Richard Thompson - 1 November 2021

First up was Katherine Priddy who was new to me but was an excellent singer songwriter with understated songs full of emotional content and a interesting folky vocal style. I particualrly liked 'Eurydice', dark and powerful. Richard Thompson came on with just an acoustic guitar - this is perhaps my favourite RT gig - he doesn't need guitar changes or roadies - just give him an old guitar and he will show what an amazing guitarist he is. He seems to play combinations of chords and melodies that no-one else thinks of and he completes a whole soundtrack effortlessly. Less full music can be heard with a whole band on stage. I didn't know all of the songs he played - there were three new ones plus a couple of older tracks I didn't recognise but mostly this was a fascinating trawl through his amazing back catalogue. Early on we had 'Turning of the Tide followed by 'Beeswing' followed by 'I misunderstood' followed by 'Walking on a wire', each song incorporating intricate guitar passages of brilliance. Just stupendous. Later in the set he did 'Vincent Black Lightning', 'Wall of Death' and 'I want to see the Bright Lights Tonight'. In amongst these songs was a super new song called 'The Fortress' which sounds like it might be another RT classic. 'Meet on the Ledge' was the first encore, a new song 'Tinker's Rhapsody' followed by 'The Storm Won't Come' was the second encore. From 'Wall of Death' onwars there was a backing singer 'Zara Phillips' on with him. This being only the fourth gig since everthing closed in March 2020 it was perhaps extra special but Richard Thompson gigs always are.