The Archive.
Best viewed at 800 x 600 resolution using Netscape Navigator. Last update 31st D ec 2000.
Australasian Tour 2001.
Once the tour is
over I will post reviews and setlists of the tour dates in Australia , New Zealand
and Japan of which I have managed to find any information, such as newspaper
reviews , radio interviews, broadcasts, adverts and eyewitness accounts.
I would welcome input
from anyone who can provide information about the tour .
Tuesday 13th February . Tivoli Theatre. Brisbane.
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2001 Tour dates New Zealand
Australia
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Greetings all A brief review of last night's RT show in Brisbane. My apologies if someone else has already posted a review. Another hot summer night up here in the northern sub-tropics and humid enough to instantly rust the strings of any acoustic guitar. There was a great buzz as about 150 - 200 RT fans gathered in the lounge of the Tivoli Theatre, knocking down quite a few beers and other liquids. The Tivoli is a great venue, and the crowd was in a top mood. It was like a celebratory gathering of long-lost, distant relatives that you've never met! After a very good support act by two guys, whose names escape me (sorry), RT wandered on to a rapturous response, and powered into Bathsheeba Smiles. I felt that RT was most relaxed, and more communicative with the crowd than on his last visit here. His playing was just wonderful, and his voice seems to have gained strength since I saw him last. The sound at the Tivoli was superb, and RT had us hanging on every note and every word. The dynamics of his performance are just wonderful - the delicate, pure, hanging notes (I think just about everyone forgot to breathe during the Valerio ending) through to the powerful, thunderous, multi-layered rhythms (one woman in front of me had her fingers in her ears at one stage!). How that Lowden acoustic isn't completely trashed by the end of his show is an X-files mystery. (Perhaps ,Tommy Johnson -like, RT sold his soul to the devil for the perfect acoustic) I Agree with Pat Methany had people in stitches. Soon after RT called for requests, and was met by a barrage of shouts. I just started laughing, as it was hilarious to be in a room full of RT fans, all shouting out favourites (bear in mind that I have not yet bumped into another person in the last three years, apart from an old friend from Sydney, WHO HAS HEARD OF RT!!). One person called for Tear Stained Letter and RT said "I need the combo for that!". Looking left and right at empty spaces on the stage he cast a questioning look back at the crowd, "I told 'em Heathrow, 9am. Anyway, if I brought 'em you'd have to pay four times as much!" to which some wag shouted "Hey, we could see Kenny G for that!". Later, another call for requests brought a massive shout-fest, and in a moment's silence a bloke in the front row leapt up and shouted "Play 'em all - AND COME BACK NEXT YEAR!". RT cracked up, as did we all. Other thoughts: a.. The cleverness of those songs, and how his electric stuff comes alive in a different guise when played solo on the acoustic. b.. My Daddy Was a Mummy - RT attempting to remember (or pretending to forget) verses c.. A lovely tune I'd never heard before, Word Unspoken, Sight Unseen d.. Mind-numbingly great version of Shoot Out the Lights e.. Those lines in Valerio - I also thought it was "no unseen hand will pluck you, when you tumble to the net" RT came back for two encores, ripping through a list of requests that included a terrific Read About Love. RT also showed that he's human (shock! gasp!) by apologising for missing a verse of Beeswing (didn't notice somehow). He also blew a first line in one of the verses of Dimming of the Day, but who cares! The atmosphere was just so positive and fun that all was enjoyed. And then 'twas all over. After unsuccessfully trying to talk a stagehand into letting me take RT's written song-list (or something scribbled anyway) off the floor ("He might need it!"), we were out into the warm Brisbane air, and laughed our way home. We wait so long, and it's over so fast. But hey, I smiled the whole way through the next woeful day at work.
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Set list (order may be incorrect)
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Galway to Graceland |
No known recording exists of this show.
2001 Australian tour reviews/interviews and photographs
Richard Thompson photo gallery.
The Richard Thompson pages .
Pacific tour 97.setlists/reviews. General revews RT banter. RT Womad 97 photos 97 Australian tour photos RT links. RT Video RT Photogallery
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