Lightfoot not yet close to Sundown
Special to The Okanagan Weekend
The first impression of Thursday night’s concert at Kelowna Community Theatre: there’s an old man onstage about to play Gordon Lightfoot songs.
However, as soon as his nimble fingers began to caress a 12-string guitar, you know you are in for a treat from a national treasure. And as soon as his distinctive baritone voice croons the first notes, you know it’s no cover artist. This is the one and only Gordon Lightfoot.
There’s no doubt why his current tour is labelled The Legend Lives On 2017.
At 78 years of age (79 on Nov. 17), his fall tour of 15 shows across Western Canada marks the 50th anniversary of his first crossCanada tour and the premiere of his smash hit, the Canadian Railroad Trilogy.
He performed it for the first time on New Year’s Day 1967 in honour of Canada’s centennial year.
This year, with 79 performances, his legions of fans don’t want to miss a chance to see and hear him one more time. Perhaps the last time.
His voice isn’t as strong as it was a dozen years ago, the last time I saw him. During that performance, I thought it might be the last time I would see him.
But he is nothing if not resilient, despite continuing health challenges. He excused himself after one song, turned and used nasal spray. Later, he hobbled off the stage, returned carrying more nasal spray and subsequently tried to clear his nasal passages by blowing his nose.
He didn’t explain his rhinitis, also known as coryza, but it is irritation and inflammation of the mucous membrane inside the nose caused by viruses, bacteria, irritants or allergens. Common symptoms are a stuffy nose, runny nose, sneezing and post-nasal drip.
In fact, Lightfoot is lucky to be alive, much less with a performance schedule of a much younger man.
In 2002, the then-65-year-old collapsed in his backstage dressing room from an abdominal hemorrhage prior to a charity performance in his hometown of Orillia, Ont. He was airlifted to hospital in Hamilton where he remained for three months, five weeks of it in a coma when his life actually hung in the balance.
Ever the trouper, Lightfoot had audio equipment brought in while he was bedridden and he oversaw the mixing of tracks, mostly based on vocal-and-guitar rehearsal recordings he had made at a nearby studio.
The result was the album, Harmony, released in 2004.
“It’s great to be back here again in Kelowna. It feels good just standing here. I love the work that we do. I just want to keep working, that’s all,” he commented, adding he appreciated “the fresh air out here on the West Coast,” perhaps an oblique reference to his nasal challenges. He also joked about only using one digit of his left hand but he is still able to play in five keys.
In introducing Much to My Surprise (1998), he related the story of a man who married the same woman twice and divorced her twice. (Lightfoot himself has been married three times.)
“My glasses almost get broken on this song,” he quipped. Perhaps not by coincidence, he followed that up with the lyrics from Cold on the Shoulder: “If you’re gonna make a mistake, Don’t you make it twice.”
The musical icon’s voice cracked several times Thursday night, but fans were not only forgiving but often sang along (and clapped in unison) to his string of hits, including: If You Could Read My Mind (1970), his first U.S. top 10 hit reaching No. 5; Sundown (1974) a No. 1 hit; Rainy Day People (1975) at No. 25; and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (1976), No. 2 on the Hot 100.
That was in between popular numbers like Ministrel of the Dawn, Beautiful and Baby Step Back.
He also joked about occasionally dropping a verse from a song for a shorter version. “You can do more tunes that way. But I wouldn’t do that on Sundown and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
When a fan shouted what he thought was a missing line, Lightfoot joked: “We have a winner. Thank you for participating. (But) no, no, that’s another way of shortening a song.”
A standing ovation produced a one-song encore, ending the twohour concert (with a 20-minute intermission) with what could be Lightfoot’s swan song, Waiting for You.
The lyrics of the opening line summarized this sentimental journey down Memory Lane: “Say what you will, I will miss you, my friends.”