ORILLIA, ONT. – A era of outdated buddies, longtime {couples} and households raised on Gordon Lightfoot gathered Saturday night time within the singer-songwriter’s Orillia, Ont., hometown to mark the passing of the Canadian musician.
By sheer coincidence — or as some prompt, a case of mournful serendipity — a live performance deliberate months in the past as a tribute to Lightfoot as a residing legend wound up being a celebration of a life well-lived.
The musician died Monday at age 84.
For Chicago residents Jan Goldsmith and her grown son Rick Goldsmith, saying goodbye was important. The 2 flew into Canada earlier Saturday and travelled to Orillia for the live performance with plans to attend Lightfoot’s public visitation on Sunday.
“I’ve been listening to Gordon since (my mother) launched me as a child … and he’s been part of my life nearly every day since,” stated Rick.
“We needed to be right here.”
The Goldsmiths described a mix of unhappiness and pleasure that ran all through “Early Morning Rain: The Legend of Gordon Lightfoot,” a musical retrospective held on the Orillia Opera Home, contained in the 677-seat Gordon Lightfoot Auditorium.
It was a venue the place the musician carried out many occasions earlier than. And workers shared tales of how Lightfoot was identified to wander to the theatre every time he was on the town.
Outdoors the venue, a bronze bust of the singer attracted followers who posed for images amid bouquets of flowers lined on the base.
On stage, Leisa Method & the Wayward Wind Band shared their very own tales of Lightfoot’s legacy by main the viewers via a unfastened chronological recounting of his profession, beginning with songs from his time as an Orillia boy.
Their openers included a rendition of “We Come Right here to Sing,” recorded when he was within the early Sixties duo the Two Tones adopted by an interpretation of the lyrics to “The Hula Hoop Track,” a industrial jingle he wrote as an adolescent.
Because the present progressed, extra beloved Lightfoot hits surfaced.
A heat tackle “Metal Rail Blues,” with the complete band at centre stage, led to Method’s upbeat solo of “If You May Learn My Thoughts.” Different favourites “Carefree Freeway,” “Sunset” and “Early Morning Rain” closed out the present.
For a room largely comprised of people that grew up on Lightfoot — a lot of them little greater than a decade his junior — it was an evening of therapeutic.
Chris Robbins, who got here to the present together with her husband and an entourage of buddies, stated she was there to have a good time Lightfoot’s work.
“He touched the core of the nation from coast-to-coast,” she stated outdoors the venue.
“It’s a sold-out present, that’s good,” she added. “He often did that.”
Duncan McDonald, an Orillia resident, introduced his spouse alongside in hopes of sharing a room with like-minded music followers.
“I wish to be right here to honour him; hearken to the music; grieve a bit of bit; and sing a bit of,” he stated.
McDonald anticipated an evening with “loads of tears, loads of laughter, loads of pleasure and loads of mourning for a time that’s handed.”
The gathering was additionally one among kindness, as Lightfoot followers Will and Zenith Andrews found. The couple obtained married within the Philippines seven years in the past, and Will sang Lightfoot’s “Stunning” to his spouse as she walked down the aisle.
On Saturday afternoon, they made a break up choice to journey 90 minutes from Whitby, Ont., to Orillia with out live performance tickets, merely to see off Lightfoot in any significant manner they may.
“We got here right here tonight as a result of we wished to see the statue,” defined Will, standing outdoors the opera home.
A couple of minutes later, the couple discovered themselves on the successful finish of free tickets. Two separate concertgoers heard they have been ticketless and handed them spares. After the present, they have been beaming.
Different Lightfoot followers can have an opportunity to say farewell to the singer on Sunday when a public service will likely be held at St. Paul’s United Church from 1 to eight p.m.
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Could 6, 2023.
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