[ATTENDED: October 4, 2013] Richard Thompson at the McCarter Theatre
Back again for the (semi) annual Richard Thompson show at the McCarter Theatre. RT himself said this was his 15th year playing there more or less every year. And it seems like quite a lot of the concertgoers were multi-year attendees.
This time, Richard Thompson’s son Teddy opened. About fifteen years ago I saw Teddy open for Richard in Boston. That set was really enjoyable and I bought Teddy’s debut album. But I haven’t thought all that much about him since (he has released a number of albums since 2000).
I spent some time at this show thinking about how strange it must be to tour with your father if he is a guitar wizard. Teddy is not a guitar wizard and doesn’t try to be one. [There’s an article that I’m going to be posting about in a few days by Jonathan Franzen which deals with coping with successful fathers, so it was on my mind]. Indeed, in an article from a few years ago, Teddy said that at first he never listened to his parents music because it was folkie and he like rock. But after a while: “I started to be more aware of how much people loved [my parents],” he said. “When I started doing (music) for a living, I felt, ‘I’m not as good a guitar player as my dad. My voice isn’t as good as my mother’s.'” His mother is Linda Thompson who does have an amazing voice. So it must be intimidating to be on with a guy that is so good and so beloved.
But Teddy has a great voice as well (more powerful than Richard’s), he sounds a bit like Neil Finn from Crowded House. Teddy played about a dozen songs. I actually didn’t recognize any of them, but I enjoyed them all. As I said his voice is strong–and is really the selling point, because while the melodies are very good, they are also rather simple. I don’t know that anything was as catchy as the songs by his dad, but of course plays a very different style of music–a kind of country folk with an occasional hard edge (both Thompsons only played acoustic guitar for this show).
I don’t know what their relationship is like (I always assume that famous (relatively) people’s children hate them. But it was clear that Richard was proud of his son when he came out. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 