Richard Thompson plus Support

Since co-founding Fairport Convention in 1967, guitarist Richard Thompson has had one of the most decorated careers in music. He’s received an OBE and Lifetime Achievement Awards from the BBC, the Ivor Novellos and Nashville’s Americana awards. LA Times called him “The finest songwriter after Dylan and the best electric guitarist since Hendrix”. Rolling Stone named him “one of the Top 20 Guitarists of All Time.”

He was Nick Drake’s guitarist on Five Leaves Left and Bryter Layter. Everyone from Robert Plant, Don Henley and Elvis Costello to REM, Christy Moore and David Bryne have covered his music. Thompson began his recording career with Fairport Convention in 1967 before leaving in 1971. His first solo record Henry The Human Fly came out the next year, with a woman called Linda Peters appearing on vocals.

She was soon Linda Thompson and together the Thompsons released six albums between 1974 and 1982. The first, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight, was not critically acclaimed on its release but has since come to be considered a masterpiece. Of it, Q magazine says “Thompson found his ideal foil in Linda. A hugely inventive guitarist, he gives full vent to his talent on this dark, brooding album.” Rolling Stone lists the album as one of the 500 Greatest of All Time.

Throughout the 80s, 90s and 00s, Thompson released one critically acclaimed album after another, amassing generation upon generation of new fans: since Dream Attic (2010), an album described by Paste as containing “some of the most visceral guitar solos of his career” he has had a string of Top 20 albums in the UK, reaching the highest chart positions of his long career. Last year’s 13 Rivers was described by Pop Matters as “a raw, unfiltered affair from a veteran artist who shows no signs of slowing down,” and anyone who has seen him live recently will know what they mean.