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TORONTO - “They’re all toe-tappers.”
That’s how Canadian music icon Gordon Lightfoot described his beloved folk-pop classics as he kicked off his long-standing tradition of performing a multi-night stand at Massey Hall on Wednesday night.
During the first of four consecutive shows, Lightfoot and his longtime four-piece band delivered a gentle, warm-sounding, and stripped-down night of music, yet managed to pack a staggering 27 songs in just an-hour-and-35-minutes if you count the 25-minute intermission.
The singer-songwriter-guitarist, looking thin but in good spirits for a guy who cheated death in 2002, admitted he was feeling a bit shy during his first night at Massey this time around.
Still, Lightfoot managed to crack a few jokes, tell some good songwriting stories - seeing Bruce Springsteen in a solo performance at Massey Hall about a decade ago inspired him to write Ringnecked Loon - and grinned when the crowd broke into a spontaneous rendition of Happy Birthday in honour of him turning 71-years-old on Tuesday. (He pointed out it was keyboardist Michael Heffeman’s birthday on Wednesday.)
There is an intimacy at a Lightfoot show at Massey Hall that comes from the crowd knowing the artist’s 40-decade songbook so well combined with his own unaffected charm.
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“I feel rejuvenated,” said Lightfoot as he got more at ease as the show progressed. “I love this work.”
Lightfoot’s run at the celebrated venue began back in the late ‘60s.
And while his vocal delivery has definitely become more clipped, and his inability to sustain long or high notes is noticeable, he still is Gordon Lightfoot.
And for that, we are all eternally grateful.
Lightfoot, who favoured a blue velvet jacket in the first set followed by a burgundy velvet vest in the second set, began the night tentatively with Triangle, Did She Mention My Name, 14 Karat Gold, Never Too Close, and In My Fashion but finally hit his stride with A Painting Passing Through and Rainy Day People.
Meanwhile, Lightfoot’s band, rounded out by lead guitarist Terry Clements, bassist Rick Haynes and drummer Barry Keane, provided a minimal yet effective musical framework around which the songs could truly shine.
Other highlights proved to be hits like Beautiful, Carefree Highway, Sundown, Alberta Bound, The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald, Don Quixote, If You Could Read My Mind, Baby Step Back, and Canadian Railroad Trilogy.
The tunes would sometimes prompt the whole crowd to clap along, declare their love for Lightfoot, or just shout out their appreciation.
“That was good Gord!” said one fan after a particular song.
“They’re all good!” added another fan to laughter.
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SET LIST
1 Triangle
2 Did She Mention My Name
3 14 Karat Gold
4 Never Too Close
5. In My Fashion
6. A Painter Passing Through
7. Rainy Day People
8 Shadows
9 Beautiful
10. Carefree Highway
11. Cotton Jenny
12 Ribbon of Darkness
13. Sundown
14 The Watchman’s Gone
15. Alberta Bound
INTERMISSION
16. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
17 Ringneck Loon
18. Don Quixote
19. If Children had Wings
20. Let it Ride
21. Fine As Fine Can Be
22 If You Could Read My Mind
23. Baby Step Back
24. Restless
25. Canadian Railroad Trilogy
26. Song for A Winter’s Night
ENCORE:
27. Old Dan’s Records