For fan favorite 1999's "Crawl Back (Under My Stone)" from Mock Tudor, Thompson would sing one part of the rousing chorus and step away from the mike to encourage and hear the audience chime right in. It was a vigorous workout and no less effective given that was playing acoustic guitar for the entire show. He introduced 1988's "Pharaoh" from the Amnesia album as being about when he wonders about the powerful companies and conglomerates who control the world.
His current album, 2007's Sweet Warrior was represented by "Needle and Thread", "Bad Monkey", "Mr. Stupid," "Sunset Song." For his second encore, he called out for requests only to be totally inundated with shouts from the audience, but he must have heard people calling for 1994's "Beeswing." Some songs were speedy, some were cheeky and clever, some were bittersweet but they were pretty much all songs that I would want to hear again.
Opener Dan Frechette, a twenty year (or so) veteran of the folk scene, put on a brilliant set. His first song was practically ripped from today's headlines, about the financial crisis in the US and the interests of Wall Street clashing with that of the average person. Frechette is one of those singer-songwriters who are the real deal, rather than being a wannabe. He's got the music in him and there's so much of it that much of his musical energy exits out of his right foot, which stomps the stage to provide a catchy anchor to his acoustic guitar and harmonica music. Towards the end of a song, the intensity of the foot stomping increases as Frechette's literally picks up his leg and lets it slam down with great force. He has a new album out and I can't wait to buy a copy. See this guy and you'll know that you've seen someone special.
My rating for this show is 5/5.
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