the Fillmore presents Richard Thompson
2015-11-10
the Fillmore
805 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94109
8:00 PM, Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2015 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2015 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

[8:00 PM lights down, Introduction and announcements]

1. [8:01 PM] Stony Ground
2. [8:05 PM] the Ghost of You Walks
3. [8:11 PM] Valerie
4. [8:15 PM] Josephine
   [8:20 PM long story introducing Johnny's Far Away]
5. [8:22 PM] Johnny's Far Away
6. [8:28 PM] 1952 Vincent Black Lightning
   [set ends 8:33 PM]

[8:50 PM, lights down… go!]

1. [8:51 PM] All Buttoned Up
2. [8:56 PM] Sally B
3. [9:01 PM] Broken Doll
4. [9:06 PM] For Shame of Doing Wrong
5. [9:12 PM] Hard on Me
6. [9:23 PM] Beatnik Walking &†
7. [9:30 PM] Al Bowlly's in Heaven &†
8. [9:38 PM] Guitar Heroes @†
9. [9:45 PM] Did She Jump or Was She Pushed †
10. [9:51 PM] I'll Never Give It Up
11. [9:55 PM] Wall of Death
12. [9:59 PM] I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
13. [10:02 PM] If Love Whispers Your Name
    [set ends 10:10 PM]
     
    First Encore
14. [10:12 PM] Patty Don't You Put Me Down
15. [10:16 PM] Tear-Stained Letter
    [set ends 10:23 PM]
     
    Second Encore
16. [10:23 PM] Dry My Tears And Move On
17. [10:27 PM] Fork in the Road
18. [10:32 PM] Take a Heart
    [show ends 10:36 PM]

• Bobby “the guitar tech” Eichhorn: @ acoustic guitar;
• Davey Faragher: bass, † Jaguar hollow body electric bass, harmony vox;
• Michael Jerome: drums, harmony vox;
• Richard Thompson: & acoustic guitar, guitar, vox.

I was pretty psyched to hear an electric show from Richard Thompson again – I love the manically discordant solos that he plays – I can't think of anyone who sounds even remotely similar in that respect. And I expected that with a trio instead of a full band, we'd get even more guitar chaos from the master. Well it turns out I was only partially right: with a setlist peppered with slower, more melodic tunes, it seemed to me that the impishly jumping guitar element was toned down in order to emphasize other aspects of the music. A solo acoustic opening set, and a mid-set acoustic trio section? That's not really gonna rock very hard, is it? Still, Hard on Me was epic, and for that, I'm very grateful.

It was also good fun to hear him play a bunch of new tunes, along with plenty of chestnuts from his giant back catalog of classics. The final tune at Richard Thompson's fine Fillmore show tonight was Take a Heart, an obscure cover by the Sorrows, an early English rock band I've never heard of: YouTube is the best! And with additional Internet research, I learned that tune seems to have appeared only on this recent fall tour – the cover is so new that it's not even listed on the Song-o-matic page at his website. But my research also revealed that the setlists on this tour have been pretty much exactly the same from night to night, varying only by a tune or three at best. Sigh. I guess they can't all be like the Radiators… 

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2015 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2015 event list! ☸ On to the next event!