I bought Richard Thompson’s new album called 13 Rivers a couple of days ago. After
one play I was so impressed that I thought I ought to go and see him. I knew he
was on tour because a friend of mine had seen him in Oxford a few nights ago
and said how good he was. I looked on the internet and was delighted to find
that he was playing at Salisbury City Hall the very next night. As Salisbury is
only 30 minutes away from me on the train it seemed fated that I should go, so
I scored myself a ticket. I was lucky to get one as it turned out because City
Hall was packed for the gig.
It was a nice sunny day but cold, so before I set off I
nipped into Kevin’s Menswear and bought myself a brand-new hat. Before long I
was in the fine city of Salisbury, far too early as usual. I picked up my
ticket from the box office to avoid queuing later. Then I walked through The
Maltings. It was quite sad to see the Mill pub closed and the garden overgrown
ever since the nerve agent attack a few months ago. I have spent many a happy sunny
afternoon in that garden in the past. Then I had a look around all the charity
shops but didn’t find anything I wanted to buy. After that I had a look at the
magnificent cathedral which people from all over the world come to see,
especially Russians.
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They have one of the original copies of the Magna Carta in
Salisbury Cathedral which was very interesting. When I left the cathedral precincts
it was beginning to get dark. I had a bite to eat in Harlee’s Fish Restaurant and
then had a pint in The King’s Head pub. I was beginning to get bored. If it was
a Van Morrison gig there would be other fans to meet up with, but I didn’t know
any other RT fans who were going tonight. After I tired of the Kings Head I had
another drink in the Ox Row Inn. Finally, it was time for the concert.
Outside the hall I got talking
to a lad from Winchester and asked him to take my photo by the poster. Then I took my seat. The support act was an American duo
from Kentucky called Joan Shelley and
Nathan Salsburg. Joan had a very
nice voice and Nathan reminded me a bit of a young James Taylor. They played a
short but pleasant set of Americana type songs and both played guitar. Two
songs I particularly liked were called Jenny
Coming and Darlin’ You Know That’s
Wrong. I liked them, not enough to buy their album but enough to take their
photo.
After the break it was time for Richard to take the stage
for a blistering two-hour set. It was advertised as the Richard Thompson Trio
but for most of the show there were four of them with an extra guitar player on
many songs. I have seen RT a couple of times in recent years but that was solo
and acoustic. Most of this show was electric and very loud. I think I prefer
acoustic but like Neil Young who I also prefer acoustic Richard loves playing
electric and showing what he can do. I can’t give you a complete setlist
because I didn’t recognise all of the songs and gave up on writing a setlist,
so I’ll just tell you about the songs I remember.
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| Joan Shelley & Nathan Salsburg. |
The show opened with Bones Of Gilead from the new album. It
shows what a magnificent guitar player Richard is after sixty years of
practice. He gets better all the time. I think because he comes from the Folk-Rock
world he gets overlooked and doesn’t get the credit he deserves. He is one of
the greatest British guitar players of all time. The second song was Her Love Was Meant for me also a new
song. Richard said they would concentrate on the new album and play the ‘Timeless
Classics’ later. He has a great self-deprecating humour. Then he played Take Care The Road You Choose from the Sweet Warrior album which I think has
quite an American sound. The very first album I ever heard Richard Thompson
play on was What We Did On Our Holidays which
I bought in 1969 when I was still at school, so it was a real treat to hear Tale In Hard Time and it was performed
brilliantly. Then just to underline what a versatile guitarist he is the next
song was Guitar Heroes in which he
played in the style of the likes of Django Reinhardt, Hank Marvin, Chuck Berry
and Les Paul among others. Then it was back to the new album with The Storm Won’t Come which featured wave
after wave of frenetic manic guitaring. I should mention that the drummer Michael
Jerome and the bass player both made their presence felt in this show. A
complete change was next with They Tore
The Hippodrome Down from the Acoustic
Rarities album and Richard chided the audience for not buying it. He said
they still had 82,000 copies in a warehouse in Lithuania.He was joking of course. Someone shouted out
that they bought it and Richard said, “I love you man” which was very funny.
Next up was Dry My Tears And Move On which
the crowd clapped along with encouraged by the band.
It was back to acoustic then for Vincent Black Lightning 1952 which is
one of my favourite RT songs of all time. This song knocks other guitar pickers
into a cocked hat. He makes one guitar sound like three. The Rattle Within features some fabulous drumming by Michael
Jerome. I think the next song might have been The Dog In You but I had stopped writing the songs down by now. I
do remember a guitar solo which went on for an eternity. I certainly remember Meet On The Ledge because it is one of
my favourite Fairport songs ever. I also remember that he sang Put It There Pal because it had another
solo which seemed to last forever. Richard said, “You can dance to this one, if
you want”. It was Tear Stained Letter from
the 1983 album Hand Of Kindness. It
was great, but nobody got up and danced. I absolutely love Beeswing one of his greatest ever songs. I like it when his songs
tell a story. Down Where The Drunkards
Roll was also enjoyable with RT encouraging the audience to join in with the
chorus. There was another song, but I can’t remember what it is called.
After the show I made a quick dash back to the Kings Head
and downed a speedy pint then hurried to the station and caught the last train
back to Westbury. What a great evening it had been. Thank you very much to
Richard Thompson and his brilliant band.
FIN.
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