The Many Faces of Richard Thompson

Richard Thompson’s repertoire of songs is vast and deep and so are the number of faces he puts on while performing, whether belting out his lucid and witty poetry or engaging the audience with edgy, sometimes self-deprecating commentary or deeply engaged in his amazing fretwork. His latest outing at the Lobero Theatre, where he has performed many times, may have been his most prolific display of variety, perhaps because he covered so many high points from his career, dating back to Fairport Convention. Herewith, some of what I saw that night, including the evening’s opener, the incomparable Eliza Gilkyson, another Lobero frequent visitor, who like Richard first appeared on this fabled stage as part of Peggie Jones’s much missed Sings Like Hell series.