What I did on my holidays

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Spot the related musical reference.

What was headlining at Shrewsbury in August. Pure class.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8sWPjYe1tw

Comments

Thanks for the Link...

I knew Thompson was still performing, but hadn't looked him up or listened to him very much or very recently.

(First heard Prelude's album cut of "Meet on the Ledge" in the mid-to-late '70s; it stood out in comparison to their original material. I'd been surprised when I learned that the song went back to the late sixties, and was even more surprised here when Thompson says that he was 19 when he wrote it. That a young folksinger would have been that disillusioned that soon sort of startled me.)

Eric

Performing

And some. The first time I saw him at Shrewsbury*, he came on and played solo for two hours, with no breaks save the inter-song patter. I was astonished to see the time stamp on this recording: 1hr 39mins. How many top names give that long a set?

I know he is a miserable old sod, lyrics-wise, but I have heard a vanishingly-small number of people who FEEL the guitar the way he does. Listen to the difference between the beautiful intricacy of his playing on '52 Vincent Black Lightning or Beeswing and the rawness of his balls-put solo on Can't Win, or, vocally, the regret in Beeswing, the humour in Guitar Heroes contrasting with the utter venom and hatred of Put it There Pal, or Can't Win. He didn't do snide contempt, as he left Fergus Laing out of the set (Pity!).

*That was the year someone stood in the car park opposite the main gate holding a sign reading "I will give whatever you ask for a Richard Thompson ticket"

Not many of his generation left I'm afraid

My then Girlfriend took me to one of the early Cropredy Festivals. That was shall we say very mind blowing.
I'd seen the 'Incredibles' at the Royal Festival Hall in '71. They played for close on 2 hours.

Another singer-songwriter of that generation was the late John Martyn. The sounds he could get out of an acoustic guitar were unbelievable.
His 'Bless the Weather' album reguarly gets played even today.
Samantha