I’ve been a fan of Richard Thompson for years, but never saw him live until last night at the Aladdin Theater in Portland.
A bit of good luck got us in the door ahead of most of the crowd, so we had seats about three rows back. It was just Richard w/ Danny Thompson on bass. Before the show I stepped up to see what pedals he was using. one was a Line 6 delay modeler, and since I stupidly failed to write down what I saw I’ve already forgotten the name of second effects box. The third item appeared to be a tube preamp.
For some songs, he had a lovely warbling effect, thicker than a Leslie speaker. But for the most part, it was just pure guitar, played with awesome power, subtlety, and expression. And of course, I can say exactly the same for his singing and the songwriting. The set included “Vincent Black Lightning” and “When the Spell Is Broken”; I would like to have heard “Keep Your Distance,” but that song wouldn’t have been as spectacular in this setting as all the stuff he did play, so I am in no way disappointed by its absence.
I’m in the cult now, folks.
The opener was Griffin House, from Cincinnati. Not terribly impressive at first, but during the third song he kicked into gear and showed what he could do. Nothing particularly thrilling in the guitar department, but he had some fine songs and sang them very well. I bought both his CDs.
P.S. Henry Kaiser directed this adorable video for “Let It Blow” (from the new CD Front Parlour Ballads), which was also performed at the show.
i saw RT open for John Prine at Chastain Park, a notoriously inhospitible outdoor venue in Atlanta.
the folks next to us were obviously there for the brie and chardonnay but they slowly started shutting the fuck up as Thompson built an incredible set.
somewhere toward the middle the woman turned to me and said, ‘who is that guy?’ i told her he was one of the greatest living guitarists and she should go find a copy of rumour and sigh. she wrote it down.
I first heard Thompson in 1967 when our respective bands – his a 3-piece Fairport – were auditioning for the same gimcrack agent in Soho. RT sat crosslegged on the floor playing the most blinding lead guitar I’d ever heard live. While the rest of us sported the obligatory beads, he wore an alarm clock around his neck.
The next encounter was at a club called Middle Earth. We were sharing the bill & RT & Ashley Hutchings were fascinated that we were featuring electric versions of English folk songs in our set. It was Sandy Denny whose direct influence had FC creating the genre, but I like to think that we struck an early spark.