The Richard Thompson Band – The Lowry, Salford
Reviewer: Ian Winterton
The Public Reviews Rating: 
Say the name Richard Thompson and you’ll most likely receive a shrug and an apologetic “Who?” (Who? Founder-member of Fairport Convention, singer-songwriter, one of the planet’s best electric guitarists and winner of an Ivor Novello and BBC Lifetime Achievement Award, that’s who). But, once every one hundred people or so, you’ll find you hand enthusiastically shaken by a grinning man or woman who have most definitely drunk from the Thompson cup. Quite often they’ll exclaim, “He’s a legend! He’s a God!”
And so it was that the Lyric Theatre filled up with hundreds of the Thompson faithful. Mostly in their 50s and 60s (with the odd smattering of younger offspring), they all had that slight bohemian edge one sees in some Baby Boomers that suggests a long-haired youth spent alternating between sit-ins at polytechnics and sun-kissed, pot-fuelled folk festivals.
Thompson himself, now 61, is the living embodiment of that bygone era. In good nick for a man his age, he’s charming, cheeky, irreverent (“This song’s dedicated to our friends in the financial sector,” is his introduction to his new track, Money Shuffle) and – there’s no other word for it – groovy.
His band, with the exception of exceptional drummer Michael Jerome, are all of a similar vintage to Thompson and don’t come across as quite so cool; there are a fair few moments, despite the fantastic musicianship being displayed, where one cringes as though watching an ageing uncle busting killer moves at a wedding.
The first set consists of tracks from Thompson’s new album which was released to critical, if not commercial, success last August. Nothing particularly leaps out aside from the powerful and doomy ‘Crimescene’ which is excellent and ‘Big Sun Falling In The River’ which, funked-up like a Talking Heads song gone wrong, is awful.
Post interval Thompson wheels out his hits and the zealots in the crowd go wild (wild by the standards of a gig watched in a theatre on comfy seats). There are amazing moments: Thompson’s guitar solos are mesmerising and his band-members are all at the top of their game. But something’s missing. It’s all too slick, too cosy – it’s like watching a band that has played the same stage in Vegas for 20 years.
Recommended for fans but I fear Thompson’s days of making new converts has long passed.
Reviewed on the 14th January 2011
Dream Attic is out Proper Records in August.
www.richardthompson-music.com
Tags: Lowry, Richard Thompson, Richard Thompson Band, Salford
10:30 am on January 17th, 2011
Richard never fails to deliver a great show, this was no exception. Top guitar workouts on “Can’t Win”,”Sydney Wells”, “Tear-stained Letter” and a superb “Wall Of Death”. And ignore the poster above, “Big Sun” is an RT classic done brilliantly.
Slight downers: Possibly a bit slick at times (we were told what time the show would end before we went in, and it did, on the dot, despite adding in “Al Bowlly” in response to an audience request), and no Fairport-era material. But I went home grinning from ear to ear.
5:52 pm on January 17th, 2011
Al Bowlly wasn’t actually in response to a request, it’s been in the set for all the US/UK dates. Regarding Fairport material he has been doing Time Will Show the Wiser as a second set opener in the US but not at the Lowry sadly, was looking forward to that.