LIVE: Richard Thompson @ The Egg, 10/12/14
Richard Thompson
I would never listen to Richard Thompson on Pandora or Spotify. I would probably end up being insulted by whomever they pick to be similar music. Because in my opinion, nothing compares to Richard Thompson.
As a professional musician, I never take a night off of work. No ‘vacation leave’ or ‘sick time’ when you’re self employed. But when Richard Thompson comes to town, I am there.
For his solo concert at The Egg last Saturday evening, he started softly with “Stony Ground” and “The Ghost of You Walks” before blasting us with “Valerie” in a manner that would make you think the concert was over – it was an encore caliber rendition. “Saving the Good Stuff For You” is one of his newer songs yet is reminiscent of a traditional Irish tune. It was my first time hearing it, and yet I was singing it to myself later that night.
The rest of the show was a roller coaster of emotion. The hilarity of “Johnny’s Far Away” and “Fergus Lang” coupled with his witty banter in between songs is such a drastic contrast to the dark tones of “Hope You Like the New Me” and Fairport Convention’s “Genesis Hall.” “Persuasion” and “Beeswing” made mist of my eyes; I’m jealous of how prolific he is and of whoever his inspiration is.
He asked the audience’s permission to share his latest project, British 14-18 NOW, which commemorates the centennial of World War I. He is putting to music the correspondence from soldiers to their families during that time and explained beforehand that he would not change any of the words to suit the music. The task seems arduous, but from the three-song selection teaser, I could tell it will be a flawless and emotive tribute.
I know it’s a coincidence that Richard Thompson comes to town right around my birthday, but I can’t help feeling it’s the universe’s gift to me. This time around I got to go backstage for a meet-and-greet thanks to a very generous gift from an amazing friend. He even sang a few bars of “Happy Birthday” to me before I stopped him. I thought I might have passed out otherwise…
More of Rudy Lu’s photographs at Rudy Lu Photos
RICHARD THOMPSON SET LIST
Stony Ground
The Ghost of You Walks
Valerie
Saving the Good Stuff for You
Johnny’s Far Away
Pharoah
Fergus Lang
1952 Vincent Black Lightning
Dry My Tears and Move On
I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
Genesis Hall (Fairport Convention)
Good Things Happen to Bad People
Hope You Like the New Me
Read About Love
(Three selections from a larger work for the 14-18 NOW project commemorating the WWI centennial)
Persuasion
Wall of Death
I Misunderstood
ENCORES
Beeswing
I Feel So Good
THE MASTERSONS SET LIST
If I Wanted To
Uniform
I Found You
Cautionary Tale
The Other Show
Good Luck Charm
Richard Thompson
The Mastersons
Richard Thompson delves deep into the darkness of the heart
By Greg Haymes (Albany Times Union)
ALBANY — Armed with nothing more than a single acoustic guitar, British singer-songwriter-guitarist extraordinaire Richard Thompson returned to The Egg’s Swyer Theatre for his almost-annual October concert on Saturday night, and once again he was simply devastating.
ALBANY — Armed with nothing more than a single acoustic guitar, British singer-songwriter-guitarist extraordinaire Richard Thompson returned to The Egg’s Swyer Theatre for his almost-annual October concert on Saturday night, and once again he was simply devastating.
“I’m just getting over a cold,” he informed the nearly sold-out audience, “so if my voice is cracking, it’s just added emotion.” There was no need to apologize – and no room for any additional emotion in Thompson’s songbag of heartbreak.
Of course, the landmines of love have been a favorite topic of songwriters throughout the ages, but precious few have dug as deeply into the vast battlefield of lost love as Thompson does. From the vintage soul sound of “Dry My Tears and Move On” to the crushing “I Misunderstood” (“I thought she was saying good luck, but she was saying goodbye”), Thompson stared unflinchingly into matters of the heart and how woefully awry those matters can go. Even his rocking, uptempo songs couldn’t escape the twisting of the knife, as evidenced by “Johnny’s Far Away” (a rousing, contemporary sea shanty sing-along about infidelity from both sides of the fence) and his romping final encore, “I Feel So Good (I’m Gonna Break Somebody’s Heart Tonight”).
And while his songs so often headed in the direction of darkness, he descended to new depths with the icy cold “Hope You Like the New Me,” which was not merely dark, but rather perfectly pitch black. And while he’s a master at dissecting rotting romance, his darkest songs of the night – three art-song selections from a larger work that he’s writing for the British 14-18 NOW project to commemorate the centennial of World War I – were not about love at all, but rather about the horrors of war.
One of Thompson’s major talents is his ability to balance his bleak lyrics with stunning guitar playing that sparkles and shimmers, as he did on “Persuasion,” the steamrolling “Valerie” and the impossibly gorgeous and tender “Beeswing.”
And don’t think that the show was a complete downer by any means. He exhibited his wry sense of humor with some witty between-tune banter and “Fergus Lang,” a thinly veiled indictment of the business practices of Donald Trump (“Fergus Lang has a fine head of hair/When the wind’s in the right direction”).
Texas husband-and-wife duo the Mastersons – guitarist Chris Masterson and guitarist-fiddler Eleanor Whitmore – opened the show with a too-short, six-song set of folk-pop gems from their new sophomore album, “Good Luck Charm.” Their exquisite vocal harmonies – a bit of Gram Parsons/Emmylou Harris laced with the Kennedys – were at the heart of their songs.
Richard Thompson, the Mastersons
Part of my deal here at Metroland is a requirement that I check in with Richard Thompson every couple of years to see how he’s doing. I’m pleased to report that Richard Thompson continues to be doing very well.
He’s touring in support of his new album Acoustic Classics, basically a greatest-hits package performed solo. Which isn’t nearly as cheesy as it sounds; Thompson’s acoustic reinventions of his material, originally recorded with more-or-less standard rock-band formats, and developed over years of solo touring, are themselves wonderful things to behold.
Thompson’s acoustic guitar technique is staggering, playing bass and rhythm lines with a pick while his middle, ring, and pinky fingers play melodic and solo lines. I swear he was playing 3 against 2 at times, fingers against fingers. Which is just stupid. Anyway, it’s hard to fathom that one guy with a guitar can make such an ornate, dynamic, beautiful racket.
Add to this his remarkable catalog of songs, his consummately soulful singing, and his often hysterical between-song banter, and you’ve got some kind of show. Exhausting, actually, as the sparks come flying so fast and from so many directions that the listener gets worn out just trying to process it all.
Despite claiming to be getting over a cold, Thompson was in fine voice and spirits, and played a whole bunch of flag-wavers from his 45-plus-year career. Everyone should witness him doing “52 Vincent Black Lightning” at least once in their life. He also played a modern sea shanty about Scottish bands playing on cruise ships, which incorporated a couplet rhyming ‘Bahamas” with “pajamas.” He sang a ribald protest song against a current London land developer that was screamingly funny. He played selections from his upcoming contribution to the 14-18 Now Project, a multi-disciplinary art remembrance of WWI. Thompson’s piece involved putting bits of soldiers’ letters to music. This was ethereal, beguiling, haunting.
The opening act was the Texas husband-wife duo the Mastersons, who sang big fearless songs with big fearless voices and were charming and talented and weird enough to grab and win over the crowd. I’d go see them again tomorrow.
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