Gordon Lightfoot is the Bob Dylan of Canada. While Bob Dylan can be considered the king of folk music, Gordon Lightfoot is just as masterful. He is a lyrical genius whose music tells many stories. If you don't believe me, just listen to Canadian Railroad Trilogy or The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
See! I told you! Those two songs are only scratching the surface. Gordon is an amazing artist! I highly recommend listening to more of his music. I know I own a CD or two and listen to it often.
Knowing that I like Gordon Lightfoot, Victoria found out he was playing in Austin. He would be performing at the ACL Live Moody Theater. She bought tickets and gave them to me as a birthday present.
Ironically, the timing was perfect. I had just come back from Canada. This time to get the Canadian cultural experience, Canada would be coming to me!
What I find amazing is Gordon is almost 80 years old and still going strong. It's great that he continues to tour and I got a chance to see him! The years have made his voice a bit raspier, but he continues to put on a great show.
The mood of the show seemed like a very mellow jam session. Being that the ACL Live Moody Theater is a smaller venue, the concert felt very intimate. When I looked around, Victoria and I appeared to be the youngest people there.
The interesting thing is there were a few older people there that clearly had too much to drink. They shouted out "requests" like Gordon was a cheap cover band. I don't think they got the point of a set list.
A few drunk middle-aged women decided to dance by their seats and yell "Cotton Jenny" as a "request." Gordon jokingly said, "Anything's possible." I think their significant others had enough. They left about halfway through the concert. If they had only stayed, they would have been able to enjoy Cotton Jenny. It was played as the encore.
Besides the few loud people, everyone else sat calmly and quietly in their seats. This was the most relaxing concert I've been to so far. It was just great to sit back and enjoy the music.
The cool thing about this concert is it was just Gordon Lightfoot. No openers and no distractions. There was an intermission halfway between. For the second set, you could tell Gordon was getting a little cold and put on a sweater.
In my opinion, he killed it. For almost 80 years old, it's absolutely amazing how good of a show he still puts on. This was a great birthday present, and I'm hoping Gordon keeps putting out more music. I know I'll be buying a new album if he does!
The following are the pictures I took from the concert. The sound and lighting were great. Hopefully, the pictures my iPhone took can do justice to this awesome concert!
