off the stage into the crowd cause he was so drunk.
Also remember the Don Kershner show he was on, he had a bottle of Jack Daniels sitting on his stool he was chugging from.

I'm remembering back to a show in Denver in 1994 (I think). Gord talked about how he had to be admitted to the hospital here in Denver while promoting Shadows in the early 80's. He said they saved his life as he'd been drinking heavily at the time. He said he "went sober after that, but managed to get another 8 or 9 more years of drinking in", and then laughed. It certainly wasn't as easy as turning a switch, that's for sure. At a show here in Denver in 1990 someone put a bottle of beer on the stage and Gord came out and, I swear, he took a swig of it! Maybe he was just being polite and was pretending.

I'm remembering back to a show in Denver in 1994 (I think). Gord talked about how he had to be admitted to the hospital here in Denver while promoting Shadows in the early 80's. He said they saved his life as he'd been drinking heavily at the time. He said he "went sober after that, but managed to get another 8 or 9 more years of drinking in", and then laughed. It certainly wasn't as easy as turning a switch, that's for sure. At a show here in Denver in 1990 someone put a bottle of beer on the stage and Gord came out and, I swear, he took a swig of it! Maybe he was just being polite and was pretending.

now i'm really confused! i've always heard that Gord officially quit drinking in Oct.'82, but the Denver story puts it up to at least '90. in any case, it was a long battle for him & he's won. the important thing is he's still around!

james

It was 82 I heard it on an interview he gave in 2000. you can hear the interview from another Gordon web site
bye

It was 82 I heard it on an interview he gave in 2000. you can hear the interview from another Gordon web site
bye

I guess he had appeared at Saratoga each year in August for a while. Oh well, so much for narrowing it down. (At least you folks made it more narrow than sometime between when he was born and now.)