Gordon Lightfoot Review from APril 3rd Columbus Concert

[Casek]

I attended the Gordon Lightfoot Concert last night in downtown Columbus. Decent older crowd. Gordon came out for the first half of the show and sang about 15 songs. He sounded weak and tired. He did say that he was doing 9 shows in 10 days and he was tired. His voice cracked and warbled for the entire first part of the show. My wife commented that he seemed to be under the weather. I was wondering to myself he possible he had low blood sugar or something because he was very hard to hear and his articulation was poor. He was very soft spoken and his booming voice was missing. He seemd to be struggling with the words as well. I had heard that he was in a coma for 6 weeks a while ago from diabetes. Well, after the intermission, Gordon had changed clothes. He bounced back on the stage, and gave a great version of The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. From there he really came to life and sounded like the Gordon of old. After a few of his classic songs, he played one of my favorites, "If you Could Read My Mind" and I was blown away. He seemed like a refreshed man and had a great second half of the show. His lead guitar player, Terry.....played a 1976 Gretsch that sounded outstanding. I met Terry outside the Stage door after the concert and we talked about guitars. Really nice and talented musician. He told me that Gordon would be out in just a few minutes. This was about an hour after the concert was over. Well, Gordo played the old head out the back door and into a car instead of his bus and I missed him. There were about a dozen of us standing and waiting for him, but we just got to talk with his band and technicians. Overall I would give the first half of the show a D+ and the second half an A. I made the low blood sugar comment as I have been there before and it appeared like it could have been what happened, because he sure sounded great after the break and probably after checking his gluclose levels.
I would see him again. I hear he is heading out to the Maryland area in the next week or so.

Kelly

[Boone]

I saw him a few years ago at Birchmere and I rated the entire performance a D- - exactly as you described the first half of this one. Pitiful.

Great performer, phenomenal body of work, one of my favorites, I have lots of his vinyl...but my experience with his concert led me to develop a new "lifetime rule":

If someone invites you to a concert, and your first thought is "Gee, I thought he was dead"... then don't go!

[woodruff]

i heard he had quite a battle with cancer a while back. he was a long time smoker. i think it is great he is still trouing and getting out there. i am sure it is a lot for him to drum up the strength to keep on it. i would have given him a B+ for just showing up. :D

[Andromeda]

I don't know where this cancer rumor came from. In 2003 he had an abdominal aneurysm burst which sent him into a coma for 6 weeks. But even before that his voice had grown weak sounding and frail. I have a CD of his from 1992 and the decline in his voice is evident there along with his poor articulation that it is difficult to understand the lyrics.. His live DVD from Reno which was released in 2000 shows a Gordon Lightfoot who is frail and thin with a voice to match his appearance. Although in DVD the band is very tight and once you get over the sound of his voice it really isn't too bad.



I may be wrong about the cancer, I had not heard of that but if you Google him and his illness you can read about the aneurysm.

From Wikipedia:In September, before the second concert of a two-night stand in Orillia, Lightfoot suffered severe stomach pain and was airlifted to McMaster Medical Centre in Hamilton, Ontario. He underwent surgery for a bleeding problem in his abdomen and remained in serious condition in the intensive care unit. The resulting coma lasted for almost two months. Get well wishes poured in from all around the world. All of his remaining 2002 concerts dates were cancelled. More than three months after being admitted to McMaster Medical Centre, Gordon Lightfoot was released in December to continue his recovery at home.

[DavidE]

I didn't even know he was here in Columbus!!!!

That's really too bad I missed that.

David

www.myspace.com\mothertruckerrocks

[Earthworm]

I love Gordon. One of my all-time heroes. I was fortunate to meet and talk with him and Terry C. in the early 80s. I was a star struck kid.

I think it likely that cigarettes are to blame for Gordon's voice. He lost his rich baritone years before his recent illnesses (IMO).

[Colbyjack]

I've not seen GL. Back in the late 70's a friend of mine got his hands on some "secret" photos direct from the Navy. They were underwater pictures of the Edmond Fitgerald. They were erie to look at for sure.

[AARRGGHHH]

I saw him about 2 years ago in Boca Raton, FL. The funny part is, as we walked in, they actually patted us down for weapons. At a freakin Gordon Lightfoot concert !!

Back in the late 70's a friend of mine got his hands on some "secret" photos direct from the Navy. They were underwater pictures of the Edmond Fitgerald.

I thought the Edmond Fitzgerald was never found.

[Chicago Sandy]

I've not seen GL. Back in the late 70's a friend of mine got his hands on some "secret" photos direct from the Navy. They were underwater pictures of the Edmond Fitgerald. They were erie to look at for sure.

I've played along the Lake Superior shore of MI's Upper Peninsula (Marquette, Munising, Grand Marais) several times, and the Edmund Fitzgerald is their region's legendary disaster, akin to the Triangle Fire in NYC, the I-880 collapse in Oakland or the capsizing of the Eastland in the Chicago River. There are museum exhibits galore up there filled with grisly souvenirs of it--newspaper stories, manifests, logs, photos of the crew and of the ship in happier times. The hulk was eventually found at the bottom of Lake Superior about 30 miles north of Grand Marais, but it was decided unanimously to leave it as an underwater memorial rather than dredge it up or recover anything from it.

[mdunn]

One item from the Edmund Fitzgerald is above water and that is the ships bell.

I believe it is on display at a memorial site for the ship.

I have seen the television program about the sinking and the discovery of the wreck. They also have a couple of pretty good theories of what happened to the ship and why it went down.

[Guitarzannie]

Casek, I'm glad I saw this review. Gordon is coming to my area in June and was thinking about getting tickets to his show, but now I'm not so sure about it. I do like the guitar work on his songs, especially on "Sundown" "Carefree Highway" and "If you Could Read My Mind".

Michelle

[Casek]

Michelle,
I wouldn't use my review as a decision whether to go see him or not. The second half of the show was good. He may have just had an off night. If you like his music, I would still go. Just don't expect him to sound like his albums, because he is much older and has a rougher voice.

[Guitarzannie]

Michelle,
I wouldn't use my review as a decision whether to go see him or not. The second half of the show was good. He may have just had an off night. If you like his music, I would still go. Just don't expect him to sound like his albums, because he is much older and has a rougher voice.

Well, the problem for me wouldn't be the rough vocals but potentially having a lack of money on my part at that time, so I have to spend it wisely.

If rough vocals were a problem, I definitely wouldn't have gone to see John Sebastian last month ;) . I went to the concert knowing that his vocals would be rough.

Actually, I am saving the money to go to a fiddle and strings day camp (they also teach guitar at this day camp and that's why I am going).

If I have some money at that time, I might consider going to see Gordon Lightfoot though.

Michelle