Gordon Lightfoot at Massey Hall; Saturday November 21, 2009

Gordon Lightfoot at Massey Hall; Saturday November 21, 2009

Gordon Lightfoot is from Orillia, Ontario. He however is a legend across the globe. My first taste of Lightfoot was from the movie 54 with Ryan Phillipe. The tune "If You Could Read My Mind" was featured and covered by the laughable supergroup called Stars of 54. Ironically, none of them were actually in the movie. So to see Lightfoot it almost felt nostalgic - as it did for my dad as well but for very different reasons.

It's really funny to hear Lightfoot's version of "If You Could Read My Mind" because it sounds exactly like the dance version - obviously without the added pep. Lightfoot has this funny way of delivering his words when he sings. He comes off very fragmented, like a hiccup. Only on the last few lines of this song did his voice sound clear. He felt youthful and revitalised, I heard my mom sigh after he finished the tune. I felt as though my assumption was assured.

I stumbled upon this which is a MuchMusic video live of the Stars of 54. If you listen to the first thirty seconds the VJ announces the tune as "If I Could Read Your Mind"... Way to fuck up a Canadian gem tune MM.

He played for two hours with a fifteen minute intermission. His band was full, with two guitars, bass, keys and drums. I felt the keyboard gave him a cheesy eighties synth sound. It was kind of off that his band was so full but his sound was so vacant. His recorded stuff is delicate and light - very '60s folk. His live gig reflected that sound. My ears weren't ringing as they were two weeks before for Monsters of Folk. I could hear each instrument perfectly. He didn't even amp his twelve-stringed guitar, he simply had a mic up close to it.

I don't know his catalogue too well, but he played a couple of tunes off of his 1998 album 'A Painter Passing Through'. I really liked his live version of "Ringneck Loon" where he called upon people at the beginning to make a loon sound. No one reciprocated, until the very end when somebody let out a beautiful loon call. I have no idea how to do it but it felt familiar, something i've heard before. He instructed the looners to make the sound during the quiet parts.

Lightfoot is 71. He apparently was in a coma for six weeks in 2002. It's remarkable he is able to standup in front of a huge crowd, four nights in a row for two hours at a time. His voice is quiet, and i heard the people behind me say they wish the mic was a bit closer to him. It didn't bother me as I was so close, but I felt that the hand clapping crowd were haulted because they couldn't hear him sing while they clapped. Probably a good thing.

He didn't play "Steel Rail Blues" which I thought was a big one for him... My Dad said of the four or five times he'd seen Lightfoot he has never heard that tune.

It's funny to see how folk music has really evolved in the last fifty years. It's a sound that has for the most part stayed the same, keeping its bare parts of a guitar, voice and minimal instrumentation. Rocky Votolato, Fionn Regan and Joe Pug would make Ligahtfoot proud.

I truly felt Canadian at this show. Lightfoot at the beginning of his set recognised a dear friend of his, who he described as his canoe partner. He then went on to say this person is John Turner, former Prime Minister of Canada. Turner, at a ripe 80 romed around the aisles with his lady. A truly patriotic show.

I feel as though Lightfoot is more known for his song writing than his songs himself. Here's a list of tunes that i've come up with that Lightfoot penned but other people made famous:

"Early Morning Rain" covered by Bob Dylan
"Early Morning Rain" covered by Paul Weller (of the Jam)
"For Loving Me" covered by Johnny Cash
"I'm Not Saying" covered by Nico
"The Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald" covered by the Butthole Surfers