Gordon Lightfoot Forums - Rockford, Illinois, Friday, September 21

SET LIST:

Did She Mention My Name
Carefree Highway
Sea of Tranquility (said he was going to get “ethereal”)
All The Lovely Ladies
I’d Rather Press On
Wild Strawberries
Christian Island
Shadows
Beautiful
Let It Ride
The Watchman’s Gone (said it was his favorite song from the Sundown Album)
Ribbon of Darkness
Sundown
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

INTERMISSION

Drink Yer Glasses Empty
Race Among The Ruins
Cotton Jenny
Don Quixote
Clouds of Loneliness
Waiting For You
A Painter Passing Through
If You Could Read My Mind
Blackberry Wine (his “toe tapper”)
Canadian Railroad Trilogy

ENCORE:
Rainy Day People
In My Fashion

This was a very moving concert and the set list was great. He sounded strong, and the only song that he really seemed to struggle with a bit was “Cotton Jenny”. We were once again treated to the “My Pop will drink ANYTHING” joke, and the illustrious red jacket, which immediately made me think of Char’s silly comment about him being ready to serve dessert.

He seemed to be really connecting with the audience last night, and I found myself tearing up a few times during “All The Lovely Ladies” and “Wild Strawberries”, in spite of the fact that he did make the “polka dot underwear” face that J.J. described.

Drink Yer Glasses Empty was a very effective beginning to the second set, and his voice sounded exactly like it did on the “Waiting For You” cd.

After "Waiting For You", he began to sing a song called Sweet Betsy from Pike(?)" He sang a few lines, asked if we remembered this song, and sang a few more. I think it may have been in reference to his comment about the last two songs being written for “ex old lady #2”, but I’m not sure.

During “Ribbon of Darkness”, he paused while a few people in the front pathetically attempted to sing “over me”. He smiled, shook his head, looked down and after a few seconds, quietly said “alright”, as if he were witnessing a very bad audition. It was a warm and well-received, funny moment.

He did another wonderful rendition of If You Could Read My Mind, and almost missed a lyric, but recovered quickly and sounded great.

He ended the show with Canadian Railroad Trilogy, which drew a huge applause, and a standing ovation. After leaving the stage, he enthusiastically returned to perform a two-song encore.

The crowd seated around me was quiet, respectful and appreciative of being in Gordon’s presence, and there was no yelling out to the stage like there sometimes is during a performance. The band sounded great, and Carter did a superb job of taking over as lead guitarist…you’d swear he was playing a mandolin on “Christian Island”, and his “Sundown” solo drew applause.

Gordon seemed very relaxed during the entire show, and appeared to be really enjoying himself up there.

Fun, moving, emotional, and thrilling is how I would describe the evening. And it ended much too quickly.