Whenever one of our favorite Canadian artists tours in PA, we try our best to get to the show when the venue is a little closer to home than Pittsburgh or Philadelphia. Living here in the PA mid-state, we have no excuses when artists visit this region, and have enjoyed bands such as The East Pointers and Le Vent Du Nord headlining their own shows here very recently. When we learned that Hamilton singer-songwriter Terra Lightfoot would be in town as an opening act for The Posies’ 30th anniversary tour, we quickly circled this Tuesday night on our calendar as a show not to be missed.
To date, we had never seen Terra perform live (we have been in similar cities at similar times, but never at the same time), so knew that this would be the perfect opportunity to finally cross paths. Making her debut in the PA state capital, we knew that even as the opening artist, Terra would bring her raw and unbridled energy to the Harrisburg Midtown Arts Centre. With the predetermined assumption that she would go solo as an opener, it was a pleasant surprise to learn that she was being accompanied by Eli Abrams (bass) and Joel Haynes (percussion) for this show, meaning a full-throttle 35 minutes to really liven up the room.
Still promoting her most recent “New Mistakes” album, Terra naturally included plenty of material from this release into her set list. Opening with “Stars Over Dakota,” she would also add “Paradise,” “Slick Back Kid” and “Drifter” from the album. With a brief deviation from the newer tunes, her Canadian hit single “No Hurry” was also included. All five songs here were played with passion, and provided the perfect vehicle for Terra to demonstrate not only her bluesy vocals, but her mastery of the electric guitar too. Not one to shy away from shredding her trademark Gibson SG, Terra’s efforts were very much appreciated by the rapidly filling room of rock music fans.
With time for two more songs, Terra was really hitting her stride. Offering the audience a choice between a soul tune or a rock and roll song, the cries for the latter prompted the trio to make a quick decision, and announce that they would share “Hold You.” Adding a little showmanship with an extended guitar solo, both Terra and Eli would kneel adjacent to each other at the front of the stage to jam. Joel kept the beat going, but it would be that seventh and final number where he truly got his time in the spotlight. Pulling out “See You In The Morning” from her “Every Time My Mind Runs Wild” album, Terra would announce that ‘for the first time,’ Joel would be joined on stage by Mike Musburger (The Posies) for a lengthy dual-drum solo to close out both the song and the set. I think somebody may have called for the fire marshal, because Terra not only warmed up the room, she pretty much set it on fire! We may have only had 35 minutes of music from Ms. Lightfoot, but we’ll take whatever we can get, especially here in our own back yard. It was a pleasure for us to chat with Terra after the show, and we remain hopeful that our paths can cross again very soon.
Set List:
- Stars Over Dakota
- Drifter
- No Hurry
- Paradise
- Slick Back Kid
- Hold You
- See You In The Morning
~ M
