Richard Thompson/Kacy & Clayton @ Town Hall, New York, NY 10/18/24

 Bill: Richard Thompson/Kacy & Clayton

Venue: The Town Hall, New York, NY

Date: 10/18/24

Ticket: $66.00 via Stubhub Orch Center Left Row R (advance were $95 range for Orchestra on Ticketmaster)

8:50pm Richard Thompson 

Active: 1967 (London, UK)

Affiliated: David Thomas And The Pedestrians, Fairport Convention, French Frith Kaiser Thompson, Morris On, Richard & Linda Thompson, Richard Thompson Band, The Bunch (3), The GP's, The Richard Thompson Acoustic Trio, Thompson (4)

Latest Release: Ship To Shore (New West, 2024)

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8:00pm Kacy & Clayton

Active: 2011 (Wood Mountain, Saskatchewan, Canada)

Latest Release: Plastic Bouquet (with Marlon Williams) (New West, 2020)

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The first electric tour in 5 years for Richard Thompson came to town (hall).  Although I've seen Thompson regularly over the years, it always seems to be solo acoustic.  "It's Cheaper!" says Richard, slyly.  He takes further note of this when they leave stage for him to take on "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" alone, that they will be back because he paid for their bus.  Such is the indignity of the professional musician, even one on a spiffy well distributed Americana one like New West that Richard is now a part of.

New West supplied the opener, Kacy & Clayton, second cousins from Saskatchewan. Kacy provides the droll comic relief and Clayton provides the smooth assuredness as well as a look out of the Gordon Lightfoot handbook.  Despite a career in the folk world spanning over a decade, I had never heard of them and neither had the vast majority of the crowd.  They were, however, skilled and enjoyable.  Worthy of opening for the mighty Richard Thompson, who never needs any sort of introduction.

Speaking of never having seen someone prior, somehow until the evening's encore when Teddy Thompson joined to acoustic duet, I had never witnessed Teddy in the flesh either.  Since Richard admitted nepotism runs deep in his band, his grandson Zak Hobbs (son of Richard & Linda's eldest daughter Muna) handles second guitar to cut down costs.  Teddy, also a spawn of Richard & Linda, has been releasing albums since 2000 and there was a family band about 10 years ago simply called Thompson with everybody.  The encores of "Persuasion" and "The Grey Funnel Line" were a jarring contrast in vocal styles and some of the best music of the evening.

That said, I was there for Richard, guitar God and indisputably great every time.  Like most great active musicians, he is more concerned, even at 75, with playing something from his latest work and not being a greatest hits jukebox.  His nod to Sandy Denny tonight was "John The Gun" the Fotheringay number from the aborted second album that came out first on her 1971 solo album The North Star Grassman and The Ravens.  His lone nod to the Linda era outside of the son and grandson was "Withered and Died" from the album that "makes all the top 9,000 of all time lists," I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight.

I didn’t take a ton of clips tonight since there was an employee in the aisle looking to dissuade that but also because I had a bulbous head in front of my angle.  I’ve linked better clips that have since popped up on YouTube, including “Persuasion” with Teddy.

Glad I checked in.