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Gordon Lightfoot performs at the Jack Singer Concert Hall in Calgary April 13, 2009.
Photograph by: Stuart Gradon, Calgary Herald
Review: Fans worship Lightfoot in the church of Gordon
By Eric Volmers, Calgary HeraldApril 14, 2009
It was just before the fourth song of Monday night's set that Gordon Lightfoot's stage began to take on the feel of a church.
This was not in a dull, holier-than-thou sense, of course.With a muttered, "All right, here we go,"the 70-year-old icon began the opening strains of his 1982 ballad, 14 Karat Gold. The back-ground stage lighting began to look like stained-glass windows, chimes sounded in the background and a hush fell over the crowd.
After nearly a half-century in the business and dozens of memorable songs, reverence is probably the most appropriate attitude for Lightfoot, no matter what the setting. But the highly-partisan crowd at the Jack Singer Concert Hall seemed particularly eager to play along Monday night.
As anyone with even a cursory knowledge of his music knows, the Church of Gordon is no sweaty tent revival meeting. Sonic adventure has never been his thing. He's more ethereal-- a word Lightfoot used more than once to describe how he was feeling Monday night -- with an emphasis on grace and comfort.
Above all, it's about the familiar. A few of the more energetic audience members yelled out some obligatory "I-love-you-Gords" or "way-to-go-Gords" in between songs.
Lightfoot responded with what seemed like a few Ian Tyson references and some ex-wife jokes. But before the hour-long first act was up, the quietly appreciative crowd had been rewarded with gorgeous hits such as Cotton Jenny, Carefree Highway, Rainy Day People, Minstrel of the Dawn, Beautiful, Sundown and even The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald, perhaps his most beloved tune. It was a sturdy sampling of this man's stunning songbook and a reminder that he hasn't altered his sound much throughout a 40-year-plus career.
But covering new ground hardly seems the point.
Decked out in his trademark white shirt and dark vest and with a slight rasp to his famous baritone, Lightfoot began his second act with the tuneful sea song, Triangle, before al-lowing his fantastic band to let loose on the rockabilly-tinged Hangdog Hotel Room.
They managed to generate some real heat on his melodic Waiting for You, and the tasty blues number Make Way for the Lady.
But, for the most part, the band faded into the background darkness as Lightfoot stood his ground for a run of quiet folk gems, which eventually included classics If You Could Read My Mind and Don Quixote, among others.
With songs that rarely move past a comfortable shuffle and his stage banter pleasant and at times chatty, Lightfoot could never be accused of not acting his age.
And with no new material in the past five years, Monday's show was clearly a greatest-hits celebration.
He even explained the origins of Edmund Fitzgerald and Canadian Railroad Trilogy, no doubt for the 10,000th time, with humour and enthusiasm.
In short, he delivers what is expected of him. There's no surprises and no real performance, at least in the rock 'n' roll sense.
But that's OK.
With Jack Singer's sympathetic acoustics, a tasteful four-piece road band and a warmly supportive crowd, Monday's setting was about as perfect a spot as you could hope for to see Lightfoot trot out his favourites.
Did he win over any new converts? At this point it probably doesn't matter.
Most of us are already part of the congregation.
evolmers@theherald.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Gordon Lightfoot performs at the Jack Singer Concert Hall in Calgary April 13, 2009.
Gordon Lightfoot performs at the Jack Singer Concert Hall in Calgary April 13, 2009.
Photograph by: Stuart Gradon, Calgary Herald