Get the latest gossip

Richard Thompson review – a showcase for decades of exquisite craft

In a sublime concert full of banter, storytelling and guitar virtuosity, the 75-year-old surrenders himself completely to each moment

Tonight, the revered folk-rocker – complete with red Fender Stratocaster and customary jet-black beret – is performing songs from Ship to Shore, his 19th solo album, which is out on Friday. In the foyer there are flyers advertising Fairport’s Cropredy Convention in August with the tagline “the friendliest music festival in the country”, and it’s a similarly affable crowd this evening. Introducing his band, Thompson reveals that the second guitarist, Zak Hobbs, is his grandson, and he’s clearly here on merit, teasing rich twangs from a mandolin, or trading bluesy electric guitar solos with his grandfather on the capricious Hard on Me – the sort of fretboard flurries that give legs to the Hendrix comparisons.

Get the Android app