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Richard Thompson
Oct. 1st, 2011 08:00 pmCyn and I saw Richard Thompson at Vogel Hall in the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. I had never been in this theater before. 475 seats. 17 rows on the floor, and a few in the balcony. Row C (not far off center) made for a nice close view. I was disappointed to see that the show wasn't sold out. Probably less than 400 people in attendance.
It was a solo acoustic show, with no opening act. Just Richard, his guitar and the beret of randomness. He played a good cross-section of his work, from 1974's Hokey Pokey on up to current, plus a cover, and one Fairport Convention song. After the third song of the night, he announced he would draw an album from the Beret of Randomness, which was lying on a stool nearby. This album was Hokey Pokey, so he played that song and a couple more from it.
Being a small venue, it allowed for a bit of audience interaction. Most of this was shouting requests, which Thompson good-naturedly accepted or rejected. At one point, just as he was clamping down his capo, someone asked for "I Misunderstood". He quickly glanced up and moved his capo down one fret. At the end of the show, as he left the stage, the audients were on their feet. When he returned, and everyone sat back down, one guy in the front center didn't. Thompson seemed to be leaning over to see around the guy, or posing while looking right at him. The guy realized what he was doing, and sheepishly sat back down. The audients got a good laugh, and Thompson asked him what song he wanted to hear. I didn't hear what he suggested, but Thompson called him a wise guy. On the way home, we were talking about what we would have said if we had been asked. He had already played my favorites and I'm not that familiar with his work anyway, so I probably would have suggested he consult the Beret of Randomness. We decided it would have been fun to ask for something from his 1000 Years of Popular Music album, like "Trafalgar Square" or "Oops, I Did It Again". He did, however, play "Dog Eat Dog in Denmark", a Frank Loesser song. It's a retelling of Hamlet in 1940's jive-speak. "Ophelia, overcome with such grief and sorrow/She went and flipped her lid, she popped her cork, she jumped the track/And her intelligent mind developed a permanent crack/Things went black."
Cyn was happy to hear several of her favorites, including "Johnny's Far Away", "Dimming of the Day" and "1952 Vincent Black Lightning". The latter is a favorite of many. It's one of my most favorite songs of all. Four straightforward verses of love, devotion and death. I see angels on aerials in leather and chrome/swooping down from heaven to carry me home. The tune is gorgeous, and the guitar... amazing. And speaking of blistering guitar, he closed with "Cooksferry Queen."
A mic, two monitors, two stools, water, powder and the Beret of Randomness.
Bad cellphone picture of Vogel Hall. The place is rather dated and worn. All red velvet and lights. Too bad it doesn't see enough business to warrant an update.
It was a solo acoustic show, with no opening act. Just Richard, his guitar and the beret of randomness. He played a good cross-section of his work, from 1974's Hokey Pokey on up to current, plus a cover, and one Fairport Convention song. After the third song of the night, he announced he would draw an album from the Beret of Randomness, which was lying on a stool nearby. This album was Hokey Pokey, so he played that song and a couple more from it.
Being a small venue, it allowed for a bit of audience interaction. Most of this was shouting requests, which Thompson good-naturedly accepted or rejected. At one point, just as he was clamping down his capo, someone asked for "I Misunderstood". He quickly glanced up and moved his capo down one fret. At the end of the show, as he left the stage, the audients were on their feet. When he returned, and everyone sat back down, one guy in the front center didn't. Thompson seemed to be leaning over to see around the guy, or posing while looking right at him. The guy realized what he was doing, and sheepishly sat back down. The audients got a good laugh, and Thompson asked him what song he wanted to hear. I didn't hear what he suggested, but Thompson called him a wise guy. On the way home, we were talking about what we would have said if we had been asked. He had already played my favorites and I'm not that familiar with his work anyway, so I probably would have suggested he consult the Beret of Randomness. We decided it would have been fun to ask for something from his 1000 Years of Popular Music album, like "Trafalgar Square" or "Oops, I Did It Again". He did, however, play "Dog Eat Dog in Denmark", a Frank Loesser song. It's a retelling of Hamlet in 1940's jive-speak. "Ophelia, overcome with such grief and sorrow/She went and flipped her lid, she popped her cork, she jumped the track/And her intelligent mind developed a permanent crack/Things went black."
Cyn was happy to hear several of her favorites, including "Johnny's Far Away", "Dimming of the Day" and "1952 Vincent Black Lightning". The latter is a favorite of many. It's one of my most favorite songs of all. Four straightforward verses of love, devotion and death. I see angels on aerials in leather and chrome/swooping down from heaven to carry me home. The tune is gorgeous, and the guitar... amazing. And speaking of blistering guitar, he closed with "Cooksferry Queen."
A mic, two monitors, two stools, water, powder and the Beret of Randomness.
Bad cellphone picture of Vogel Hall. The place is rather dated and worn. All red velvet and lights. Too bad it doesn't see enough business to warrant an update.