Richard Thompson
Richard Thompson
Queen's Hall, Edinburgh
Rob Adams
This was the way to end a Fringe: a full house treated to a masterclass by an artist who covers most of the categories listed in the Fringe brochure.
There's theatre in Richard Thompson's shows, especially when he sets the scene for young lads in the 1950s looking for information on sex in Read About Love. Dance?
You certainly could, if so inclined, have danced a jig to Johnny's Far Away. Other steps are also available. Comedy, it almost goes without saying, was regularly on offer, both between and during songs.
And it wouldn't be stretching matters too far to describe watching Thompson's guitar style as visual art.
Music was where Thompson was filed, though, and the sort of performance that reaffirms the notion of live music containing vitamins was what he delivered.
His set-list roamed through a formidable back catalogue. He could hardly exclude 1952 Vincent Black Lightning, the ultimate rock 'n' roll folk ballad and perennial audience favourite, and it travelled like the finely tuned motorbike it celebrates. I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight was another hit and another dance, with Thompson's guitar, as it so often does, doing the job of a whole band, and the more surprising inclusion of Sandy Denny's Who Knows Where the Time Goes put the self-deprecating intro about Thompson's career nose diving while his old band, Fairport Convention, still soar into proper perspective.
Weaknesses there were none and if proof of Thompson's sharpness being intact is needed, then the as yet unreleased Fergus Lang, about a land developer with "a fine head of hair when the wind's in the right direction", surely provides it.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article