A while back, Kate and I saw Richard Thompson play a solo acoustic show at The Egg in Albany. Last night, he was back in town, this time with a band, touring in support of his new album, Sweet Warrior. Here are the band credits from the program:
Michael Jerome: drums, percussion
Taras Prodaniuk: electric bass guitar
Pete Zorn: baritone, alto & sopranino saxes, bass flute, mandolin, acoustic guitar, vocals.
I’d like to officially nominate Pete Zorn for the vacant title of “Hardest Working Man in Show Business,” as some of the songs required him to play the sax, then sing backup, then go back to the saxophone, all during the chorus. It’s not often that one of the backing musicians seems to be having a rougher night than the lead singer, but Zorn did an amazing amount of stuff in this show, and he did it all well.
He’s done a couple of acoustic albums since his last record with a full band, leading to a fair bit of hype around the record. This seems a little odd, because, really, 2003 isn’t that long ago, but the theme of the concert really seemed to be “I have an electric guitar, and I’m not afraid to use it,” so maybe there’s something to that.
They opened with four straight songs off the new record, with a promise to “play the hits later,” but other than a couple of really obvious hit songs– an acoustic “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” (which continues to be one of the most impressive feats I’ve heard– I would swear there were two guitars playing on that song, but he does it all by himself), a very angry electric version of “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight,” and “Wall of Death” near the end of the set– this was a pretty eclectic set. I may have known more than half of the songs he played, but not by much.
There was a strong emphasis on the faster and louder songs from his catalogue, both from the new record and older stuff, and even the relatively quiet songs tended to have an edge– “One Door Opens” off The Old Kit Bag is one of the few that I recognized (it was introduced as “dance music of uncertain ethnicity”). They played eight of the fourteen songs off the new album, and more or less the ones you’d expect to work well live– “Dad’s Gonna Kill Me,” “Needle and Thread,” “Bad Monkey,” “Mr. Stupid.”
Thompson’s guitar playing was, as you would expect, amazing, and while there wasn’t quite as much stage patter as when we saw him solo, what there was was still terrific. He played two acoustic songs in the middle of the set, the obligatory “1952 Vincent Black Lightning,” and the second was a request shouted from the audience while he was re-tuning for the next song. There was also a lengthy introduction for a sea song, talking about some Pirates of the Caribbean themed record that he contributed to, which includes songs from a long list of artists, and there was some back-and-forth with audience members who were calling names out. Apparently, the Pope is a mean washboard player.
On the whole, a very good show. I was a little disappointed to see that they didn’t sell out, but I think the crowd that normally buys tickets for the Egg is probably more interested in his acoustic material. Which is a shame, because the new record is really pretty solid, and the songs work really well live.
I’d recommend going to see the show but, well, only if you’re in Europe– this was the last date in the US, and the tour moves to the other side of the pond in a couple of weeks. Of course, if you happen to be in Europe anyway, you might want to check it out…