Gordon Lightfoot is coming to town.

[JohnMichael]

Well he is coming to Columbus. Nothing comes to my town but street carnivals and small fairs complete with Rebel flag booths. I think I may have to buy some tickets. ForeverAutumn I remember you have seen him perform recently. What are your thoughts?

[ForeverAutumn]

Well, he's a 74-year-old man with health problems. I loved seeing him live because I love the Legend and I love the music. He has a great stage presence and connects with his audience, but I can't really say a lot of great things about his vocal performance.

His vocals have suffered. When he sings the low register he still sounds great, but when he's up higher and needs the lung power to belt out the notes, the power isn't there. When we saw him last November, the show was less than two hours long. But we also saw the second last night of his tour, so he may have just been tired at that point.

If you're expecting a great vocal performance, you won't get it. If you want an entertaining evening of great songwriting, go. If you want to see the Legend before he has to stop touring, then definately go.

[JohnMichael]

Thanks for putting things in perspective.

[Feanor]

Gordon Lightfoot: now there's a name from the past. I was almost startled to hear is name mention: I wouldn't have guessed he is still performing.

I was a pretty big fan in the early '70s. I might still have a two or three of his albums on vinyl, but honestly I haven't listen to any of his work in years. Perhaps it just died of over exposure back in those years. Still, he have a few great songs that lurk in the dusty, dusky corners of my memory, to wit ...

• Early Morning Rain; (of which many covers were made)
• If You Could Read My Mind
• Canadian Railroad Trilogy
• Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
• The Pony Man
• Minstrel Of The Dawn

My favourite Canadian folk singer/songwriter, (male or female), was never Lightfoot but Ian Tyson, at least back in his Ian & Sylvia days. He went through a later country music phase that didn't interest me so much, but then I was done with folk music by the late '70s anyway. Tyson was much better song writer than Lightfoot IMO.