Richard Thompson 21/2/2013

With Richard Thompson you always get impeccable guitar playing. This tour it was largely electric and rocky with just a few acoustic tracks included. The band was a pared down three piece with a superb drummer (Michael Jerome)who drove the sound relentlessly but with great subtlety. The trio looked like they were enjoying themselves (Bassist – Tara Produniok) and handled the usual Richard Thompson set changes based on audience requests with panache. They started with three numbers of the new album, the last and slower of the three being the atmospheric ‘Salford Sunday’ which is still echoing around in my head. After some more recentish tracks including a lively version of ‘Haul Me Up’ he played a brilliant version of ‘Can’t win’ with the last extended and belted out vocal chorus followed by some blistering guitar. It’s a bit unfair to pick highlights as the musicianship of the trio stood out on every song but if I were to then that would be pretty much top of the list. Also pretty close for me was ‘Did she jump or was she pushed?’ and ‘For the shame of doing wrong’ as well as a moving acoustic version of ‘From Galway to Graceland’ which came in the encore. The final track was ‘tear-stained letter’ another classic from the Thompson back catalogue – again played with verve and feeling . It’s always worth going to see Richard Thompson – a very fine guitarist who can do all styles and moods and somehow is slightly under the radar, perhaps because of his folky roots. When the band is as tight and dynamic as this trio then it’s a must see.