Lightfoot: Legend in his autumn years
http://www.thespec.com/article/363646
Ted Brellisford, the Hamilton Spectator
May 03, 2008
Graham Rockingham
The Hamilton Spectator
Gordon Lightfoot's ties to the city of Hamilton run deep.
It's here, at Grant Avenue Studio, that he recorded his last two albums. It's also here where doctors at McMaster Medical Centre gave him a second chance at life.
The last time the great Canadian songwriter performed at Hamilton Place was three years ago. Those two soldout concerts were his first since suffering a near fatal abdominal aneurism in 2002. He performed those shows as an expression of gratitude to the hospital he credits with saving his life.
Those concerts, stocked with hospital staff members who had stood vigil during his months of recovery, were a joyful celebration. Those in the audience understood they were witnessing something akin to a miracle. People aren't supposed to survive the kind of trauma that happened to his body.
Last night, fans returned to Hamilton Place hoping for a recreation of that miracle. The great man was back, singing a couple of dozen songs which spanned his five-decade career.
Not many in the crowd were expecting to see the Lightfoot they had grown up with during the '70s.
They came to honour the man and the incredible songbook he has bequeathed. It didn't matter if the voice cracked and creaked. They were there to see a legend. They gave him a standing ovation as he walked out onto the stage.
But the miracle this time around had a little tarnish on it.
Lightfoot is not the singer he once was. He turns 70 in November. Age and ill-health has added frailty. That rich voice that dominated Canadian airways three decades ago is now more nasal than baritone. At times last night it barely rose above a whisper.
I entered last night's Hamilton Place concert a little skeptical, wondering if maybe it was time for Lightfoot to honourably retire.
My worst fears were realized through his opening numbers -- Cotton Jenny, Carefree Highway and Sea of Tranquility. His voice had trouble carrying into the back rows of the near-sellout crowd.
There were times of poignancy -- his Painter Passing Through made you realize you were witnessing the final throes of a truly great artist. Beautiful was all the more poignant sung in a shaky voice. Sundown, Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald and Early Morning Rain were all crowd pleasers, offering up glimpses of past greatness.
Accompanied by his long-time band -- Terry Clements on guitar, Mike Hefferman on keyboards, Rick Haynes on bass and Barry Keane on drums --Lightfoot is now in the midst of a 50-concert tour through the U.S. and Canada.
Perhaps it's a little too much for a legend in his autumn years.
Gordon Lightfoot in Hamilton Ontario ! {05/02/2008}
