OTTAWA - Gordon Lightfoot is every bit as durable as his best songs.

Despite rumours of his death in the media last month, the 72-year-old singer-songwriter proved to be in the best concert shape he’s been in in years Friday night at the National Arts Centre, where he played the first of two shows. Though he appeared physically frail, even forgetting familiar song lyrics now and then, there were many flashes of the old Lightfoot magic.

Okay, his voice isn’t what it used to be. It hasn’t been since he almost died eight years ago of an abdominal aneurysm in 2002, which was followed by a minor stroke in 2006. But what Lightfoot’s concert lost in pure musicality, it gained in the emotion of a once formidable singer now frail, performing with dignity and humour near the end of an extraordinary career.

Arguably the greatest English singer-songwriter this country’s produced, a rake-thin Lightfoot received an early standing ovation for just making the gig, which he opened with Did She Mention My Name, his once golden voice now barely rising above a whisper. Then he had to go fishing for the high notes on Carefree Highway. Yes, you could see him fishing, but he caught virtually every note.

Lightfoot is a master vocal technician who knows how to adeptly cover all the vocals he can’t do any more as on 14 Karat Gold and A Painter Passing Through.

It might have been the quietest concert I’ve ever been to, as Lightfoot didn’t talk much, and when he sang it was like a whisper while his constant band — guitarist Terry Clements and bassplayer Rick Haynes, who have been with Lightfoot for 40-plus years, with drummer Barry Keane and keyboard-player Michael Heffermen, played soft and low. We’re so used to volume at these shows, it was a pleasure to hear a show the way the musicians hear it.

“Rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated,” Lightfoot joked as if he was getting the last laugh.

As with his previous concerts at the NAC in 2006 and 2008, it took Lightfoot a while to warm to the task of singing, but when he settled, he was unstoppable. Let It Ride, Rainy Day People and Sundown among others sounded strong and he was able to close the first half with a faithful take of The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

After a short break, Lightfoot continued to mix recent songs with must-play standards, including Cotton Jenny, If You Could Read My Mind and Early Morning Rain, songs that encapsulate a remarkable career.

He plays the NAC Saturday night as well.

denis.armstrong@sunmedia.ca