Richard Thompson always comes with new songs, new bands and new arrangements and this was no exception. Last outing in 2021 was just him and a guitar, this time the band consisted of ,Dave Mattacks...Drums, Taras Prodaniuk...Bass/ Vocals, Zak Hobbs...Mandolin/ Guitars/ Vocals, Zara Philips...Vocals/ Guitar/ Percussion. As before there are family connections as Zara is his wife and Zak his grandson.
First up was Jim Murray who started by doing a complicated acapella song using loops controlled on his phone. Impressive. His set was mainly acoustic guitar plus vocals doing traditional stuff. He was good - nice voice, good song selection.
Richard Thompson was touring a new album which is not relesed until the 31st so a number of the songs were new to me. He started with one called 'Freeze'(which I had heard) and then 'Hard on Me' which I really liked and also played another five or six off the album. I particularly liked 'Singapore Sadie' and even more the one straight after which included a beautiful guitar solo, subtle and delicate from Richard and also one from Zak. Zak was good and was given plenty off space to show off his skills. Dave Mattacks is of course an excellent drummer and the bassist Taras played some great riffs and solos.
There were also, of course, songs from the back catalogue. 'Withered and Died', 'Turning of the Tide', solo acoustic versions of 'Dimming of the Day' and 'Beeswing', 'Tear stained letter' (which always goes down well) and 'A Man in Need'. He also did a
Sandy Denny cover 'John the Gun'.
As ever some of the most memorable moments involved RT's guitar playing which is always so fluid and delicate but all of the band were good and RT's voice is still holding up despite his years. Already a highlight of 2024 for me.
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