Customer Reviews

Gordon Lightfoot - Live in Reno

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I'm in complete agreement with Sam Graham's editorial review above. It was Gordon's "gaunt looks" and "frail voice" that has become so visible in recent years that almost prevented me from watching this DVD. I wanted to remember Lightfoot as he was the first time I saw him in person at the Univ. of Irvine cafeteria in '68. Virtually unknown in California at the time, there was a small but enthusiastic crowd that evening for what was to be his first ever appearance in Orange County and to this day ranks as one of my all-time favorite concert experiences. I was sixteen at the time and since that Irvine concert I have become one of Gordon's staunchest fans with a total of 19 Lightfoot concerts attended and hoping for at least one more before I'm through. You might say Gordon and I have grown old together.

Overcoming my initial fears of watching a fading shadow of what once was, I purchased the DVD and hesitantly watched it one night after my wife and daughter went to bed. I wanted to judge the concert on my own without any input from the family, this was between Gordon and I. Now I can say that I'm happy with my decision. Whatever may have changed through the years, it's still Gordon Lightfoot! Surrounded by some of the same musicians who performed with him long ago in that first concert in '68, I soon forgot about how old and frail he looked and once again became absorbed in the music that has meant so much to me through the years.

Gordon Lightfoot's songs certainly haven't grown old. They still convey all the passion, introspection, regret and wonder of life that they always have. They always will.

This is Lightfoot's first concert video, and is in fact his first officially released live recording since 1969. Recorded at the Pioneer Theater in Reno, Nevada on April 19, 2000, the video captures the warmth and intimacy of a Lightfoot concert, brought into your home for the first time.

The DVD contains 22 songs, almost the entire concert. Lightfoot performs all of his hits - songs that charted in the top 40 for him - as well as songs he wrote that were hits for others. And he includes some of his other great songs which, though never chart hits, are among the best songs ever written.

None of the hits are omitted, so you will hear If You Could Read My Mind, Sundown, Carefree Highway and Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald, among others. The other songs come from throughout his career, dating back to the early/mid 60s with Early Mornin' Rain and For Lovin' Me, to the title song from his latest original album, A Painter Passing Through.

Lightfoot is backed up by his band all of whom has been with him for at least 20 years, and the first two for 30 or more. They are: Terry Clements (lead guitar), Rick Haynes (bass), Barry Keane (drums and percussion) and Mike Heffernan (keyboards), and they are among the finest musicians around. The fact that they have recorded and toured with Lightfoot for so many years says volumes about them and about Lightfoot.

The full set list is: Don Quixote, I'll Prove My Love, House You Live In, Sundown, Carefree Highway, Restless, Blackberry Wine, For Lovin' Me/Did She Mention My Name (Medley), Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald, Waiting For You, Fading Away, Rainy Day People, Shadows, If You Could Read My Mind, A Painter Passing Through, Make Way For The Lady, Early Mornin' Rain, Baby Step Back, Song For A Winter's Night, Canadian Railroad Trilogy, Old Dan's Records, Cold On The Shoulder.

Amazing list of songs, isn't it?

(Note: I have not seen this North American release of the concert, but I have seen the UK DVD as well as the original videotape from the production company).

by Valerie Magee

I've seen Gordon Lightfoot in concert, on average, once a year since 1972. I've also met him several times and even received a bit of advice from Lightfoot regarding my own career. I bought this DVD for posterity--out of "respect for a legend." The set is a stellar collection and example of the artist's best songwriting. True, Lightfoot doesn't have the voice he had 30 years ago, but he's still far more expressive than many of his peers. Lightfoot and his band still play with precision and clarity such that few bands would only hope to aspire to during a live concert. Meanwhile, their performance of "Old Dan's Records" is rousing, "Make Way for the Lady" bluesy and inspired, "Early Morning Rain" and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" completely authentic. Some of Lightfoot's newer songs, like "I'll Prove My Love," "Waiting for You," and "A Painter Passing Through," sound almost exactly like the studio recordings. Some reviewers have commented on how Lightfoot looks "frail" and "gaunt." Well, when he enters this Reno stage to start the show and, later, returns for his encore, Lightfoot has a noticeable spring in his step and appears totally youthful! With complete confidence, he and the band "nail" "Cold On the Shoulder" to end this DVD collection--something all fans should have for "posterity."

I've been listening to Gordon Lightfoot's music for over 30 years now. I have all of his music and found that every one had something special to offer. Each one of his songs is an experience in another place or time. When you're listening to "Canadian Railroad Trilogy", you can picture the images in your mind of the men hitting the spikes: "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", you can almost feel the wind: Or the classic, "If You Could Read My Mind", the hurt in the man's heart when Lightfoot metaphorically sings, ..."you know that ghost is me...and I will never be set free as long as I'm a ghost and you can't see". What Steven Spielberg does for movies, Gordon Lightfoot does to music. It's true that after 30 years, his voice has changed. But that doesn't matter. That's like saying as one grows older and their looks fade, that our love for a person fades as well. Everyone knows grandparents have the most to offer and so does Lightfoot's music. So many artists have just done a record or two and then fade into oblivion. To see Gordon Lightfoot perform on this DVD to a full house brought tears to my eyes. Because he hasn't been in the mainstream for so long, you wonder how many people love his music and this concert proves that a great performer can still pack them in. The song "Restless" sent a chill through me as his group performed that one. It was better than the CD version. Also the audience was professional. Not a yell, cough or premature clap before his songs were finished, proving that they knew his music well to sit and hear every note. I am a station manager of a country radio station and I play his music on the air every day. I put Gordon Lightfoot on the play list daily right between artists like Garth Brooks, Ray Price or Shania Twain. It's too bad many other radio stations have left out some great artists...I don't! We still get requests for Gordon Lightfoot almost every day. All I can say is.. "Thank you Mr. Lightfoot for over 30 years of great music including this concert"...

Gordon Lightfoot has been a big part of my life for over 30 years. His music remains original, and though seldom contemporary, I always await Lightfoot's next project or visit. The Live in Reno DVD/VHS is a long overdue video representation of what you would expect to hear and see at one of his shows. It would have been nice to have had one of these every 5 years over the course of his incredible career; but this is most likely our one and only chance. As any true Lightfoot fan will attest - there are no smoke and mirrors here, no lights in motion to augment a mediocre talent - just Lightfoot and his awesome band doing what they do best and consistantly year after year. This DVD is not for everybody; especially for the guy in the sixth row that insists on yelling "rock and roll" at the top of his lungs at the quietest moment of the evening - just to share his rude ignorance with the rest of the crowd. While viewing this concert keep this in mind: you will be seeing a true member of international music history who has outlasted thousands of bands and acts over a course of 35 years!

I have some serious complaints about this DVD, and they definitely aren't related to the songs. Gordon Lightfoot has so many great music releases that I'd recommend getting his complete catalog on CD before moving on to try this DVD. Many of my objections to the video are based on the crowd and the venue. There's sort of a tourist-like, supper-club, over-the-hill vibe to the Reno crowd, as if a bunch of vacationing gamblers were trying their best to follow along, but they just couldn't keep the beat if their lives had depended on it. It's obvious that Gordon Lightfoot doesn't look great here, but the blame for that goes back to the venue, and the producers and the overall decision to use this particular site as the show for the DVD. The whole place is lit so brightly that nobody looks good. The setting seems way too commercialized for Gordon's taste. I've seen Lightfoot look much more at home in more intimate concert surroundings. I was so shocked by the glaring appearance of this DVD that I turned off the TV and turned up the music, and on that level I still enjoyed the performance, but that approach makes the video essentially pointless. Even with all of my criticism, I still think that this has some value, and it has to do for now, but considering how many great shows he's done in so many better settings, I don't understand why this show was chosen for the DVD release. In my opinion Gordon Lightfoot is one of the best songwriters of the era, who will be appreciated for as long as people are listening to music, so there should be some great visual document of his concerts. I hope that someone rescues something from the vaults, and I hope that someone still gets a better video from his current shows.

This is a wonderful DVD. For those of us who have seen him in concert throughout his career, this is an excellent example of Lightfoot now, and it feels like a Lightfoot concert (yes, there are rude people in the audience who insist on yelling "Rock and Roll", even in Massey Hall.) Lightfoot's voice is different than it once was, not better or worse but different. Perhaps one of the very best things about this is the musicans who are a part of Lightfoot's show. They back him up without being obtrusive, functioning like a well oiled machine.

Probably hard core Lightfoot fans will appreciate this more than people who remember him only for "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", but it is a pleasure to see Lightfoot perform.

What distinguishes Gordon Lightfoot from every other singer songwriter who came to fame from the sixties is that he has stayed the course. His music reflects the observatuions of a Don Quixote who has charged at windmills and suffered pain and loss, found solace at the helm of his sailboat along the Canadian lakes or in the call of a ring neck loon. His are the shadows of a lover at the door of his beloved, the remembrances of a man whose lover leaves in the early morning hours. He has chronicled the wreck of ships and loss of lives, the loneliness of the hitchhiker who has fallen through the cracks of society, or the families of those in prison. The human factor has ever and always been the domain of Gordon Lightfoot, and in that regard he is very much a Graham Greene as Troubador, in as classical a sense of the word as possible. He has written the real Canadian National anthem and has pleaded with the cultural forces within Canada to stay together. His voice carries the mist of the maritimes, the grandeur of the Rockies, the solitude of the great Ontario wilderness. If you want to know what Canada is, you need only listen to Gordon Lightfoot. He is the crucible of all post war Canadian music. It is as inconceivable to imagine where Canadian writers might have gone without him as it is to imagine where American writers might have gone without Woody Guthrie or Charlie Patton.
So, on this DVD, Gordon presents his music as he always has: it is ever and always about the songs, and the songs are ever and always about real people. No special effects, no Spinal Tap set pieces, just a band of men who know what they are talking about, presenting their take and their observations on the road thus far, and what the journey of life has revealed to them. His and his colleagues musicianship is as first rate as it has always been. They present a textbook case of what can happen when musicians listen to each other. This tightly locked groove would find itself the calling card of every great Canadian band from The Band through Bare Naked Ladies, and this is the guy who started it all. Gordon's voice is not as strong as it once was, but there is no lack of conviction in his delivery. What you get from this DVD is a vision of the genuine article. The history of modern Canada is on Gordon's face, his voice calls out with the passion and conviction of someone who knows his heritage and dares to dream of its future. In the small theatre of the heart and the soul, Gordon details the travails, the slings and arrows, the sanctuaries and solace of a life in touch with the world in which he lives. This is Farley Mowat and Robertson Davies in verse and music, and in performance it is all about the subtleties. He is often self-deprecating, has battled his share of demons and has wished for all he's worth to have had things turn out better. He has composed lullabies for children and homages to old family musicians. He is at one with the natural world and in battle with those forces that would rob us of our human dignity. He is that ghost in the wishing well, Alberta bound, standing in a knightly pose along the shore, shouting. It is a blessing to hear and see him.
We tend to seek out our national treasures after they've passed or once their powers have diminished. This DVD presents one of the great treasures of Canada delivering his music as he always has, with everything he's got. Through the woodlands, through the valleys, comes a horseman, wild and free.... indeed.

I've been a fan since 1965 when I first saw Lightfoot in person. I was delighted to see this concert come out on DVD--the quality is excellent, and the music is first-rate. True, Gord's voice is not everything that it was 20 years ago, but the heart is there, the songs are there, and the band is tight!

Lightfoot's musical presentation has matured over the years and the raw power of his early years has been replaced by subtlety and finesse. The arrangements are very good--they make excellent use of the particular talents of the band members (all of whom have been with Lightfoot for over 20 years) and the instruments they play.

If you like GL's music, you'll want to own this DVD.

I have to say that I was expecting a bit of flash and glam with the DVD, simply because that's what we seem to be used to these days with entertainers. This is a great DVD, because it is simply a gifted singer/songwriter sharing his music, supported by an obviously skilled and talented band. I found, as did others, that Lightfoot "up close and personal" was something to get a bit used to, but the music is magical. As I continued to watch the DVD, I was really entranced--the combination and synergy of the voice, the songs, the back-up music, and the enthuasism of the audience.

Particularly given that in late 2002 he suffered major health problems (to say the least), I'm really grateful that we have this opportunity to have this gifted entertainer recorded on DVD for posterity. I hope he continues to have many more years of success, in writing, singing, and performing.