Another Twin Cities follow-up:
Just heard a great account of the Minneapolis concert on the radio: WCCO-AM (830) is one of our large 50,000 watt stations in the Twin Cities (News/Talk).
One of the morning show hosts, Erik Eskola, I know is a big Gord fan and attended last night's concert. Erik hails from Duluth and I have seen him at past GL concerts, both here in the Twin Cities and Duluth.
Erik spent several minutes this morning during the drive-time show giving his review of last night's concert. He called it the most courageous performance he had ever seen by any entertainer. Erik reflected on much of what I did about the painful grimaces in finding a position to hold his picks and his attempts to strum more than twice before pain or lack of muscle control forced him to stop. He described Gord's honesty to his audience about his condition and said the concert was simply excellent and was his most memorable over the 30 years that he had seen him.
Something Erik added that I forgot to what that the State Theatre was sold-out last night and there were several heartfelt standing ovations. He also added that Gord was picking up guitar picks off the stage almost as if he was cleaning up after himself. Ever the gentleman.
I couldn't concur more with Erik. I've seen GL in concert since 1977, some 35 concerts or so. Different venues. Different songs from other phases of his career. I think he said as much about perservance last night through his actions than his songs.
I think the most emotional moment for many in the crowd last night was some woman several rows in front of us said during a quiet moment very politely "We love you Gordon. Thank you for coming back (to the Twin Cities.)" Gord heard and was geniunely moved since this was his first Twin Cities appearance since his earlier illness.
I am sure Gord will see a top-notch specialist here in Minnesota and will be given sound advice about the upcoming tour. I definitely want to see more concerts but what we saw Sunday night in Minneapolis took the person of Gordon Lightfoot to another level. Certainly an inspiration for all of us to press on and never give up.
Sure glad I took the day off of work today. I'm wrung out and what a past few days !!
John / Forest Lake, MN
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