[charlene]

Gordon Lightfoot
National Arts Centre-Ottawa, Ontario – Friday June 15 and Saturday June 16, 2012
Friday June 15, 2012 – Night One in Ottawa

I flew from Toronto to Ottawa on Friday afternoon and after a 40 minute flight I walked out to a beautiful afternoon in Canada’s capital city. My friend Gwen from California had been spending time on the east coast and in Vermont for a week or so prior to the concerts and picked me up at the airport. We headed to the hotel after many twists and turns on Ottawa’s one way streets. We were a 10 minute walk from the National Arts Centre and after a quick bite to eat when we were done checking into our room we headed to the Centre. What a beautiful hall but oddly there wasn’t a centre aisle despite the rows being very, very wide!

Walking through the lobby/bar area I heard a familiar voice call out my name and there was my dear Ron sitting on a stool having a brew and looking like the cat that swallowed the canary. He was vibrating with excitement in anticipation of the night’s events. Diane from Boston was also there so it was great meeting up with her again too. Before long we were taking our seats and waiting for The Man.

Our seats were in the front row directly opposite Carter so we had great views! I spoke briefly with the stage manager and he said he, Gordon, Barry and Mike had arrived in Ottawa at 2:00 a.m. after flying in from New York and the Songwriters Hall of Fame event.

I’ve posted the set lists but will briefly re-cap some comments made during the evening..

After the 3rd song, Waiting For You, Gordon talked about seeing Kenny Rogers singing The Gambler the previous night in NY and how great it was. He hadn’t seen him since the Rolling On The River days. Gordon seemed thirsty and was drinking from a bottle of water on his stool. I had noticed his shaky hands as he placed the bottle back on the stool and was surprised when he acknowledged it by saying “It’s not nerves – it’s AGE!”..
After the 6th song, Let It Ride, He shouted out, “Will the energy never stop?” “Not right now!” lol.. He was still wired and on a high from the night before. He was all smiles and sounding amazing.

When Gordon finished the 8th song, Rainy Day People he spoke about Stevie Nicks and her hand movements as she sang “The Rose”…he said, “God it was alluring, she has the allurement factor!”…and then he tried making the hand movements she did while the band and audience laughed. Lol

After Beautiful, the 10th song, he leaned over after having a drink and then said, “It’s a middle ear thing but don’t worry about it – I’m old!”

The 12th song was introduced as the Chick a choo pow pow song and then he sang Hangdog Hotel after the band stopped laughing as he kept repeating it. There was an ease and relaxed feel about the whole night as Gordon seemed to be so comfortable and happy to be there. He called the Centre a second home and remembered opening it back in 1969.

After he sang The Wreck as the 16th song and first after the break he mentioned that Anne who runs the office had told him that Bette Midler had tweeted about him from the night before. He seemed quite tickled that she did that and said, I’ve been tweeted by Bette Midler!” I had posted her tweets as they happened that night. I wonder if Anne saw them here. She was at the event and cameras etc. were not to be used…I forgot to ask her when I spoke with her.

Band intros were funny – Mike was Keyboard Man, Rick was Bassman, Barry was the sports statistician and on guitar was Carter…

After IYCRMM, the 21st song there was a standing ovation and Gordon had the band take a bow.

Restless was number 22 and he said it was ethereal which reminded him of cereal which meant he needed more sleep that night. lol

Number 23 was CRT and he was a bit breathy in parts. After the song he said he let his hair grow long especially for the event last night! lol (altho it was shorter than he’s had it at times in the last few years)

After Baby Step Back they left the stage and then came back to a standing ovation to sing Blackberry Wine.. “We were coming back anyway.”

Concert #1 in Ottawa was in the books!…the sound system was impeccable. Even in the front row all instruments were clear and loud enough and there was no issue with Gordon’s voice being too low. It was wonderful!

After the show and when everyone else had spent a few minutes with Gordon he walked a few steps towards me and said, “We have to do that chat!, We’ll get to it Char!” And I said, “OK!” Arrangements will be made in the next couple of weeks. He spoke again about Stevie Nicks and Kenny Rogers and Phil Ramone and several others who were at the SHOF show, along with how great Bette Midler and Bob Seeger were. Rick also said she was amazing and funny in giving her speech after receiving the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement award and he said he thought Stevie Nicks hadn’t sounded that good for 20 years. The event sounded like controlled chaos at the venue with press, red carpet, rehearsal and setup etc. but was a memorable night for all of them. During rehearsals the three backup singers in the house band started singing along and it sounded great so they were told to do it for the show. There were about 10 on stage singing SUNDOWN. Shortly after things wrapped up they had to scoot out to the airport and head to Ottawa for the 2 shows there and one in Montreal over the next 3 days. They arrived in Ottawa at 2:30 a.m. after a short 40 minute flight from New York city. It was a hectic day of travel, rehearsals, large crowds, red carpet interviews and photo ops but you’d never know it by the energy they all had onstage in Ottawa the next night.