Achtung Mattburnside!

dmn23

dmn23

Duller than cardboard
You're seeing Mr. Thompson this Friday, yes? I caught his set Saturday afternoon at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Francisco. If one were to make a list of things that didn't suck, it would be entirely appropriate to add the performance that I witnessed to such a list.

If one were to attend a similar performance in Dallas this coming Friday one might expect two sets -- the first devoted to the new album (in its entirety, I gather), and the second to older material.

Again, this is just a heads up. It would be reasonable to expect such an event to not suck at all. Not even a little bit. One might look forward to such an event with optimistic eagerness, high expectations, and a supreme confidence that the performance wouldn't be mediocre.

Just keeping you in the loop. Thank you for your time.

Part of the solo from "Can't Win" on Saturday:

 
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:mad:

(I have tickets for the London dates on his tour this winter, hopefully I'll actually be able to make it this time)
 
Flamencology said:
:mad:

(I have tickets for the London dates on his tour this winter, hopefully I'll actually be able to make it this time)
Click to expand...

Did health issue scuttle your last trip to see RT?


He played near here last night. Finances dictated I miss this one. Not happy about it either.
 
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I will be attending this event, yes. Thanks for the update. I've seen him probably 8 times since 1990, but this is the first full band show.
 
I haven't seen a band show since 2003. They're a treat but they're a very different vibe. You trade some of the intimacy and banter but the edge is much harder and the improvisation is just nuts.

I'm going to see him in Knoxville and here in Nashville next week. I'll be interested to hear your report.
 
dmn, do you have any idea how many RT gigs you've been to? Any memories of your first? What was the best? The worst?
 
Flamencology said:
:mad:

(I have tickets for the London dates on his tour this winter, hopefully I'll actually be able to make it this time)
Click to expand...

Are you going to the Cadogan Hall on the 6th Dec or Royal Festival Hall on 11th Jan?..looks like I might be going to the RFH gig.
 
Flamencology said:
dmn, do you have any idea how many RT gigs you've been to? Any memories of your first? What was the best? The worst?
Click to expand...

My best guess is that this past Saturday's show is number 31. And then I've got the two shows lined up next week, but that's all I'll catch on this tour.

I remember my first show clearly. My awareness of RT came from a Rolling Stone magazine "100 Best Albums" issue in the late 80s that had two of his records listed. Plus I'd seen Michael Hedges cover "I Misunderstood" a few months earlier, so I knew RT was supposed to be some hotshot writer and guitarist. When I saw he was playing a show in New Orleans it seemed like a no-brainer. I grabbed a guitarist friend of mine and we hopped in the car. We figured even if this Richard Thompson guy sucked, we'd STILL be in New Orleans and how bad could that be?

It was a solo gig at Tipitina's and it was jaw-dropping. I listened to a lot of metal and classic rock growing up, and my idea of a guitar god was Eddie Van Halen. I was into stuff like Hedges and Leo Kottke too, but I really didn't understand that it was possible to play like he did -- just one guy up there with an acoustic guitar frying my brain. And there was an aggression that I'd never seen with a "folk singer", you know? A lot of wit and a lot of venom.

So that was pretty much it, I was sold. My friend was knocked out too. We got in the car and drove four hours back to Alabama and grabbed three more friends and explained that the HAD to see this Richard Thompson guy. And the five of us drove down to see him in Baton Rouge the very next night. Seriously. And somehow we all ended up backstage after the Baton Rouge show and had this photo taken:

rt-baton_rouge.jpg


So that's 1992. I'm the guy in the black t-shirt. The neat postscript to all of this is that the other two guys in this photo are coming in next week from North Carolina and Alabama to stay with me and attend the concert in Nashville.
 
mosiddiqi said:
Are you going to the Cadogan Hall on the 6th Dec or Royal Festival Hall on 11th Jan?..looks like I might be going to the RFH gig.
Click to expand...

RFH, the December gig isn't the RT Band. Whether you go or not, we should definitely get together for dinner or some drinks or something.
 
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