GORDON LIGHTFOOT: LIVE AT MASSEY HALL
The most iconic Canadian music venue, Massey Hall, closed in 2018 for extensive renovations. Gordon Lightfoot was the last to grace the stage before closing for renovations, which only seems appropriate considering his track record at the venue. When they opened in 2021, he was the first to play the new stage and the lovely folks at Massey Hall asked me to design posters for each night on his 3-night residency.
Right across from Massey Hall in Toronto, Ontario, there’s a diner. And as far as I could tell, it’s been there for a long time. Although I’m a Maritimer who hasn’t spent much time in Toronto, it was easy to see that a lot of people have spent time before or after a show at Massey Hall sitting in this diner, looking out the window across the street at the venue in either anticipation or in a state of post-concert elation. I used these two window booths as the setting for these posters, showing 3 different moments in time from the exact same view with an ambiguous amount of time passing between each. The poster for the first show is a night time scene with two solo diners fuelling up for a nice evening while Massey Hall glows behind them.
The second shows poster features a woman and her guitar case, staring longingly at the venue. Maybe she’s playing a show tonight or maybe she’s a dreamer hoping to grace the iconic stage one day.
The third poster takes place late on a stormy night just before close. A staff member is sweeping up while the rain falls on Massey Hall in the background, getting ready to do it all over again. It’s a bit of a tribute to everyone off-stage who makes these special events, these iconic venues, and these wonderful performances as magical as they are. As well as an homage to the music industry staff working two jobs to make their dreams happen.
It’s tough to capture such a significant piece of music and city history in a single image (well 3 similar images). But through this series I feel like I was able to express its longevity, its reverence, and what it means to big acts, up and coming dreamers, members of the service industry, and music lovers everywhere. Which after pandemic shut downs feels like it needs to be acknowledged more.
Here are a few sketches and studies from the concept development stage of the process.
Some signed artist proofs of these 3 posters may still be available in my online shop! Head there now to check it out.