Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Bled / Jezerska promenada / Slovenia
Concert date: 02.08.2018
Attendance: 600
Ticket price: €0.00 (free entry!!!)
English guitar master and folk-rock pioneer Richard Thompson first rose to fame as a founding member of the unforgettable folk rock icons Fairport Convention, with whom he created English folk rock in the second half of the sixties. Then he went ‘solo’, first releasing a few joint albums with his wife at the time, Linda, and later an enviable collection of solo albums. Now he has played Slovenia for the first time in his incredibly rich and eventful musical career. Richard took the stage right by Lake Bled as part of the traditional Bled festival Okarina, which is mostly dedicated to promoting world music acts.
Richard, who of course wasn’t without his trademark black beret, was armed with both an electric and an acoustic guitar throughout the show, with the other two members of his ‘electric trio’ keeping him company on stage: American bassist Taras Prodaniuk and American drummer Michael Jerome. Richard, who will release a new, long-awaited studio album titled »13 Rivers« on September 14, played a colorful mix of his solo work from almost every chapter of his solo career in Bled, along with several highly confident renditions of songs from the upcoming album. Over the years his musical style has outgrown traditional folk rock frames, so that besides folk, some of Richard’s songs contain plenty of blues elements, and occasionally rock’n’roll, jazz and country too. In short, it’s a seriously colorful blend of musical styles. Some may have been surprised that he didn’t play a single Fairport Convention song that evening, but that rarely happens at Richard’s shows, usually only on special occasions such as various anniversaries.
Richard, who mostly swears by the Fender Stratocaster when it comes to electric guitars, opened his set with three new songs, »Bones of Gilead«, »Her Love Was Meant For Me« and »The Rattle Within«, all found on the aforementioned upcoming solo album »13 Rivers«. All three came across as very promising, and it looks like »13 Rivers« will be yet another highly interesting album in Richard’s rich solo career. With the next song, »Take Care the Road You Choose«, Richard went back to the 2007 album »Sweet Warrior«, proving he’s one of those cult musicians who don’t get hung up on their mighty creative past and are well aware of the quality of their newer work too. His guitar artistry, with its distinctive technique, was a real feast for the ears, while some of the solos sounded like they were beamed in from the ‘ninth galaxy’. Richard’s mostly very successful revival of past evergreens continued with an energetic take on »Can’t Win« from the album »Amnesia« (1988), which he cleverly complemented with »Dry My Tears and Move On« from the album »Mock Tudor« (1999). The older material was mostly saved for the closing stretch, by which time the initially reserved crowd, which included quite a few foreign visitors, mainly tourists, had warmed up nicely.
Suddenly Richard’s set was interrupted by a special guest, our well-known singer-songwriter Andrej Šifrer, who proudly announced with a broad smile that his friendship with Richard goes back twenty-five years. In honor of that long-lasting friendship, Šifrer played the acoustic song »Vsaj za en dan« from his album »Srce in pogum« (2014). Richard guested on it in the studio too, and this time accompanied his friend Andrej on acoustic guitar on stage. In the end, Šifrer, who was in no hurry to leave the stage and would probably have played another song or two of his own if Richard hadn’t been visibly growing impatient, sang one more verse of his folk-anthem drinking song »Za prijatelje«. All glory to their long-time friendship, but Šifrer’s unexpected solo spot sharply cut across Richard’s set in both musical and atmospheric terms, since these are two completely different musical characters. The crowd’s reactions were accordingly pretty mixed.
Richard, whose vocal skills are almost unchanged compared to past decades, then surprised us with »Guitar Heroes«, found on the album »Still« (2015), which was dedicated to some of the guitar heroes of his childhood who had a key influence on the development of his musical style. The song is built as a collage of different abbreviated takes on evergreens belonging to jazz and rock’n’roll guitar heroes such as Django Reinhardt, Chuck Berry and Hank Marvin, who were Richard’s teenage idols.
»The Storm Won’t Come« was yet another new song that you’ll be able to hear on »13 Rivers« shortly, while the performance of »Put It There Pal«, which came out in 1996 on Richard’s second Grammy-nominated album, »You? Me? Us?«, was quite a surprise. After »Trying«, another »13 Rivers« track, Richard returned to the album »Sweet Warrior« with a passionate version of »I’ll Never Give It Up«. Then came the closing stretch of the concert and time for some of Richard’s beloved masterpieces from the beginning of his solo road, which he kicked off with the Richard & Linda Thompson standard »Wall of Death«, released in 1982 on the commercially successful album »Shoot Out the Lights«, the last one Richard recorded with his former wife.
Richard closed the regular set with the solo classic »Tear-Stained Letter«, which came out in 1983 on his second solo album »Hand of Kindness«. For the encore, Richard played two relatively unrepresentative songs, which was a bit surprising given that many people expected some older work from the start of his solo career, especially since he didn’t play a single Richard & Linda Thompson song from the seventies all night: »Sally B« from the album »Electric« (2013) and »Take a Heart«, a cover of the lesser-known English beat/rock and roll band The Sorrows. Even though the encore picks weren’t exactly what most fans were hoping for, there wasn’t a single reason for bad vibes, since Richard and his musical sidekicks thrilled us more than enough with their perfectionist versions of most of the songs, charged us up with energy, and proved that even though Richard will soon turn seventy, he’s still in great shape as both a guitarist and a singer.
Richard Thompson, who wowed us in Bled with regal renditions of newer and older gems from his rich musical treasure chest, is one of those guitar giants that every lover of good music should see at least once in their life. Not just Richard, but the other two members of his trio as well, showed exceptional tightness, enviable technical chops and above all a huge amount of heart in playing timeless music that was truly made for ‘heart and soul’. Attendance was perfectly decent by local standards, helped by an influx of curious foreigners. It seems the organizers made more of an effort this year than in some previous years, with a bigger stage and a smart choice of a wonderfully atmospheric location right by Lake Bled, after some concerts in the Okarina festival were moved to less appealing venues in the past. Even the elder statesmen and icons of Slovenian music journalism, who were spotted in greater numbers that evening and are usually not easy to please, were more or less happy with what they heard and saw.
Setlist
1. Bones of Gilead
2. Her Love Was Meant for Me
3. The Rattle Within
4. Take Care the Road You Choose
5. Can’t Win
6. Dry My Tears and Move On
7. Vsaj za en dan (with Andrej Šifrer)
8. Guitar Heroes
9. The Storm Won’t Come
10. Put It There Pal
11. Trying
12. I’ll Never Give It Up
13. Wall of Death
(Richard & Linda Thompson cover)
14. Tear Stained Letter
——–encore——–
17. Sally B
18. Take a Heart
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