Gordon Lightfoot concert review

A concert review from The Movie Snob

Gordon Lightfoot (Nokia Theatre, March 4, 2009). Give this concert a D for "disappointing." I don't exactly recall when I took a liking to Lightfoot's music. I think maybe a college roommate of mine owned his greatest hits album, euphoniously entitled Gord's Gold. Eventually I bought that CD myself, and it has become a favorite of mine, featuring hits such as "If You Could Read My Mind," "Sundown," and "Carefree Highway." When I heard Lightfoot was coming to Dallas, I snapped up tickets and also bought Gord's Gold Vol. 2, which features his other big hit "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."

The sad truth is that Gordon Lightfoot just doesn't sound like Gordon Lightfoot any more. My expectations were probably a little too high. After all, he's 70 years old now, and he apparently had to have a tracheotomy after a life-threatening aneurysm in late 2002. But the fact is, his clear, mellow, distinctive voice is gone, and now his voice is high, weak, and reedy. He kind of sounded like Cat Stevens, but weaker and shakier. To make matters worse, he left verses out of "Carefree Highway," "Sundown," and "Alberta Bound." Stick to his old studio albums, folks.