Mountains, Marian and Gordon in Shippensburg, PA

[Same Old Loverman]

The anticipation is building. I'll be at Gordon's Shippensburg concert this Saturday "and man, I'm feelin' fine!" In many ways, Shippensburg is the perfect setting for a Gordon Lightfoot concert. Shippensburg is a college town that's situated in a small, rural area that, at least for me, brings to mind a lot of Gord's early music. Those first 4 albums are the ones that intially sparked my love for Gordon. The town itself, while not fancy or upscale, has that small town charm that I happen to like. Its hardware store, Paugue and Fegan, is the oldest, continuously operated hardware store in Pennsylvania (over 150 years). The beautiful, Michaux and Tuscarora state forests, as well as Gettysburg battlefield (site of one of the bloodiest battles in the Civil War) are located nearby.

When I happen to be in the area, (I live about 30 miles south) I can't help but think of songs like "Mountains and Marian, Long River, Home from the Forest (which I'm hoping he'll do), Pussywillows, Cat-Tails (I'd die if he did that one), Crossroads" and so many more. It's funny, but just off the interstate (81), there's an area where a railroad track runs alongside the base of a mountain. Everytime I'm there I think of Gordon and his music- now, I'll actually be spending a Saturday evening with the man himself just a few miles away...."All is well!"

[formerlylavender]

I'll be there! It's about a 2.5 hour drive from Delaware...never been to that part of PA. Hoping for a beautiful fall drive and a great concert!

[BILLW]

My wife Lizanne and I will be there. It's a longer drive from Maryland but what the heck, eh? My niece graduated from Ship and met her husband there. They live about 45 minutes away so we'll crash there and make a weekend of it. We'll be in Row A Seats 109 & 110 for any lurkers out there. I love the area and it's a nice place to stock up on apples and pumpkins and other good stuff. The weather is supposed to be clear and in the high 60s last I heard. That comment was sort of random since it's an inside show.

Anyway we're looking forward to seeing a whole bunch of Lightheads at a previously unvisited, for us, venue.

Bill

[BILLW]

By the way "Same Old" congratulations on your third year here at corfid!

Bill

[curiousmoonbeam]

Sol, fl and Bill W - have a great time at the concert! I opted for Jim Thorpe as that is about 2 hours from me (I hope!) but it has been a year since I last saw Gord and am so looking forward to it. My sister is going also and we are making a little get-away of it - staying at a b&b - took Monday off work. The concert will be at Penn's Peak which, if I recall correctly, is sort of at the top of a hill and you can see down on the town which has a lovely huge Tower at it's train station. Anyway, have a wonderful time in Ship!!

[hockeyplayer]

I will look for you in Shippensburg Bill, now that I know where to find you. I will also be at the Jim Thorpe concert. Both venues are about two hours from where I live; Shippensburg to the west of me, Jim Thorpe to the north. A whole weekend of Lightfoot - I really lucked out!

[BILLW]

Alright that sounds like a plan. Look for the best looking 58 yr old in row A with really short hair. Best looking man, that is! Yes it sounds like you really lucked out. I always have to drive or fly long distances to see The Man. The only way they would end up where I live is if they were seriously lost, lol.

Bill

Originally Posted by hockeyplayer

I will look for you in Shippensburg Bill, now that I know where to find you. I will also be at the Jim Thorpe concert. Both venues are about two hours from where I live; Shippensburg to the west of me, Jim Thorpe to the north. A whole weekend of Lightfoot - I really lucked out!

[Same Old Loverman]

Thanks BillW for your kind words and everyone's good wishes. Just read Wes' post regarding the Wheeling concert, and now I'm even more excited about the Shippensburg show!

[formerlylavender]

Wow, hockeyplayer, you did luck out. What a great way to spend a weekend. The drives to both venues (one hour) isn't bad either. Have a great time at the shows.

Lol, Bill. I always pay attention to weather too...especially when I'll be stuck in a car for 2.5 hours. As long as it doesn't rain, I'll be happy. We'll be in the row right behind you. I chose will call for the tickets, so I forgot (sort of) where we were sitting and had to reprint a receipt. 2nd row...can't wait!

CM, I almost chose the Sunday show instead, but the weekends are more convenient with school etc. I hope you and your sister have a great time at the concert and a fantastic weekend.

[Wes Steele]

Hey, all you "guys" have a great time over there...

You're gonna love it... wish I was there!

[formerlylavender]

Thanks, Wes. We did have fun! The weather was damp and dreary, but the mountains were visible on both side as we approached Shippensburg. We met Bill and Lizanne for dinner before the show...very nice time as usual. It was a five minute drive from the restaurant to the venue, so it was very convenient.

Gord was in good form - I thought his voice improved as the night went on. He was straining to hit the notes on Cotton Jenny- he should have saved that one for the second set IMO. He was talkative, but not as much as last year in New Jersey. He did mutter/joke something about "lots of surprises" which I thought was funny because there really aren't very many surprises, song-wise. It was weird seeing Carter where Terry has always been, and I found myself watching him a lot. He added some nice notes to Beautiful (not one of my faves) which made it very enjoyable. Gord wore a "new" paisley vest over a maroon shirt for the 2nd set (stylin'!) A guy in front of me yelled "Ring Them Bells!" after IYCRMM, and Gord went right into it without hesitation. He said he hadn't done that one in a while.

Here's the setlist:

Sweet Guinevere
Cotton Jenny
14KGold
Never Too Close
In My Fashion
APPT
Rainy Day People
Shadows
Beautiful
Carefree Highway
Hangdog Hotel Room
Ribbon of Darkness
Sundown
The Watchman's Gone
Alberta Bound

-2-
The Wreck
Ringneck Loon
Don Q
Clouds of Loneliness
Let It Ride
If Children Had Wings
IYCRMM
Ring Them Bells
Baby Step Back
Restless
EMR
Song for a Winter's Night

Blackberry Wine - Encore

[BILLW]

Thanks for posting the set-list. It was a great venue and a very, very quiet crowd. They applauded very well and did some nice standing ovations but not one loud drunk in the crowd. I could tell he was waiting for it so I finally took in upon myself to do the "We love you Gord" shout out. He smiled and nodded and the show moved on. Then when he got to the Ribbon Of Darkness pause routine - no one said anything - and he held the note - finally Lizanne and Lisa gave up the OVER ME - he smiled at them and said "you got it" and then went into Sundown.

I also had a very nice halftime visit from hockeyplayer and we had a good chat. Thanks again for actually stopping by when you said you would - sort of rare to have that kind of follow-up these days, lol.

Great show - and the first time, for me, that he introduced the band and did not call Carter the "new guy" and did not mention Terry during the intros. He just said "on lead guitar - Carter Lancaster".

Of course the night went by too quickly and poof it was over. Already looking forward to the next time although I have no tickets and no plans but that never stopped me before.

Bill

[Same Old Loverman]

I've been away from my computer, but I thought I would chim in with a few thoughts about the Shippensburg show. First, I thought the show was fantastic! When he first strolled out he looked confident and content, then he did his "hun, hew, hree, hor" and and I thought: this is gonna be fun- and it was. I must say I was delighted that he started with "Sweet Guinevere" its the perfect song for southern Pennsylvania since he sings "up in Pittsburgh, PA." I've also never been crazy about the live version of "Triangle" and it seems everytime I had seen him the last few years he always started with that one, so SG was a nice change.

This was Gordon's first time in Shippensburg, and I thought it was a real nice venue for him to play, the crowd was polite, yet responsive- thankfully no drunks called out for "Freebird." Gordon even mentioned the school, asked how the team did that day, then played with the word Shippensburg, repeating it a few times- much to the crowd's (and my) amusement. I won't go into too much detail about the setlist, he didn't do "Home from the Forest" but he did "Song for a Winter's night" which is one of my favorites and the first time I've ever seen him do it live. I thought having Rick doing background vocals was really cool (I hope they keep that in) also the light patterns on the curtains was different than I remembered, and I thought they added a nice touch to Gordon's performance. As BillW said, it was over much too quickly.

I did have a nice photo of Gordon I was hoping to have autographed, so afterwards I went back to my car and began the wait by the backstage door. The rain, thankfully, started to let up. Us "street people" not many, maybe 4 or 5, and what looked like 2 college guys were milling around waiting when a somewhat serious looking man came out (I assume the tour manager, as he was different than the last one I remembered after Barry) he asked us who we were waiting for, and we said Gordon, he then paused and said "anyone here for e-bay?" Honestly, I was a little taken aback by that, I mean the thought of selling anything like an autograph has never crossed my mind. People said, no, no...then he looked at me and said "What about you, you didn't say anything." I quickly replied no, and then he said, okay follow me. In retrospect, I should have realized that yes, people do obtain autographs for the sole purpose of selling them, so I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised by the question.

Once inside, (I've never been privy to the meet and greet before) things were a little hectic, as they had people lining up for photos and then laying out things for Gordon to autograph (I kind of felt bad for him- he must have been tired, but he seemed agreeable). The opportunity to meet Gordon doesn't happen everyday, so I was nervous, when my turn came for the autograph he looked at the photo I had and mentioned that it must have been taken back before he was sober, I said "yeah- 1974." He said, "You know I stopped drinking in 1982." Then I, to my eternal embarrassment replied- "I know, I read everything I can about you." I could have kicked myself! I mean I should have asked him what it was like getting sober, was it hard, etc. But no, I felt like some kind of know it all fan, and I felt really bad about it (after the question about e-bay from the guy outside, I think I wanted Gordon to know that I was a true fan, not just someone with only a passing interest in his career). By the way, I asked him to personalize the photo- he did and it really looks fantastic- can't wait to hang it!

All in all, a great night (thanks to the tour manager for letting us come inside), I just wished I hadn't gushed about reading everything about him (I do wish he'd pen his memoirs). One more cool thing, as I was getting ready to leave, I noticed one of the college guys telling Gordon how much he liked his early stuff: "Mountains & Marian, Softly, Black day in July" etc. I thought it was neat that the younger generation also likes the early stuff. My only other regret is that I didn't get to meet anyone from our discussion group, I should have mentioned where I was sitting at. I did talk to a couple who drove all the way down from Cape Cod to see the show, and they were very nice. If you haven't seen Gordon lately, by all means do so, I actually think he's better now than he was 3 or 4 years ago.

[BILLW]

Great story SOL. Now Lisa will be upset she didn't wait around. That was nice that he came out and got y'all. Very cool. Next time you should come out to dinner with us before a show, we're real easy to get along with.

Bill

[formerlylavender]

Yes, Bill, we are easy to get along with, lol. Meeting for dinner before the show makes the experience that much more rewarding IMO. We chat about our lives a little, about the forum and of course about Gord.

Looking forward to the next time!

Lisa

[curiousmoonbeam]

Really enjoyed all of your reviews and comments on the Ship. concert. Sounds like a great time was had by all between the dinner, shout outs and autographs. It's nice hearing of other people's experiences, their opinions and impressions. Great comments by all!
Regards,
CM