Tulalip Tribes Ampitheatre review
 

Published: Tuesday, August 28, 2007

A chilly Gordon Lightfoot warms crowd with his hits

By Christina Harper
Special to The Herald

TULALIP — Fans who made the trip to the Tulalip Tribes Amphitheatre on Sunday to see long-time singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot spent a couple of hours enjoying oldies but goodies, including Lightfoot himself.

The evening got off to a great start, with Lightfoot launching into "Cotton Jenny," a hit from more than 30 years ago. He and his great band proceeded into the chilly August night with "Sundown," "Carefree Highway," and, of course, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."

At 68, Lightfoot still gives his audience a reliable show full of classic songs. His signature halting voice is clear and recognizable. His guitar playing is solid.

Everything about Sunday's show was good: the artist, the venue and — even if Lightfoot said he was "freezing his butt off" — the weather.

Audience members sang along to "14 Karat Gold" and snuggled up to the beautifully written love song "Shadows."

Lightfoot has a faithful following in the Northwest and around the country. Longtime fans know he is an enduring artist, and like his fellow Canadians Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Anne Murray, his music stands the test of time.

Unlike bands like, say, The Rolling Stones, Lightfoot has never announced a final tour, then come out again. Like in "Cotton Jenny," the wheels just seem to go round and round and Lightfoot can be relied upon to tour every so often to satisfy fans.

People of all ages can listen to Lightfoot's work and get as much from it today as they did in the 1960s and '70s. They can listen to 1998's "A Painter Passing Through" and get that Lightfoot can tell stories of the here-and-now with sadness and passion.

It seems you're never far away from Lightfoot's music and his 40-plus-year span of hits. Hits such as "Baby Step Back" and "If You Could Read My Mind" are classics that most people have heard at one time or another.

Even if you are not a fan or are too young to know who Lightfoot was 20 or 30 years ago, one day you'll hear a lyric and say, "Oh, yeah, I know that."

Near the end of the show, and before he froze, Lightfoot talked about Elvis Presley recording his song "Early Morning Rain." The King had wanted to meet Lightfoot but it wasn't to be. Elvis left the building before that could happen. Lightfoot does a great version of this, his song, made famous by Presley. It takes you back.

After more than 20 songs, Lightfoot, skinny and slightly hunched over his guitar, waved, then ambled away.

He and his band returned to the stage and played "Blackberry Wine" before heading back to Canada for a break before the next leg of the concert tour. No doubt fans will once again make the trek to see and hear Lightfoot the next time around, and, again, they won't be disappointed.



Christina Harper is a Snohomish County freelance writer. She can be reached at harper@heraldnet.com.

Re: Tulalip Tribes Ampitheatre review
 

Nice review. The reporter obviously "gets it".

Re: Tulalip Tribes Ampitheatre review
 

Agreed!!!

Re: Tulalip Tribes Ampitheatre review
 

Very nice! Thanks Annie!

Re: Tulalip Tribes Ampitheatre review
 

she's got it spot on.
Thanks for posting this one, Annie.

Re: Tulalip Tribes Ampitheatre review
 

Right on the money..
Indeed..

Re: Tulalip Tribes Ampitheatre review
 

Hi, longtime reader hear, but this is my first post! I was at the Tulalip concert Sunday night in Marysville Wa. and really enjoyed it. It was an 8:30 pm start because last year the sun was in his eyes the first hour and he had to borrow some sun glasses. The moon backlit the stage the entire evening this time and by 10pm it was a definitely a little chilly.A great setting for his show. He sang right through the entire set with no breaks this year. They were at the end of the west coast tour and were ready to head back home. Thus he and the band put on a great show! A sold out crowd that wasnt dissapointed . His voice was very strong and his oncore songs were not only Blackberry Wine , but also Old Dans Records.
I must get back to work; will be glad to tell you more later

Russ

Re: Tulalip Tribes Ampitheatre review
 

ok Russ...we're waiting patiently..
;)
Char

Re: Tulalip Tribes Ampitheatre review
 

Ok , Char , here is a little more info. Gord was not a talkative this time. Of course last year he was so happy to be able to perform again he was chatting it up all evening long! Last year he mentioned that Seattle actually put him on the map in the USA ,because If You Can Read My Mind was first released here and ran up to #1 in this market before it took of elsewhere in the states. This time when they were about to finish up, he mentioned that everyone was going back to there loved ones, but that he was as loose as a goose. But then he said he was good with that. Not sure if that meant he was single now??
Thats really the only talkative part of his concert. It's alway fun when he adds info about origins of songs or what he has been up to. He use to do a lot of wilderness type activities in this area.
This was probably my 12th concert of his I have been to and his music still gives me goosebumps while I am there. It's nice to have a band you can count on every time for a great concert. ( I did miss the famous one in Seattle ; I believe in 1977 or 78 where he had a few to many and couldnt remember the words, cut songs short.)

Russ

Re: Tulalip Tribes Ampitheatre review
 

FYI -
He said at an earlier concert that he and his wife are in the process of getting divorced.

Re: Tulalip Tribes Ampitheatre review
 

For anybody else here who can make "torrents" meaningful there is currently available a rare 2007 concert (Tulalip Casino WA on August 26th)
http://www.usasiantrading.com/images/tulalip.gif
http://www.chriskula.com/seattle/tulalip.jpg
Not sure what that is a picture of but I liked it
http://www.reliablesecurity.com/images/tulalip_done.jpg
DITTO
This was evidently a full 26 song set not a shorter casino set the "torrent' link is at:-
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-d....php?id=161063 ***
the set of 26 FLAC (losslessly compressed) files is 447.28 MB (469,007,055 bytes) but can be downloaded on a dial-up in about a couple of days if you have patience!!
*** AFAIK you can only access that torrent details link as I quoted above if you are a registered member of the dime-a-dozendotorg site that specializes in ROIO per their

Disclaimer
"DIME is merely a BitTorrent tracker for audio and videoRecordings Of Independent Origin (ROIO) which have not been officially released. No audio or video content is hosted here. We only provide meta information files for the ROIOs. If you're an artist (or a legal representative of an artist or its estate) and you don't want your ROIOs shared on DIME for free among your fans, you may opt out any time by sending e-mail to the site admin. We will then put you in our list of not allowed artists, known as the NAB list. This will halt all sharing of your ROIOs using DIME's trackers within minutes.
BTW, the ROIOs exist, you can't make them vanish. So, why not let your fans get them for free from one another instead of having to purchase them from commercial bootleggers on auction sites?"

One comment on this show (by "Mooner" the fan responsible for the recording) in rebuttal of two others moaning at Gord's fragile voice is worth reading and is as follows:-
"oh, quit being a buncha fatalists. Aside from freezing his butt off, and therefor appearing to be in a bit of a hurry to complete the show, he was in very good spirits and was obviously enjoying himself. Yes, time takes it's toll on vocal cords, and I too was quite taken aback when he began singing, but I appreciate his elder voice just the same. From what I can tell, no lyrics were lost via forgetfulness but his patented Lightfoot lyrical slur/mumble is in full blossom. And judging from his extensive tour lineup, I'd say he's doing just fine.
If not for Bear though, I would have made every effort to meet him after the show but she has an American perspective when it comes to fame, and firmly held me back from climbing the chainlink fence. It would have been the icing on my cake.
But for me, being a product of small-town CBC radio influence, his songs have been in my life since his beginning. This was my first opportunity to see him live and I demanded a recording that might reflect the highest respect and admiration that I have for him. Although I had a bit of trouble with the beginning, Gord came through on his end with flying colours. Thanks Gord.
People get old. We get old. For us 60's and 70's folk, I think we should be grateful and happy that fellas like Gord are still around to help us revisit our pasts"
Amen
John

*** If anybody has any problem with that link please contact me by Private Message OK?