part 2
The Surprise Special Guests were up next – the two frontmen of Blue Rodeo! Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor!
http://www.bluerodeo.com They sang a few of their hits and were in fine voice and Jim Cuddy was looking as adorable as ever! The crowd sang along with them to a couple of tunes. If I recall they sang , We Are Lost Together”, “Five Days in May”, Until I Am Myself Again”, “Bad Timing”, “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet” - perhaps a couple of others I can’t recall. When they came back for their encore they joked that they didn’t want to be too long because they were worried that Gordon Lightfoot was backstage waiting to go on and muttering to himself, ”why are they taking so long, get the hook!” lol
They finished at 10:00 and during the next 10 minutes while waiting for Gordon the crowd got a bit restless, clapping and calling out his name. I had my crappy little camera set on video to record some songs and perhaps, just perhaps I’d catch “my” song, “I’ll Tag Along” if Gordon had changed his mind and decided to throw it into the mix. I hoped so! Rick and Terry were the only band members that would be playing onstage but Mike was there backstage to help with tuning.
Rick was onstage plugging in some things but did not have his guitar. Gordon walked out with his guitar and Rick helped him plug in. I knew then he was going to do “I.T.A” ! Terry was nowhere to be seen and Rick left the stage. Gordon was alone onstage and he walked up to the mic after the standing ovation was over and started to sing it! OMIGOODNESS he really decided to fit it in! As the first freaking song of the set on such a memorable night of Mariposa’s 50th anniversary! WOW.
When he played the first couple of notes I gasped and started shaking so hard I could hardly hold the camera. The video is shaky and you can’t really see Gordon on the big screen because the camera isn’t that great but the audio is fine. I held the camera up with one hand and the other one over my mouth as I stood there in complete shock. Perhaps he re-thought his decision to probably not be able to fit it in as he told me when he called me on May 30th --because he knew it was my birthday? I can’t say for sure but I’ll go with that story! Lolol That phone call was so out of left field as it was but then he goes ahead and sings it? Makes perfect sense to me! Nice move Mr. Lightfoot! THANK YOU for making it the best 55th birthday I ever had!
Gordon’s sound was quite low and a lot of people back where we were and behind us were yelling at the sound guy to turn it up. I don’t think he ever did. To make matters worse for those behind us the beer tent behind them had a live band playing and their sound coming at them from behind was drowning out Gordons voice.
Gordon tried to tell a few stories but the yahoos up at the front of the stage were yelling and just being major arses. I think it may have flustered him somewhat. One story he was telling was about how he only got one chance to sing the next song and then found himself flat on his back the next day before he could sing it again there at home. He said ‘it has a prophetic lyric’ in it..and he was going to continue but the noise down below was ridiculous. He stepped away from the mic scratching his head and then sang Couchiching.
The set list was:
1. I’ll Tag Along
2. Don Quixote
3. Clouds Of Loneliness
4. Let It Ride
5. Beautiful
6. Red Velvet (he mentioned to the crowd that this was an Ian Tyson song)
7. The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald
8. Christian Island
9. Fine As Fine Can Be
10. Couchiching
11. Restless
12. If You Could Read My Mind
ENCORE
13. Canadian Railroad Trilogy
We gave him another standing ovation with people shouting “More, more, more” but the show was over, it was time to pack up the chairs, blanket, and rain gear and make the 90 minute trip back home.
It certainly was a memorable day full of some treasured tunes performed by just a few of the Canadian icons that make this country proud. My heart soared and my tears fell for many reasons on this glorious Mariposa day in one more “sunshine sketch of a little town” – Orillia –the home town of a legend.
But for just over 4 minutes on the day after my 55th birthday with some good friends and my daughter sharing the day I was well and truly gobsmacked by yet another generous gesture from The Man.
videos - (the picture is lousy..sorry I hope someone else that was there posts some songs too) Close your eyes and listen.lol
- ITA
- Beautiful
- IYCRMM
- Fine As Fine Can Be
- DQ - partial