Customer Reviews

Live In Reno DVD

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've been a fan of Gords for 40 years so perhaps my 5 stars is a little biased. Gords voice is not as strong as it used to be( by my reckoning he was nearing 70 years old on this video)but he still sounds great. Many of the songs performed are folk classics & all are written by himself. He is a master songwriter & a folk legend. Very pleased to see live versions of songs like Wreck Of The E. Fitzgerald & Canadian Railroad Trilogy as well as many other classics. All in all a very pleasant way to spend 1.5 hours

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 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"...

A great show by one of Canada's national treasures. I had the chance of seeing Gordon live recently and this DVD is the next best thing to being there. The choice of songs is excellent ; older ones and some of his last stuff, ballads as well as a few that rock. The performance is flawless and as far as his band goes, less is more, if you know what I mean. When he does Restless, it's just like when you see it live, simply mesmerizing, This DVD truly captures the essence of Gordon Lightfoot. It's simply precious.

Great DVD. This is an absolute "must" for the Gordon Lightfoot fan! Gordon looks great en sings even better. I think Gordon is a very friendly person. I'm very pleased with this video, because I didn't have the chance to see Gordon live. It's a shame that Gordon doesn't come to Europe for a concert. I live in the Netherlands (that small country in Europe with the capital Amsterdam). For the fans in Europe: buy the US-version of this DVD it contains 22 songs in stead of the 14 songs on the European version. But if you do so, don't forget to buy a region-free DVD-player!

My wife and I have seen Gord several times and have loved the experience. This DVD gives us the opportunity to experience the concert whenever we'd like.

Audio and video are supurb, the DTS 5.1 mix is especially smooth and lifelike.

Typical Gord Gold!

Buy this DVD!

I used to watch Gord play at Massey Hall in Toronto in the 70's. Although Gord's a littlle older here, his show is still mezmerizing. I thoroghly enjoyed it. Highly recommended to Lightfoot fans.

If you like Gordon Lightfoot, you will love this. Nice picture & sound quality & a great selection of his material.

Got this dvd a few months back,if I would of known of the lack of quality I would of NEVER purchased it!.The sound is ok but the picture is so darn grainy!! Iam very much deceived and not a happy camper,especially paying top dollar for it.Ive purchased many dvd concerts here but this one is the worst yet! If you like his music just buy the CD!

Having never seen any video footage of GL, I jumped at the chance to purchase this DVD, it had been marked down severely and was rattling around in the bargain bin of a small music store in an equally small country town!
Gord at 61 certainly looked all of his years, and from the opening songs I began to think that my bargain purchase was something less.
The voice was kind of breathless and reedy, he didnt seem to be able to hold the notes.
But... he warms to his task after two or three songs, and as Sonny Mayo correctly said in his review, he gets a spring in his step, you can watch the years drop away and that wonderful voice return in all it's glory as he recreates each masterpiece and newcomer alike.
You dont have to be a visual showman when you're Gordon Lightfoot, the magic of his words and music are reward enough.
Thoroughly recommended.