Richard Does It Again!

What might just be the best concert I saw in th last year rolled into the little Mystic Theater in Petaluma Thursday night when Richard Thompson played solo to a packed house.

One of the most amazing moments of the show was when he covered Britney Spears' "Oops I did it again." This clip is from the rendition he did during his "Thousand Years of Popular Music" tour. In one single song he revealed what an incredible story teller and musical interpreter he is. His take on the song flat out made it his own. If you had not previously heard it by Britney it would be impossible to think of it as the goofy pop song she created it to be. In Thompson's gifted hands it transforms into a dark amusement etched with playful evil.

It SOUNDS and FEELS like a Richard Thompson song!

This was just one single small element of a tasty show created by a consummate artist who is completely in command of his instrument, his song writing, and his voice.

Thompson reveals insight, darkness, playfulness, sadness and joy at each moment of the concert. He plays tennis with human light and shadow and in doing so brings to musical fruition a complete sense of what it means to be human.

This is why we live.