Appel Farm festival, New Jersey, June 3, 2000

From the RT list once again.




I have a strange sunburn this morning, after spending all of yesterday outdoors in the wilds of New Jersey. It's a crescent of red atop my left shoulder, rather like a Boy Scout patch. The rest of me is unscathed.

Is this the badge of a Thompson fan? I guess it might be. Seeing and hearing him was the high point of my day yesterday, though that's hardly a new thing for me. This was a day of many high points, though, musical and otherwise. I enjoyed Willy Porter's set and thought he'd have a lot of crossover appeal for RT fans, with his continually surprising guitar playing and his darkly humorous lyrics. I also liked Vanida Gail and Jonatha Brooke and wish I'd seen more of Lucy Kaplansky and my faves, Moxy Fruvous. (Fruhead mania was much in evidence yesterday, and the merchandisers accommodated it well. I wanted one of those cute T-shirts that read "I Love Canadian Boys," but I think the largest size they had would have served me as a legwarmer at best.)

Also, I finally got to see Mary Chapin Carpenter (I'm probably the last person in her region not to have been to one of her shows before this) and got an idea of what the fuss is all about. She put on a great show with a stellar band: John Jennings, Duke Levine, and Jon Carroll.

Ah, but RichardRichardRichard....he had a lot of fans there, too. How many of those lawnmower shirts did I see? (All of them were on chests; none were for sale.) I was so close to the stage by the time he came on that I'm not sure how well he was received, but I think there was a huge audience, all the way up the hill, clamoring for him. And afterwards, when he came out to greet some people who had waited for him, it was fairly intense. A group shriek actually went up from the crowd. At least one woman insisted on hugging him. A guy at the back called out, mock-reverent (I hope!): "If I could just touch you, I'd be healed!" Little kids were running around going "It's Richard Thompson! It's Richard Thompson!" I had to pinch myself to make sure that I was awake and the drugs weren't acting up again. (Gee, maybe that mark on my arm isn't sunburn.)

Did I mention the music? Duh.

I felt that he started out strong and maybe got a bit tired or distracted towards the end, though he seemed totally into "Mingus Eyes" (was it the last song?). I don't mean to be unfairly critical; I go to too many of these things to have a normal impression of them. Then again, maybe I was the one who got tired or distracted, round about "Uninhabited Man." When he launched into the Syd Barrett/Brian Wilson thing again, I wondered if it was coming off as meanspirited. It didn't work for me--whatever the reasons for these guys' deterioration--it just seemed petty. The song that followed--one of my favorites, especially in a solo setting--seemed discordant. Was his tuning off? (Next-to-lowest-toned string--either the 2nd or the 5th.) Was my proximity to the speakers finally taking its toll? Or was I hearing, or fearing, something off-key in the attitude of someone I admire? At any rate, he lost me for a couple of songs there. "Wall of Death," another favorite, was a bit perfunctory.

Again, I'm speaking as someone who probably goes to too damn many RT shows (praise God that I can do this!). Overall, it was a vigorous and satisfying performance, especially early on. It was heavy on Mock Tudor material, which works really well in a live setting. (When Richard wrote the songs for this album, did he have their performance potential in mind, and is that why the recent band tour has been so powerful?)

I didn't keep a set list, but I know that someone did. Hello??

High point: maybe "I Feel So Good" because he clearly did. Also "My Daddy Is a Mummy."

Great seeing some fellow listmembers there, too!

Pam

And an addendum.....

I forgot to mention this earlier.

At Appel Farm, RT's set was preceded by a set by Jonatha Brooke, formerly of The Story. During her performance, someone from the staff interrupted to announce a child who was at the information booth, hysterical about wanting to find his parents. This really bummed Jonatha out, and she kept asking "Where's Clayton? Did Clayton's parents find him yet?" Another misplaced-kid announcement soon followed, and before her set was out, the same staffer (was this a WXPN person?) came onstage with a small boy. "This little boy is Christopher Thompson, and I'm reliably informed he's not Richard Thompson's son. Anyway, if Christopher's parents are out there, please come and get him! And in the future, all of you, don't have children unless you can keep track of them." Chris's dad then retrieved him from the stage to much applause.

We were told that Richard's set would not be interrupted by any lost-child announcements. And it wasn't, but children were a part of the show. After a little girl down front ran off during an early number, he joked about the kids being "bored silly" at his show. Later, he introduced "My Daddy Is a Mummy" as a song he'd written for his son's elementary school class to teach them about history. Afterwards, he joked about "getting into Raffi territory." Just then, a brat screamed from somewhere off to the right, and Richard made some quip like "I'm pandering to YOU, sir!"

Pam