With a beret, scarf, salmon pink Fender and a scathingly thick British accent, Richard Thompson took the Kent Stage by storm last night with hard hitting rock songs uncharacteristic of the artist’s folk reputation. “We’re a power trio but we’re not that powerful,” Thompson said to a roaring crowd in the middle of his second encore. “We can’t afford big Marshall stacks” he said before ripping into a cover of Cream’s “White Room.” The artist rarely picked up an acoustic guitar as he pounded out two hours of electric folk music. His voice was still shaky at times but the set was as rock solid as anything out there as Thompson challenged his fans to engage with him, and last night they most certainly met the call.
This article appears in Jul 3-9, 2013.
1. RT did not do “Dad’s Gonna Kill Me” on Sunday night. You were correct on the other details of the concert.
2. The name of the song and album is “Shoot out the Lights”.
And the song is called “Good Things Happen To Bad People.”
Next time send a reviewer who has a clue.
If it weren’t for the accurate quip quotations, I’d swear the writer and I had attended different concerts. Maybe we did anyway.
Richard Thompson did not perform “My Dad’s Gonna Kill Me.” He has no “Good Things Happen to Good People” song — it is “Good Things Happen to Bad People.” The Fender he played Sunday night is Fiesta Red, not salmon pink. Thompson does not perform “She Loved the Lights” — he does and did perform “Shoot Out the Lights.”
RT wears a Balmoral bonnet, not a beret. You might consider this splitting hairs, but it is the difference between a Stetson and a Fedora. There is a difference, and each has its own name in order to facilitate communication.
We’re each entitled to our own opinions as far as quality of singing, playing, etc. I found Thompson’s voice strong and steady, his playing incredible and awe-inspiring, the band together and magical. But please, get your indisputable facts correct when you write a review. The devil is in the details.