[Kenmorr23]

Just drove in from Ft. Worth to Lubbock, but thought I would post some brief observations about the Bass Hall concert last night.

First of all, the venue was gorgeous, and the acoustics were marvelous. Our seats were not what we wanted, but we could clearly hear the music and had a nice view of what was going on.

As a preliminary, we camped out by the sound truck in the afternoon prior to the concert along with several other hopefuls. I turned out that a couple was there from Breckenridge, Texas, where we lived for 9 years, who were true/blue Lightheads, and very nice folks. The wife had spent 3 hours there. They thought that Gord and the band were inside for a sound check and would exit before the show. We all eventually gave up, though, in order to change clothes and get a quick bite before the concert.

Another very kind Lighthead who frequents this site had sent a private e-mail with a photo of Barry Harvey and suggested that we might spot him and throw ourselves at his mercy in order to get a backstage pass. We eventually hooked up with Mr. Harvey, who was very nice and helpful, but it was too late. More about this later.

The concert itself started on time to a packed and highly appreciative house. Lightfoot opened with "Cotton Jenny" and went from there to "Carefree Highway". I did not keep a contemporaneous set list, but this morning recounted what he played, on an album by album basis, and counted 24 songs.

Based on my recollection, he played selections from all albums, beginning with the W-B era, except for "Endless Wire", "Salute", and "East of Midnight". There were 3 songs each from "Summertime Dream", "Sundown", and "Shadows". These include, Wreck, Never to Close, Hangdog Hotel Room, Sundown, Carefree Highway, Watchman's Gone, Shadows, In My Fashion, and Triangle.

He introduced Hangdog Hotel Room as a song inspired by Jerry Jeff Walker and related a story where JJW played until 8 in the morning when he had a concert later that evening. He also told of meeting Willie Nelson recently in Toronto when Willie was traveling there and invited Gord and his family to his private bus. The family included his "estranged wife" and 2 children.

OK, now after thinking about this, Shadows had even more exposure, since he also played 14 Carat Gold, so maybe there were 25 songs played. After "In My Fashion" a lady from the audience yelled, "You Are Awesome". After a short pause, he went into "A Painter Passing Through" which my wife insists was no coincidence. I am not sure. But it fit. (Don't come runnin' after me, for I am just a painter passing through in history).

There were at least two songs from the pre-WB era, which were "Early Morning Rain" and "Ribbon of Darkness". The vocals were exceptionally strong on EMR. The ending of Ribbon was interesting. What happened was that he ended with "Ribbon of darkness..." and there was a very long pause when we were expecting the "over me" which never happened. Instead, the stage was dark, and he went into "Sundown" which I interpreted as an extension of the "Darkness". "Sundown" sounded better this time than when I last went to a concert in the early 80's. Again, the vocals were strong and the audience was understandably appreciative.

My memory is foggy, but I believe that the Wreck may have followed Sundown and ended the first set. Again, the vocals were very strong.

To give an honest account, I concede that our hero did struggle a bit through some songs (as he so eloquently observed many years ago, "heroes often fail"), but no one in this audience, myself included, cared in the slightest. There was thunderous applause after each song, even some that I expected might be lesser known by at least a portion of the audience. There was an honest outpouring of admiration and affection for this one of a kind performer.

A couple of highlights for my wife and I were the performances of "Sea of Tranquility" and "Restless". We were both delighted with those selections. He introduced "Restless" as a song, "so in tune with nature that it has been featured in Field and Stream".

He ended the second set with "Blackberry Wine". OK, that must make 5 from Shadows, indicating additional evidence of my foggy memory this morning. To anyone else who was there, feel free to make corrections.

The encore was "Old Dan's Records" and afterwards Lightfoot came back a couple of times to acknowledge the crowd's appreciative applause.

We returned to the area outside Bass Hall where he was expected to depart and waited for 40 minutes or so. My wife and I were dead tired from staying up too late the night before, sharing some Lightfoot videos with an uninitiated nephew and consuming too much alcohol. After 30 minutes, I suggested to her that, if I was not afraid that this would be our last shot at a handshake or autograph, I would suggest giving it up, finding a snack, and hitting the sack.

Barry Harvey came out once during the wait and told us that he was not sure Gord would be signing any autographs. The waiting crowd was not discouraged however and continued to grow, which may have been our undoing. Eventually, Gord did emerge from the building and climbed into a waiting Cadillac. Barry Harvey was close behind and told that crowd that he would not be signing autographs that night.

The crowd was disappointed, but polite. As the car backed out, Lightfoot opened a window and began shaking a few hands amidst shouts of, "We love you, Gord" and such. I was not among the few who managed a handshake. Then, he was gone. Off to Houston, I suppose.

We started back to the hotel room but after a few steps I noticed that my spouse had returned to speak to Mr. Harvey. She asked him if there was anywhere we could write to obtain an autograph and he said "sure, let me go to the bus and get a card," which he promptly did.

A short conversation followed. My wife asked him to thank Gordon for coming to Texas and that seemed to break the ice. Mr. Harvey said that the crowds in Texas had been some of the most courteous that he has seen and that he should be booking a return engagement for 2009. He indicated that there was some interest in bringing Lightfoot back in 2008, but that it probably would not fit into his schedule. He also said that Gord is still enthusiastic about these shows, but made reference to the "health scare" from a couple of years ago. He referred to Lightfoot as a "medical marvel". Apparently, he will keep singing as long as he is physically able, which is obviously good news to us all.

OK. So much for my "brief" report. Hope that some of you are not snoring by now.

To recap, it was a wonderful evening and I encourage all to attend any nearby concert (in Texas, this required a 300 mile drive) if at all possible.

Tom