TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

What a brilliant gig in Glasgow last night!

The band are on great form and were on stage for 2 hours 15 minutes.

The set was pretty much the same as Cropredy, plus Sunset Song, Mr Stupid, VBL1952, Persuasion and a few others. Highlights included a disguised intro to Bright Lights, unbelievable soloing on Hard on Me, finishing on a high with fantastic guitar work on Tear Stained Letter.

The band were restricted to fairly short solos but their quality was well evident. Michael Jerome was really inventive with that minimal kit. Pete Zorn is great to watch, a really enthusiastic performer. Danny Thompson was fairly restrained by his standards. I love watching his face when he’s soloing, he’s really funny!

I’m sorry to report the first signs of dementia setting in. He managed the first 2 verses of VBL and then did a long solo looking rather confused and eventually asked the folk down the front where he’d got to. He then continued with a long solo and (I think) quickly ran through the words in his head before picking up again at the right point.

I’m continually amazed at Richard’s playing. The solos are really inventive, his range of styles from straight fingerpicking on VBL to his cool jazz phrasing on Al Bowly and some real thrashing on Hard on Me makes for a fascinating lesson on playing guitar.

Keep the reviews coming for the rest of the tour. I’m keen to heart how it progresses

ronnie

Not Amnesia, then?  ;)

That's just a rumor (sigh!)   :-[

Moving along swiftly - the gig in Glasgow was brilliant & the venue, with everyone standing, was great.  Richard's playing & singing just get better & better.  The whole band is great.  Special mention, though, for Michael Jerome - first time I've seen him in the flesh & what a player he is.  Absolutely spot on.

The new songs from Sweet Warrior are coming across even better in a live setting as they've been played in over a few months.  

If you get a chance to see the RT Band on this tour go - you won't regret it.

Review from the (Glasgow) Herald

Never mind the occasional senior moments that cause conferences with fans on how the third verse of one of his own classic songs starts or the name of his third last album, Richard Thompson's music is as vital as it's ever been and actually seems to be growing stronger. It is not just that the opening salvo of songs, from Thompson's latest album, Sweet Warrior, began proceedings brimming with confidence but also the sheer brio and muscular purpose that Thompson brought to the golden oldies section defied his typically self-depracating description of it as "the hit".

He's helped, of course, by a band of trusty accomplices who can morph from the tough rockin' that now guides the previously jaunty Bright Lights into a fair approximation of a 1940s jazz band, complete with solos all round, on the swinging nostalgia of Al Bowlly's in Heaven. Later, they'll switch with similar ease from the Middle Eastern vibe of One Door Opens to Hebridean folk-rockers on The Mingulay Boat Song. The last named sounds such a part of Thompson's musical DNA that he almost didn't need to mention that his granny used to sing it to him.

Three things above all, though, speak for Thompson's rude artistic health. There's the acute observation of new songs such as Dad's Gonna Kill Me, sung from a GI in Iraq's point of view, and the absolute command - 1952 Vincent Black Lightning's third verse apart - of his voice and acoustic guitar spot. And lastly, there's his electric guitar playing, idiosyncratic, a living amalgam of blues, modes, bagpipes, rockabilly and pedal steel and, on Hard on Me, truly epic.

and the Scotsman

IF RICHARD Thompson is assigned to any genre, it tends to be somewhere under the broad umbrella of folk. His pedigree in rock, though, is at least as long and distinguished - leading all the way back to Fairport Convention's debut gig in 1967, and all the way up to his latest release, Sweet Warrior. As on the album, the live versions of the new songs featured him mostly on electric guitar, and he was joined onstage by double bass legend Danny Thompson, multi-instrumentalist Pete Zorn and drummer Michael Jerome.

With Zorn on mandolin, the spiky, country-rock opener Needle and Thread recalled Steve Earle's Copperhead Road, and was followed by the sharply splenetic Bad Monkey, a vintage Thompson vignette of a destructive relationship. The rock template thus established, things continued largely in that vein, the force of the onslaught tempered by some of the classiest playing in the business, with the two Thompsons inspiring each other to breathtaking heights.

Standouts from Sweet Warrior included Dad's Gonna Kill Me, written in the voice of a US soldier in Iraq, and the cautionary ballad Take Care of the Road You Choose. The latter, together with a solo-acoustic interlude of back-catalogue favourites, represented scant mellow contrast to the all-out assault, which after two hours came to feel relentless.

Have to agree it was a fabulous gig. The venue was great - i'd never been in the old fruitmarket before, and found it a lovely setting. Diana Jones provided a good support act and had it not been a choice between her cd and sweet warrior, i most certainly would have bought it. That said though, i do feel she was better live than the recorded snippets i've heard on her website.

RT and band played a wonderful set. They started off on the new stuff (a lot of which i hadn't heard before) and then moved onto the crowd pleasers. It was nice to see him listening to the audience and taking on board their suggestions - Persuasion was only played because someone requested it and because it was a request, no one minded when he forgot the words to VBL. The rest of the band were as fabulous as usual, with some fantastic solos coming from all over them. I really enjoyed seeing Michael Jerome with them - he looked so happy for the entire set and was just brimming over with enthusiasm.

Other highlights for me were the solos in Al Bowlly, Sunset Song (which again i'd never heard before, but thought was spectacular) and Pete Zorn with his bass flute (which is an instrument i've loved and wanted since about the age of six.) I was with my dad, and he certainly enjoyed it just as much as me, if not more as he had never heard any of the new stuff before.

I'd quite happily watch it all over again if i could!

Saw the gig in the Roundhouse last night - all I can do is to echo the sentiments above - these guys are on fire!
Second helping in Birmingham tomorrow....

Managed to book the Liverpool gig next fri, looking forward too it now (not that I wasn't before :))

I happen to have a spare ticket for the Birmingham gig tonight - any one interested? It's in the front stalls and the cost is the face value of £25.00.

Saw him at Bristol last night. Great. I think the 6 tracks from the new album (I think it was six) stood up really well. I also loved Hard On Me, what great solo work, ten minutes of pure joy. And of course the "classics" wall of death, VBL, Al B, bright lights, tear stained letter. Just fantastic and yes the whole band seemed to be really enjoying themselves and that communicates itself to the audience and makes all the difference in my view.

The "Bone through her nose" track, just before the encores, not sure of exact title, was a new one on me but great playing from Pete Zorn on that.

Great fun

Should this thread be changed to the one above?

Good idea, batman!

Yes Yes Yes Chris absolutely agree a blistering set at the Roundhouse. A couple of songs I haven't
seen mentioned which were favorites of mine were 'I Still Dream' from Amnesia and a great Sandy
tribute in the acoustic section with WKWTTG. I'm still a bit hoarse from singing Tear Stained Letter
to end it. Anyone still with a chance to go just don't miss it.

Thanks to the generosity of the Metro newspaper i have won two tickets to see RT in Brum tonight. As my better half is full of cold and doesnt want to go, any one out there who wants a free ticket for tonights concert. First come first serve.

gone

So who did you take? How about a review?

Bloody good show, possibly better than London! Wish it had been another standing show though - dancing is difficult in those seats!

btw - the band are in London today filming for a future Jools Holland 'Later with....' show!

A recording of the Bristol show (sans final 4 songs - seemingly same setlist as night before) is now up at Dime..

Anyone going to Cambridge on Thursday???

No, but we are going to Basingstoke tomorrow as a birthday surprise for Dennis, so if anyone else is going hope to see you there. {:-)  

Jools Holland - LATER.
4 main acts including the Richard Thompson Band and Crowded House.
Tentative broadcast date 9 November.
RTB play Never Going to Give It Up and Dad.

Great review of Roundhouse gig in today's Guardian.

My daughter and I will also be there as a birthday un-surprise for me - we're in row n in the circle if you want to wave at us!

Yep. As long as I don't get stuck on the M25 car park on the way!

I'll be there too.

We were going to the Liverpool gig, but then found we couldn't go (Chris's fault... grrrr!), so we had to sell our (2nd-row) tickets to someone else.  Really disappointing, as we'd been looking forward to it.

I presume that everyone has seen the link on Beeswing to a podcast of a gig by the band in June in USA. It is a full recording (about 2 hours) and is both easy to download and legal

That's Beesweb (really http://www.richardthompson-music.com/) and I presume you are talking about the NPR show at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11167464 ? Or is there another that I missed?

Do you mean the Live in Washington DC one? If so, I believe Bob Barrows fiddled about with it a bit and made it more listenable (ie, louder!) and posted it somewhere on here., but I can't find it.

I had a copy of it up on savefile, but it got deleted due to lack of activity. Shoot me an IM if you's like me to upload it again.

Yes, me too. Hope he does "Who Knows Where the Time Goes". Never heard him sing that: I didn't realise it was in his current repertoire till someone mentioned it earlier.

I don't want to claim credit for this ;D ...but at the Cropredy signing session I asked him if he would sing this at the London show, as I had persuaded friends in the US to go to one of his solo shows there earlier in the year and he had played it then, much to my amazement (it was their first RT concert!). He said he didn't know as this was a band tour. When I mentioned that he usually plays a couple of solo songs as well, he just smiled and replied, "Well, we'll see."

I had no real expectation that he would play it, so was thrilled when I read on here last month that he had played it at the Vancouver show. I still did not want to hope too much, for fear of disappointment, so hearing it on Saturday night was a special moment in a great concert. I hope you get to hear it tomorrow.

BTW, does anyone know if he played it much at all before this year?

Could this be a TAW convention at an RT gig???

I don't see why not  :D

Yes, regularly at his solo shows - not quite so regularly at band gigs - because he only sings it solo, and there's usually only a two-number segment in the middle where the rest of the band go off for a piddle....

Regularly?  Only very recently (last couple of years) if that's the case, I think....

nah - certainly played it solo five years ago....not every night, grant you, but regularly. If not that, Genesis Hall was his tip to his past...

I was wondering because I have not seen him play it in the last 10 years or so (not that I've been to all the shows!), and don't have any recordings with it on (not that I have them all!). Apparently, when he sang it at a US show early this year he was virtually apologising beforehand, as if he had not played it in a long, long time. I then read, either here or on the RTList, that it was a rare occurrence.

Whichever, I was happy to hear it on Saturday.

I want evidence and I want it now  :)  I'm checking setlists of all the (several hundred) solo shows I've got and it doesn't show until last year....not saying he hasn't done it earlier at all - it's the use of the word 'regularly' I'm struggling with....

Let's not turn this tread into a - http://www.talkawhile.co.uk/yabbse/index.php?topic=24669.msg312522#msg312522  ;D

No lets, and what tunings was he using, and someone let us know the exact tab for every song he played, and what strings does Pete Zorn use on the mandolin, and does Danny Thompson take two bottles into the shower - I demand to know and I AM NOT OBSESSIVE!!!!!

Thats the one.

... and what was the first note in the sopranino solo? (ref. the Al Bowlly intro on the Live From Austin, Texas DVD and CD)

You are all out of your minds and really naive if you think I don't know that the questions you want answered in no particular order are:

1. Star sign
2. Favorite color
3. Meal that is least likely to be eaten for dinner
4. Color of pajama's he prefers to wear on the road
Is it true that Richard and band have a deep appreciation for neo-classical architecture and take every opportunity to indulge in this obsession even during the show, and does this get in the way of normal functioning of a rock'n'roll band on the road.
5. To finish if Richard could be any figure in history who would it be and why?

The worry is that none of this is too far from the sort of thing that gets into the Q&As on Beesweb!

Just for the record (or the CD), RT played Meet on the Ledge and Crazy Man Michael the last two times he's done an acoustic show here..

I've heard him do a variety of oldies over the last couple of tours. The oddest by a long stretch was a solo acoustic version of Sloth! (Warwick Arts Centre I think, 2004-ish) It was somewhat shorter than other versions and didn't quite feature as much bass or fiddle but it was fine nonetheless.

I saw him 4 times on that tour in all and in other places he played Crazy Man Michael instead. I recall him playing Genesis Hall but only on request (he also did Sam Hall on request but that was different...) but I don't recall him playing WKWTTG.

Cheers

Nick

Me want to hear that!  Anyone know if it was recorded?

I'm pretty certain he's also played The Deserter in recent years....although i'm damned if I can find a copy...

I guess you mean the trad version. I'd personally prefer if he did the John Richard's version.

I do....not a big fan of the other song, I'm afraid...as fine as it's sentiments are...

He did it in the All-Request show that was recently available on Dime - look for Davmar77's version.

Oh for God's sake - sometimes I'm such a buffoon... I've got this....  Thanks Bob.

Great show in Basingstoke yesterday evening. The show was a sell out, which was good to see. We were right in the back row of the circle, but the sound was great and the view good. The band really rocked - enough to keep my 13 year old happy.

I don't have "Sweet Warrior" yet but think I will have to add it to my ever expanding CD wish list (which was quite small until I discovered Fairport and the many connected artists). I particularly liked a song called something like "Guns are tongues", which built up to a fabulous crescendo.

Since there has been some discussion about the acoustic interlude on here, the songs last night were "Vincent Black Lightning" (which sounded as if three people were playing guitars but it was just RT proving once again how great he is) and "Withered and Died".

Celebrity bass player spotted in Basingstoke (apart from Danny Thompson, of course): Dave Pegg.

I agree, an amazing show at the Anvil, Basingstoke last night, well worth the long journey and 'Holiday Inn'.  The sound was fantastic and though we were high up and to the left of the stage views were not restricted.

I cannot add to previous reviews, but highlights for me, seeing Dennis' face change when he went from grumpy teenager 'why have you brought me here on my birthday' to absolute bliss when told it was to see RT, and musically, 1952 VBL, Sunset Song and a blistering performance of Hard on Me, which I'm sure must have lasted for a good ten minutes..absolutly superb.

Michael Jerome has to be the coolest drummer/percussionist,... beautiful to watch.

Dave Pegg seemed to enjoying himself enormously as well, viewed him singing alond to Tear Stained Letter with the rest of us! Had a chat to him after the show. Said how much we were all looking forward to the 3rd and he said to  make sure we're all there on time as it will start spot on 7.30!

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3rd time Lucky!!!!!!!!

Just got back from Cambridge. One word - WOW. RT was on top form, and I was directly in front of him, with about three very short people between me and the front barrier. He was on fire. And not his usual sedate self. Not thrashing around, but still giving it some welly. He even jumped once. Twice in fact! Stand outs - Al Bowly, Hard on Me (outstanding solo) TSL, I'll Never Give it Up and Guns are the Tounges. WKWTTG was beautiful (he only did it because someone on the front row asked for it. Although this didn't work for the poor soul who was shouting out for Beeswing every time RT picked up an acoustic!) I think I prefer his version to the current FC one. There was no interval, so it was two hours of uninteruppted RT. Bliss! They told us not to take piccies, but here are a few anyway.

Ollie

PS - I noticed two mics pointing out to the audience, could this mean a commercially avaliable recording? I hope so as it was a brillaint set.

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Pete Zorn

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RT

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RT again

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I was also at Cambridge- just got back; yes, great set and night. Little "folk" and a lot of "rock" by way of musical genre. Also liked the support, (Nashville country singer, Diane Jones- reminded me of Gillian Welch a bit). I thought RT looked a bit rattled when that bloke first shouted for "Beeswing"- (nervous, rather than angry). I really wanted him to play that as well, but he is clearly not prepared to include it on this tour. Mind you, aside from his band not knowing it, the song would not be the same without the Northumbrian pipes.
Very appreciate audience as well tonight- mixture of mainly the grey-haired species, but  some studenty types as well, Cambridge being Cambridge.

ANARCHIST  ;D Lovely pics, Ollie - thanks....

Nah, that's my Dad.  ;D First time he's been sober at standing gig at the Corn Exchange in 30 years LOL!



Edit: There were a number of subsequent posts that commented on taking photos at concerts. These have been moved to this thread (http://www.talkawhile.co.uk/yabbse/index.php?topic=25216.0) ... Nick

The Richard Thompson Band are on in Liverpool tonight but I don't think I can justify paying the cost of the ticket.

Don't get me wrong I want to go but the Phil for all the fantastic acoustics it is hardly an intimate venue and £22.50 for the cheapest seats is a little much at the moment especially as I saw him at Cropredy this year and John Prine is at the Phil Tuesday, although he is £2.00 more expensive.

Dilemma eh and oh yeah I want to go to Aintree on Sunday.

Why is it that there is very little happening and then three come along at once!

I could just say sod it and go to all three but I'm a student!

Was going to post this last night but was just too tired. With crushing inevitability the M25 was a nightmare in both directions and the M11 coming home was closed too. Four and a half hour journeys that should have taken half that.  >:( It is a good job that I love RT so much and that he was so very good last night.

In fact there is a danger that these shows are so uniformly, routinely excellent that we can take it for granted. The back catalogue and the current material are so rich that it is hard to put a foot wrong. Whilst it may be possible to carp at what wasn't played (and personally I wanted to throttle the two idiots shouting for Beeswing, not for their song choice but for the aggression with which they were demanding it), it is hard to be disappointed by what was.

WKWTTG was beautiful and enhanced by the little polka like guitar figures that RT built around the melody line. Hard On Me was just incendiary with another one of those guitar solos that leave you open mouthed in pure astonishment. Come November 5th, forget the the fireworks. Light up the sky with one of these please.

The new material sounded strong in a live setting and I think Guns Are The Tongues is probably going to be a keeper live for many years. My personal highlight though was probably A Bone Through Her Nose. I am not sure that I have ever heard him play it live before. It is a real favourite of mine and what a great version.

A wonderful night then despite the travel. I wish I had chance to catch him again on this tour. Still, never mind. Ian Hunter next week and Oysterband twice after that!

Indeed. But why is it always Beeswing? It's not his best, by a long chalk, nor is the story in the lyrics particularly stand-out?
Is it just that it's the song with the name easiest to remember?

RT is quoted as asking the same questions & doesn't understand the requests either - in fact, he's fed up of playing it, having acquiesced too many times to the request.

Oh, and he only ever plays it solo, but a lot haven't worked this out yet...intelligent fans, has RT....

I have a feeling that people shout out for songs without any real interest in hearing them..for example at Oxford Playhouse in 1995 or so there was an idiot shrieking for Wall of Death, even though it had been played about 4 numbers earlier.  The other song I have heard people shouting out for both in Oxford and Vancouver is Johnny and the Pirates "Shaking all Over" - RT even played a couple of runs of the riff in Vancouver.  Bizarre.

Similarly at every Bert Jansch show there will be someone screaming for "Needle of Death",

At the solo gig I went to, we were sitting with a woman who was enamoured with the sheer poetry of the lyrics: "if someone compared me with a bee's wing ... sigh" - her date was the one who shouted for it when RT asked for requests ... and he played it!

I really like it, and I would go so far as to say it is one of my favourite songs ever written! Reportedly written with the mysterious, enigmatic, free-spirited folk singer Anne Briggs in mind, (who also is the inspritation for Sandy Denny's song "The Pond and the Stream"); it has that late 60's mix  of freedom, optimism, rebellion, "back to the land", romance, but ultimately disillusion; in it's lyrics and narrative, and then the quiet guitar playing, together with that gorgious sound of the Northumbrian pipes on the original studio version.
I didn't mind him not playing it so much, but brilliant and tear-jerking song all the same!

I must say I like 'Beeswing' too!

But I wouldn't be so rude as to demand it vocally in the middle of a band tour...

Also, some people might be at their first - and maybe only - show so will not have heard it a dozen times before. This was the case with friends at a US solo show earlier this year. They requested Beeswing and RT smiled in their direction and seemed happy to play it. They were certainly happy to hear it.

Whether or not it's one of his best songs isn't really the point as it's clearly a favourite for many (including me!). In the Free Reed box set, it was also voted one of the top songs that people would play to newcomers to RT's music.

Needless to say, aggressive and repetitive requests are definitely out of order.

Was that the Fall River show?

No - Covington, KY. But it would have been funny if it was the same show you referred to. ;D

It got demanded again at the Liverpool gig last night, RT gave in and performed it during his solo section after VBL 1952. Awesome gig, he did around two and a half hours altogether.

Was a good gig wasn't it although had I'd been any further back I'd have been the Wallasey Wonderer!

The demanding songs issue is one which will always divide the audience. Last night's requests / demands were handled with humour. I wanted him to play several songs he didn't but as the majority of them are pretty morose anyway it didn't really matter.

The band were very good as were the backing singers!

At a Christy Moore gig, which may have been exactly a year ago, at The Phil he said he didn't usually do requests but in some places he doesn't get the option. This may be his standard answer but he has other ways of shutting people up.

Just checking - you are referring to the rest of the band, and not some separate singers here?

No at one point there was a couple of rather fetchingly dressed backing singers.

Their dancing was poor though, very eighties.

Now if I'd taken a photo.....

Glad you went, as this was the last night of his current UK tour, or so I believe. Was going to say, that I whilst agree with your quibble about £20 plus gig ticket prices, this is still only a little more (say a round of beers) than seeing an ordinary local band in some local pub- allright, maybe slight exaggeration, but you would probably be kicking youself today if you had not gone !

Next up - his 1000 years show, if everything works out. Some time in 2008.

RT will be bringing 1000 Years to Maine again this January...I've seen this show twice and highly recommend it. Do wish he'd come up this way with the band tho.

I caught the only two shows he's done so far in the UK - very enjoyable, and a good way of him touring around the same places within a year.

Just don't expect to hear *any* of his usual product...

1000 Yrs is the most interesting thing he is doing right now from the basis that you get to hear nothing you expect to and actually spend the evening being surprised, it's almost like seeing RT for the first time.

And Debra Dobkin, on percussion.....as good as Jerome is on the kit!

Not to forget Judith Owen on vocals.

She's the weakest link for me.

How so I found her voice especially suited to the jazz and opera numbers, she is no Linda Thompson or Christine Collister though.

Quite. THe other two outshone her in quite a big way, I thought.
Oh, and her hand movements....

I saw the 1000 Years show, I guess it was two years ago now, at the Birchmere in Alexandria, VA (outside of DC).  I went into it not expecting to like it, because it was "just a covers show."  I hadn't bought the CD yet, and didn't know the back story.  I had gotten tickets simply because it was RT.  It was incredible, and like someone wrote above, just like seeing him for the first time.  I guess I would have to agree about Judith.  Good singer, etc., but probably the weakest link.  Certainly didn't ruin the show for me, the stage banter between Richard and her was amusing, her keyboard added some texture to the songs she played on, but maybe not the best voice for the material.

This is the first time in four years or so that Richard hasn't played the Birchmere the beginning of November.  It was always a nice little tradition.  Oh well.  I have to look at his schedule to see the next time he's in the DC area.  Probably not for awhile, as he just played the 9:30 Club back in June, which I unfortunately missed.