[Gitchigumee]

Hello! I'm new and I cannot tell you how happy I am to have found this site. I was at the Gordon Lightfoot concert in Minneapolis on Sun. night, Sept. 17th, and before I go on, let me apologize for repeating information that may have already been posted. I have not read through all of the posts yet.

It was my first Gordon Lightfoot concert. I am a huge fan but I just haven't been into the concert scene that much other than when performers come to my home town, which is small and about a 3 hour drive from Mpls. I will spare you the details of how I came to know about this concert, but suffice it to say it was a very big deal for me to be able to attend the concert on Sunday night.

When Gordon came out on stage, I was not expecting to see the young man who graces the covers of my CD cases, and was not surprised to see a thinner, aging man in his late 60's. However, I recognized him immediately even from my vantage point of balcony seating. He began the concert with Cotton Jenny, and his voice was weak and he appeared to be having difficulty hitting the high notes, and I thought to myself, oh no. But...he found his voice in the second song, and his singing became stronger and stronger with each passing song. There were a couple of songs he did which sounded identical to the albumn recordings from 30 and 40 years ago. And except for the time when I was moved to tears as he sang Early Morning Rain, I found myself at the edge of my seat and smiling the entire time.

I know you've all discussed his health issues of recent days, which is heartbreaking after all he's been through, but I really believe he was having a good time, and in fact he said so more than once. It was awesome to see him smile, and he was actually really funny and had us all laughing at times. At one point he turned to look at his band members to pick up the tempo, and we were all clapping along you know, and so we thought we'd help pick up the tempo so we started clapping faster, and then he had to tell us to bring it down again. It was a very special and funny moment. It made me feel for an instant that I was a part of his music and that in some small way I had made a personal connection with him.

Forgive me for being sentimental, but you could really feel the love in that beautiful theater on Sunday night. The applause after each song was intense and long. The concert was interrupted several times by shouts from the croud of "I love you Gordon!" and "You sound great!" There were several small standing ovations, but at least three times the entire crowd was on their feet applauding.

But what struck me the most, I think, was his humanity. He did not try to hide any of his frailties, and in fact made light of them several times. He sounded excited about his right hand and the fact that the feeling was "coming back." In fact, he was very upbeat about everything, including the fact that he's been able to be productive the past few years, i.e. making music and touring. He seemed very humble to me and handled everything very gracefully.

I will never, ever forget the experience of hearing in person the voice which I have heard a million times on my car stereo, my office boombox, and at home relaxing in my back yard... the voice which has soothed me during many rough times in my life and the voice which I feel is itself a special friend all my own. Gordon's music has touched my heart deeply and I now have a very special memory which I will never forget of the man himself. Thank you, Gordon, for sharing with the world your wonderful gift of song. You are a treasure!