Richard Thompson
Enmore Theatre, Sydney NSW
2001-02-05

Lineage: Excellent Audience Recording (equipment unknown) > Trade CDR > EAC > WAV > TLH > aucdetect and SBE checks > FLAC 8

Artwork included in PDF format

CD1
01. Mr Rebound [0:03:51.73]
02. When The Spell Is Broken [0:05:13.73]
03. Crawl Back (Under My Stone) [0:04:53.73]
04. Cold Kisses [0:04:34.73]
05. Turning Of The Tide [0:03:01.73]
06. The Ghost Of You Walks [0:04:57.73]
07. Madonna's Wedding [0:03:43.73]
08. I'll Dry My Tears And Move On [0:04:44.73]
09. 1952 Vincent Black Lightning [0:05:28.73]
10. The Great Valerio [0:06:21.73]
11. I Feel So Good [0:03:12.73]
12. I Agree With Pat Metheny [0:05:52.50]

CD2
01. Walking The Long Miles Home [0:05:29.73]
02. From Galway To Gracelands [0:04:04.73]
03. The Sights And Sounds Of London Town [0:05:36.73]
04. Beeswing [0:05:59.73]
05. Cooksberry Queen [0:04:47.73]
06. Words Unspoken, Sight Unseen [0:05:37.73]
07. Dimming Of The Day [0:03:14.73]
08. Valerie [0:05:02.73]
09. Waltzing's For Dreames [0:03:44.73]
10. Wall Of Death [0:03:13.73]
11. Uninhabited Man [0:05:38.64]
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RICHARD THOMPSON
Reviewed by BRUCE ELDER
Enmore Theatre, February 5

On paper a great concert is such an artless and effortless experience. All you need are a bunch of great songs, some great musicianship, a singer with a great voice and an enthusiastic audience to applaud and cheer at the appropriate moments.

In practice such a collision of circumstances is so rare that, if you're lucky and a regular concert attendee, you'll experience it once or twice in a decade. This was one of those experiences.

Richard Thompson, pared down to a mesmerizing minimalism (dressed in black and accompanied only by his acoustic guitar), delivered two hours of material he has built up over nearly 30 years. It was a near-flawless show.

If you came along wanting to be seduced by Thompson's guitar playing you would have spent most of the night staring at the stage trying to equate what was being played with what was emanating from the speakers. For goodness sake, most of the time the man sounds as though he's accompanied by a guitar orchestra. He plays bass, rhythm and lead guitar at the same time on the one instrument. And, if that isn't enough, every song offers opportunities for some truly heart-stopping improvisation. If you have heard all these songs before - and who among Richard Thompson's fans doesn't know From Galway to Graceland, Dimming of the Day, The Great Valerio, 1952 Vincent Black Lightning and Beeswing, just to name a few - then you sit transfixed as Thompson, who must have sung them all 1,000 times, finds new life and meaning, new nuance and subtlety as he gently reaches beyond the old recorded versions.

If you came along for the singing and the lyrics you would be equally satisfied. Thompson has a fine, deeply passionate voice ideally suited to his songs, which range from in-your-face rock'n'roll (he took I Feel So Good at breakneck pace) to delicate balladeering (Beeswing and Dimming of the Day were both highlights). His lyric writing is steeped in the English folk ballad tradition, embracing both story songs and hard-edged ruminations on human frailty and the realities of love.

And if you want humour, Thompson, who was quite serious and po-faced the last time he was here, has a couple of marvelous throwaway numbers which will never make it on to record. There's his scathing and witty attack on Madonna's Scottish wedding (complete with suitably Scottish accompaniment) and his satiric tour de force I Agree with Pat Methany, in which he lambastes Kenny G for daring to digitally duet with the long-dead Louis Armstrong.

It all works because it is done with unpretentious sincerity, great virtuosity, extraordinary musical inventiveness and an easy warmth. Thompson is about as close as the electronic global village will ever get to a medieval troubadour. He comes to town, plays his songs, enthralls and subtly educates his audience, and then moves on.

At the end of the night you are left with the extraordinary sense that this two hours was little more than the tip of the iceberg. Where were I Mis-understood, Al Bowlly's in Heaven, Two Left Feet and all those glorious songs from the Fairport Convention days?

Then you realize that if Thompson immediately came back onto stage and did another two-hour set it could be full of the great songs he omitted from this remarkable set.