Review: Richard Thompson, Colston Hall

As the vivid red leaves fall on the ground on this grey autumnal evening, we can note that the melancholic theme of the night is very appropriate of the season.

First to take the stage of the Colston Hall tonight is Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker, a winning duo of a Radio 2 folk award. Their set is a concoction of delicate twilit songs of slow and mellow tempi. The pair specialise in gloominess and Clarke cannot resist cracking jokes about it with a very dry humour of a deadpan comic. Writing cheerful songs has never worked out for her, but why change the core of your music if that’s what you’re naturally drawn to? The set is like a ship pitching beautifully between amusing stories and folky melodies and despite the lack of physical complicity, the two musicians’ harmony is on point. Clarke’s suave voice slides perfectly on Walkers’ subtle guitar accompaniment.

After a great start, the near-full venue waits impatiently for the former member of Fairport Convention and the numerous times awarded guitarist; yes, you have guessed it, Richard Thompson. The tour is celebrating fifty years of his musical career and even if Thompson says that numbers are scary, his age doesn’t appear through his voice or guitar chops. As soon as he steps on stage, the psyched up audience shout song requests at him.

Only accompanied by an acoustic guitar, Thompson starts the set with Gethsemane, his voice strong and his guitar work powerful. When closing my eyes, I can picture more than one musician on stage and this is what makes Richard Thompson such a grand artist. The Ghost of You Walks follows, which is a good example of his ability to slip from one melody to the other without making it sound messy. The vibrato in his voice resonates with the waterfall-sounding like guitar chords. He pleases the crowd with Fairport Convention covers such as Who Knows Where the Time Goes?, a rather fitting song an evening spanning his long career.

His set is as versatile as he is, and jumps between morose ballads and out-loud funny faster songs such as Valerie, Crocodile Tears and Hots For The Smarts, where he asks the crowd to sing with him. Thompson also performs songs from his new album Acoustic Rarities such as Push and Shove and the haunting They Tore the Hippodrome Down. The highlights of the show are the magnificent performances of Persuasion and of the encore Beeswing, where the narrative is as strong as the guitar craft.

The audience leave the venue with smiles on their faces, having witnessed a rare evening of top musical quality. Nothing more is needed when you have a distinctive voice, captivating lyrics and the talent of “one of the top twenty guitarists of all time” according to Rolling Stone, all of which makes Richard Thompson’s humbleness even more unique and admirable.

Photos by Shona Cutt