man in hat creates electric storm

Another album another tour. Richard Thompson is becoming the grand old man of folk-rock. Having been present at its birth with his pioneering work with Fairport Convention (a band he helped form and then left around ‘71) he has been solo – albeit with then-wife Linda for a few years – ever since. It is a reflection on the dearth of reasonable mid-size Bristol venues that, if RT (as us diehards know him) is coming to town then the Colston Hall is where you have to go. A hall of suspect acoustics and dire seating arrangements so that the experience is more akin to watching a works safety video and giving the performer some work to do to whip up an atmosphere. Still, the boy has played here often enough in the past so he knows what he has to do.
The show follows the usual pattern of his tours, some tracks from the new album – Sweet Warrior this time – followed by a rummage around his back catalogue. It has to be said that his new album sounds like a return to form – that much touted expression that often means at least it’s not as bad as their recent work (see Front Parlour Ballads – I just listened to it again, hmm) but in this case it definitely seems to stand up with some of the greater, earlier stuff.
You also get an acoustic section. So we were treated to a Sandy Denny vintage Fairport song (Who Knows Where the Time Goes – almost intact) together with a gripping Vincent Black Lightning. No Beeswing but in a way that was quite refreshing in itself. What you get most prominently, however, is some blistering electric guitar work. We were sufficiently close to notice that the finger work was looking increasingly like some crab addled on acid picking and clawing at all the strings in some frenzy. Yay! Whilst each song generally gives RT some range for soloing, this tour’s wig out song is Hard on Me taken from the Mock Tudor album and his guitar is given a serious mangling over about 10 minutes, reminiscent of the pounding that Calvary Cross used to get. Quality stuff indeed and verging on the transcendental. This is not just soloing because he’s a guitar god but seriously exorcising some angst in the way that Neil Young and, yes, old boy Hendrix are renowned for. And it’s fantastic to be a witness to it.
And an honourable mention for Michael Jerome on drums, Danny Thompson on double bass and Pete Zorn on pretty much everything. All had a fine evening with particular credit for their soloing on Al Bowley’s in Heaven. The scheduled support act passed us by – we forgot it was an old folk’s night which means it all starts on time. Hey ho.
So, you get a show that follows the format of pretty much all the shows he does on his tours but within that you get some stonkingly fine stuff that makes the experience new all over again. So I guess I now start the wait for the next tour.