Music review: Richard Thompson, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall - ‘his golden guitar work was lithe and precise'
Richard Thompson, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall ****
“Can't be too popular,” quipped Richard Thompson, as he jokingly reconsidered playing Withered and Died on hearing the whoops of approval in the auditorium. The reaction from an otherwise rapt listening audience was deserved, given the acclaim accorded to its parent album, I Want To See the Bright Lights Tonight, 50 years old this year and regularly cited in the “top 20 best albums since time began” type charts that Thompson appeared to secretly appreciate.
And what is popular anyway? Thompson is a loyally loved and hugely respected songwriter and guitarist, still exploring the border where folk, blues and rock’n’roll meet at the age of 75, with a new album, Ship to Shore, to showcase. His current set featured a handful of as yet unfamiliar tracks – the chunky but ploddy roots rock of What’s Left to Lose, the brewing storm of Freeze – which have yet to take hold of his fans in quite the way that he enraptured the room with a solo acoustic rendition of Beeswing.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad
Thompson’s set ranged around his ample post-Fairport Convention career. His golden guitar work was lithe, precise yet poured forth on the mellow country twang of Take Care the Road You Choose, while he deferred to co-guitarist Zak Hobbs (his grandson) for the detail on rockabilly-tinged rumble Turning of the Tide. His partner Zara Philips, old associate Dave Mattacks and playful bassist Taras Prodaniuk completed this musical family.
Thompson switched to acoustic for the Western swing and strut of Al Bowlly’s In Heaven and later strapped on a hefty 12-string to cover Pete Seeger’s The Bells of Rhymney in the encore. A peppy Tear-Stained Letter featured a fleet-fingered blues solo and the often requested but rarely played Guns are the Tongues came in waves like a prowling Nick Cave melodrama.