The Dream Attic Tour
Richard Thompson Band
Saturday, January 22nd 2011
Colston Hall Bristol
Reviewer: Lee Edwards

One of the major highlights of last year was the remarkable live album of all new material, Dream Attic, by Richard Thompson and his band. We remarked at the time that “The incendiary energy of his live shows is captured by recording the album, in real time, in front of an audience”. We also said in our review in issue 32 (August 2010) “Not many bands are good enough to achieve this high risk manoeuvre, but Thompson and the band’s elevated musicianship shines on all thirteen tracks”.

Richard Thompson recently spoke in a video interview about the inspiration behind The Dream Attic album. Watch the interview here.

I arrived at the newly refurbished Colston Hall with musician, and fellow Thompson enthusiast, Rob Maddicott (The Blood Choir), and after securing our guest tickets we made our way to excellent seats near the front of the stalls. Richard Thompson and band were due to perform two lengthy sets with a twenty minute intermission and no support act.

Thompson, strapping on a powder blue Fender Strat, and his band hit the stage and proceeded to fire straight into the albums’s opening track, an ascerbic take on the banking scandal, The Money Shuffle. The musicians appearing on stage, like on the album, with Thompson are Pete Zorn (guitars, flute, sax, mandolin), Michael Jerome (drums), Taras Prodaniuk (bass), and Joel Zifkin (violin, mandolin). Thompson then asks if their are and bankers in the audience, no one puts their hand up, and tells us that they are going to take us through he album in the first half, and then after the break come back and do their “erm greatest hits”.

Next is the haunting and plaintive ballad The Gorse Amongst The Grey. Other highlights include the traditional murder ballad Sidney Wells, the very moving elegy on loss A Brother Slips Away and the cinematic closer If Love Whispers Your Name.

Throughout the performance Thompson peppers the performance with incendiary and hear stopping guitar solos as only he can. The other musicians are not outshone. The rhythm section of Prodaniuk and Jerome lay down a solid and vibrant base for the others to soar over. Zifkin’s electric violin is a perfect counterpoint to Thompson’s stunning guitar solos. Multi-instrumentalist Pete Zorn, longtime fellow band member, dazzles us with his array of instruments and musical prowess. The audience responds accordingly realising that we are witnessing a rare magic here.

After the break they’re back with many highlights from Thompson’s legendary career. These include personal favourites like Wall Of Death and Tear Stained Letter.

Tonight’s performance confirms, without a shadow of doubt, that Richard Thompson is one of the world’s greatest guitarists, a must-see performer and one of the finest songwriters this country has ever produced.