Syracuse concert, Mother's Day (5/13)

[Auburn Annie]

Well, here I go again. I posted this last night but somehow it disappeared into the ether. Ain't technology grand?

Anyway, The Crouse Hinds Theater, part of the Oncenter, is a lovely venue seating a little over 2100, and the house was full. There might have been a few empty seats up in the nosebleed section but I didn't see it from where I sat, great seats in mid-orchestra, really "mid" as we were dead center lined up with Gord on stage, maybe 15 rows from the stage itself. The acoustics are great. At one point Gord was making a minor adjustment to one of the three guitars he played last night when Carter "answered" Gord's tuning with a bar from "Dueling Banjos" lol - Gord turned and said with a chuckle "I heard that!" and everybody laughed. The band was, as always, superb. They walked out promptly at 8 followed by Gord in the black pants/red or maroon jacket with white shirt to loud applause.

Here follows the set list:

Did She Mention My Name
Carefree Highway (an audience favorite)
Sea of Tranquility
14 Karat Gold
Never Too Late
A Painter Passing Through (weakest vocal of the night, too many high notes)
Let It Ride (wonderful)
Christian Island (short version)
Shadows
Beautiful

Band introduction, mentioned Terry's passing ("oh, no!" cries here and there - some don't track the band like we do and were suprised.) Also mentioned Rick has been with him for 43 years - and Rick stepped up to say, uh, no, 44, to laughter. To which Gord said something along the lines of being older than all of them.

The Watchman's Gone
Ribbon of Darkness
Sundown (tasty - huge applause) and, with the correction about the hatchways,
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Intermission, back wearing same pants, dark shirt with blue-violet vest, started with

Sweet Guinevere
Cotton Jenny
Early Moring Rain (another fave)
Restless (sublime)
Waiting for You - introduced with the story of writing this on a plane returning home from Seattle (?) and heading home to his then-new bride (Elizabeth) after 18 days on the road. He confided to the audience that she is now his second ex-old lady, mentioned their two kids though not by name, just ages.
Home From the Forest
Make Way for the Lady
If You Could Read My Mind
Don Quixote
Baby Step Back (NO brother-in-law story this time) and the second epic
Canadian Railroad Trilogy

Encores:

Rainy Day People
In My Fashion

Thunderous applause, came out twice for bows, and it was over.

Except for a couple of songs (APPT most noticeably) he was in good voice, though a little short of breath between songs occasionally. He has reconfigured some numbers slightly to better accommodate his range. He blew threw TWOTEF effortlessly as well as most of CRT. There were no forgotten lyrics, no starting over. He looked very happy, repeated several times in response to the shouted "we love you Gord!" with "we love the work, we really do!" and it shows. He bantered with the front row ("help me out here" when he got the sports teams mixed - the Syracuse Orange are the basketball, not football, team. "Gimme time, I'll get it right." lol) We got the hair/hare/rabbit joke, the "Elvis has left the building" story before "Early Morning Rain" and he did a play on "pop" when talking about quitting drinking in 1982 - now he only drinks pop, and pop will drink anything.

I met Lisa and her daughter (wearing her "Beautiful" shirt) during intermission. She was going to "stalk" Gord and the band afterwards, in spite of having a 5:30 am flight home this morning but my ride was leaving right after the concert so I didn't stay to chat (did see the tour bus and his car a block over from the theater.) It was a lovely evening.

[charlene]

He laffed at Carter doing the Dueling Banjo routine @ Rama too. They are all so playful onstage..like kids getting away with something..lol
His youngest daughter, Meredith was 18 on the 11th..

Glad you enjoyed the show and met up with Lisa and her daughter..They got backstage..She will tell us about it I'm sure...she tried to evade the camera cops so hopefully will have pics too.

If your original post shows up 'out here among the stars' I'll let ya know..lol
thanks for the setlist!

[BILLW]

Sounds like a great show - thanks Annie!

Bill

[Lisa J]

great review, Annie... Spot on! Last night was great! My daughter and I were sitting in the 4th row, off to the left. fabulous seats with all band members in plain view. The band was quite lively between songs with a lot of joking amongst them. There was a lot of laughter throughout the night. The dueling banjos bit was a great addition to the show!
Gordon sounded great. I think my favorite part was hearing "Home from the Forest." I have been reading for a while that he plays that song these days but this it the first time I have heard it in concert. It was absolutely beautiful.
It was nice to meet Annie and her sister at intermission. We had a great chat about daughters/ backstreet boys concerts and Gordon! (Anyone with a daughter of a certain age knows about backstreet boys!)
Actually, my favorite part was after the show! My daughter and I went around to the backstage door to see if we could get a photo and an autograph. we were only out there a few minutes waiting when a very nice man walked out and smiled at me. He introduced himself as Warren then had a very nice conversation with us about Terry and Gordon. This was my first show since Terry passed away so it was nice to hear Warren talk about him. Unexpectedly Warren asked us if we wanted to go backstage to meet Gordon. There is only one answer to that, so within moments we were on our way backstage. 40 + years of being a fan and this it the first time I have been backstage....Awesome!
Gordon was so sweet to everyone backstage. He gave each person his undivided attention for a few minutes and made us all feel special. My daughter wore a shirt that said "beautiful" in honor of Gordon. He really liked that and told her she was beautiful. She liked that! It was a glorious way to spend mother's day.
I did indeed have an early flight this morning. Sleep didn't come until 130 this morning, so the 415 alarm was a bit annoying, but it is all good. What's a little sleep when you get to spend personal time with Gordon Lightfoot!
and yes, the camera police were out in force.... man, I had my view blocked 3 times by a bouncer type man who stood in front of my seat to get my neighbors to stop taking pictures. I came away with about 20 photos and felt blessed! He only caught me once!

[Lisa J]

when i figure out how to post photos, i will

[charlene]

Originally Posted by Lisa J

when i figure out how to post photos, i will

If you can't master the picture posting feel free to e-mail them to me and I can do it for you..you won't be the first who has asked..

It seems Gordon is telling all the 'young' ladies they're beautiful! He's discovering his new demographic/taget audience..lol

Can't wait to see the pics...

[Lisa J]

hopefully these pictures will work.

[Lisa J]

two more

[formerlylavender]

Nice reviews and great pictures. Glad you all had fun!

[charlene]

yay! you did it..lol.Terrific pics..everyone's looking good!

[Moosedog]

Great pictures!

[Auburn Annie]

Great pix - I've sent them on to my sister. Man, I would have loved to have been with you to meet Gord and the guys but, as I said, Chris had to work the next day and she had just had a pacemaker inserted less than 48 hours earlier so she was still a little tired. Had I gone to the concert with my husband I would have insisted on staying, lol.

[curiousmoonbeam]

Thanks for the great reviews and pictures. Looking forward to the Keswick in Glenside, PA on 5/20!!