Riding the train to Toronto

Some musicians are bucket list for me. Any Beatle, I’ve seen Paul but not Ringo. And, as he’s been affectionately known in our home for more than 30 years, “Uncle Neil.”

We chopped him off the list on Sunday at the Freshwater Amphitheater. (It was the Budweiser Stage but Neil changed its name for the night.)

From “Cinnamon Girl” to “Cowgirl in the Sand”, “Like a Hurricane”, “Sugar Mountain” and “Harvest Moon” he hit enough old music to keep people like me happy. He even played “Mr. Soul” which I remember from a Buffalo Springfield album.

Interestingly, he didn’t ever seem to touch on Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

He also went through some more obscure songs new to us like “Tumbleweed” and “Daddy Went Walkin’ ”.

He closed with “Old Man” and then came back for an encore of “This Notes for You” and “Keep on Rockin’ in the Freeworld” telling the audience of mixed US and Canadian citizens to “Take America Back.”

The venue was crowded. We sat in the Aperol Lawn Seats with sons Joe and Ben. We parked in Burlington and took the GO Train to Union Station where we got a bite to eat at The Loose Moose, a restaurant crowded with Blue Jays fans but still providing surprisingly fast service.

We took the GO back to Exhibition Place to walk through the CNE Exhibition to the amphitheater. CNE is the the Erie County Fair doubled in size but without an obvious agricultural element.

A beer and a water at the concert cost a total of $18 Canadian, more reasonable than Artpark. There were even water bottle refill stations. I wanted a shirt but $60 cdn seemed steep.

The crowd was tight. It felt a bit like being on the lawn for an oversold show at Darien Lake only with the Toronto skyline reflecting the sunset.

Back at the GO station the train was standing room only so we waited for the last one. We were home by about 1:45 a.m.