Richard Thompson - Shoot Out The Lights

Richard Thompson performs Shoot Out The Lights

[@yournamehere6719]

RT & Telecaster: match made in Heaven.

[@chokkan7]

I've been a fan of Elvis since 'My Aim is True', but in all honesty...backing up RT on this tune is the high point of his career...I'm envious...

[@bobwho2454]

This Elvis series was really excellent. But this performance with RT is my favorite.

[@briankorbelik2873]

I'm a Yank, and I admit that it took me until my 40's to realize how talented and just plain wonderful that Richard Thompson really is. And I try to catch him live when he comes on tour to my area (SoCal, and before NoCal), and I'm proud to say that I have had the priviledge of seeing him on a number of occassions. And I'm looking forward to seeing him again.

[@cherylbianchi9616]

my all-time favorite player...have been privileged to see him many, many times...never EVER disappoints...saw him do this at House of Blues in LA and it was so HARD...permanently tattooed on my solar plexus...

[@peterfedun-sk3jt]

I had the extraordinary honour of seeing Mr. Thompson live at the Town Pump (a small bar with a minuscule stage) in the mid-80’s and stood directly in front of him mesmerized by his left hand on his guitar. His solos art pure art.

[@obscurebandfan]

RT is like a fine scotch, which makes sense given his heritage, he gets better with age.

[@williedeuel]

Ah, this is from back when Elvis had a TV show called Spectacle. The Imposters are a great band. I love Richard's intentional use of dissonances to make the guitar solo reflect how disorganized, errratic, and unhinged the character in the song is. The man is a genius on anything with strings. There is no one like him.

[@AMEER-114-]

Your the one here who is helping to bring clarity... But it Should be the poster who tells the source of the performance... This common failure is just a comment on a epidemic of the pathetic.

[@susangreifer2320]

Richard Thompson just a competent rhythm player--oh my! Too bad he is not more self promoting because he could kick Clapton's ass!! His lead playing is so complex--it sounds like bag pipes--too bad most Americans don't even know who he is---he is a jewel

[@adamd4390]

Susan Greifer he does kick claptons butt. And keeps getting better, claptons done

[@dansobczak8347]

Susan Greifer I know he changededmylife

[@YorkyOne]

The original post referred to Elvis Costello not RT.

[@ichaffee1]

Also he still has his voice ..quite good too.. BTW. I never thought of Clapton as particularly great guitarist...

[@christopherhill1652]

I don't think he really wants to kick anyone's ass. He plays for himself, not for adulation or glory, but because he loves to do it.

[@jamieburridge1498]

A master,not many left.

[@ms.saratonin6467]

No shame on Depeche Mode, Joy Division, etc… BUT… if I had taken a moment and heard THIS in 1982… It’s 2023 and I’ve had this on repeat for 14 counts… and probably 14 more…

[@talpajam]

u mean this ? kzbin.info/www/bejne/eIm7m2tjaM1jjMk

[@garyhosty9874]

bloody hell - Richard Thompson Is The Man.

[@se9f282]

He has such musicality and expression-all the while controlled. He just knows where he's going at all times, and it's always different. Saw him live, and was blown away.

[@bid84]

Not one thumbs down, and rightly so. One of the very best!

[@ekimklaw]

Seeing RT and EC on the same stage strikes me as INCREDIBLE!!!

[@Faye-pd1fv]

Good songs

[@semolinapilchard9768]

seen both electric and acoustic many tines over decades... Dude absolutely crushes it. i see him pkay it i hear it inbelievable sounds guitar monster

[@normanhall8435]

Richard Thompson is a great artist. I feel he is about the music not his ego. Like a great classical musician he has the chops to be able to play and feel the music.

[@flowerfarmerscott]

One of the best guitar solos in the history of popular music. I play pretty well and understand theory okay but I have no idea what the Hell he's doing.

[@stephenbouchelle7706]

Funny and great comment.

[@dennismccunney4462]

I saw Richard live years back at the no longer extant Bottom Line club in NYC. There was a chap sitting front and center who I'm certain was also a guitarist.. He was staring open mouthed. "I see him fingering the notes. I hear what he's playing. I _still_ can't believe he's doing that!" I understood perfectly. What gets me here is that he's playing a Telecaster. I've seen him live a number of times and in an assortment of videos, and I don't think I ever saw him play a Telecaster. His normal axe is a Strat or perhaps a custom built rig. At guess, he was present at an Elvis and the Attractions gig, they asked hismto come up ion stage and do a number with them. He hadn't brought his own axe, and what they had as a loaner was a tele. No problem. He can play it. (I take the above back. I remember he popped up playing a couple of songs including SOTL with Val McCallum's band, Jackshit at McCabe's in CA, Val plays Telecaster and loaned his to Richard for the songs. See kzbin.info/www/bejne/iX6mmGpsp9aKgbc)

[@flowerfarmerscott]

@@dennismccunney4462 It's so true. Each time I've seen him live afterward I felt like I was kidding myself that I play guitar.

[@kinseymilkbone]

A friend of mine played the intro to Calvary Cross to a friend of his who was a semi-pro guitarist and he (the guitarist) kept saying "Play that back for me - I can't figure out what he's doing."

[@dennismccunney4462]

@@kinseymilkbone Was it the LP version or the live version? The intro for the live version is one of my favorite riffs ever. (And in at least one of the live recordings he reprised the spidery intro as a basis for further improvisation later in the song. I just. closed my eyes and wallowed in it with a silly grin o9n my face.)

[@gigiallin8266]

Bob Mould from Hüsker Dü brought me here. ❤

[@andythomas706]

Thompson always had that psychedelic aspect to his playing. He could whip into it at the drop of a hat. On the Rumour And Sigh tour he played an epic version of this. Announcing the band at the end he introduced Bass player Pat Donaldson as Ex-Dantalion's Chariot!!

[@billtaylor9931]

How about hearing him with Henry Kaiser playing Shoot out the Lights!

[@daddyplayedsax]

Thompson really pulling the wheels off on that solo. Love it when he gets skronky.

[@timalexwar]

Definitely mongorosity at its finest.

[@timpani25]

THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS!!!! really, one of my favorite guitarists playing one of my favorite RT songs. wow, what a treat.

[@RJH1971]

3.35 onward....absolute astronomy ;)

[@2wayplebney]

Holy moley, Richard is on fire!

[@leftybass5860]

Elvis and the Imposters as your backup band. Not too shabby.

[@christopherhill1652]

I bet they felt the same.

[@jought]

You listen to his solos on this song, and they sound at times atonal, almost Dadaist. Then you realize he's finding sonic equivalents for the confused, self-destructive character who's portrayed in the song... and also pushing the other musicians to be more innovative. Brilliant.

[@douglasalan5783]

I was there at the Apollo for the taping of this show. What an absolute thrill!

[@franciscarthy8960]

What a brilliant performance

[@davidwinthrop7077]

The fantastic Pete Thomas on drums.

[@haolefly]

Amen! or is it Hey man!

[@johncrace911]

Brilliant footage. Thanks

[@mattrogers7521]

Saw him during the Punk period more than 40 years ago and was very impressed. The question is will he EVER stop getting better ?.

[@surfwriter8461]

He did. That's when I stopped paying attention to his latest albums, as it became repetitive.

[@landlinesandpercolators8822]

Never realized the "connection" to Link Wray's "Rumble" until recently. No matter, this smokes.

[@billtaylor9931]

True but so many others owe Link Wray. Check out the doc "Rumble". great little film.

[@andrewlamour4723]

taken right out of Link Wray. he should get credit.

[@seanoneil277]

How do you figure this? Reads like some snotty record store clerk's narrrow solipsism, as if RT learned from Link Wray. Gimme a break, please. Maybe consider it's the other way around, since nobody other than LA based "promoters" were caring about Wray. Maybe you should study Danny Gatton's life & work & maltreatment by "record industry" schmuckos.

[@tscottbaker2980]

Always amazed at what seems to be a complete misunderstanding of the lyrics. Speaks to the struggle of trying to fend off the demons of depression and the temptation of "shooting out the lights' not a story about a criminal as so many seem to think.

[@AMLXXV]

RT's expression at 3:00, after the first "real as a gun"...

[@susandeason1356]

Why did I take so long to discover you?

[@goodun6081]

PS, I do really miss Spectacle, they had some good artists and performances on that show.

[@vonBottorff]

Never heard punk and Nashville together like this.

[@goodun6081]

I too have long heard this as an updated version of Rumble, with lyrics added. If it sounds like a war battle, it's supposed to----i heard it was written as a reaction to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

[@dansobczak8347]

good 'un I heard it was the invasion of scotch in Richards brain

[@derykbarker9634]

Actually, not so much the Soviet invasion per se as the death squads they had hunting down the Mujahadeen.

[@Slightlyinterested]

virtuoso

[@aprilglaspieable]

I believe this is something of a tribute to Link Wray. I mean, that's a twisted version of Rumble.

[@pommelhorsepommelhorse8731]

sculpture

[@robertdelfavero6552]

It was on Elvis Costello's "Spectacle". He's a perfectly competent rhythm player, and doesn't claim to be any more than that.

[@goodun6081]

i think Robert was saying or meant to say more clearly that Costello is a perfectly competent rhythm player and doesn't make any claims beyond that....anyway, Costello is a darn good singer and songwriter, and he plays guitar better then Bob Dylan in my opinion....

[@billtaylor9931]

Not when Bob was turning with the Band for the first time after going electric. Bob was actually playing his ass off and still he got booed. (Stop booing me god stop booing me....... Bob in a car escaping his angry fans!)

[@StewartBairdPhoto]

Never seen RT play a Tele before - interesting

[@christopherhill1652]

He plays the Tele a lot. I have seen him playing it live three times at least.

[@markiliff]

Sooner or later, someone's going to tell you the pale blue one is a Ferrington. (No idea whether they'll be right, but someone always says it)

[@IndigoJo]

There's at least one pic of him with a Tele in the book accompanying the "Watching the Dark" compilation. But he normally plays a Strat or his custom Ferrington (and this Tele is clearly modified, with a P90 at the neck position and the extra middle pickup).

[@JPcares]

I'll most often like a tele style guitar better than a Strat but maybe that's just a matter of taste.

[@geemann3760]

Elvis was really getting into it.

[@JordanLake25]

Man I wonder how many of these views are mine

[@whsonic]

where and when?

[@bustedfender]

Nobody chooses the notes quite like like Henry.

[@kirbsanify]

I didn't know Jeremy Clarkson played drums.

[@pierre-de-standing]

Never seen him play a Telecaster before. Two Strat pickups and a P90! How did he get to play with Costello and the Attractions?

[@IndigoJo]

Elvis Costello hosted the show.

[@alanward4506]

Jeremy Clarkson on drums

[@XOY321]

fluidity fear

[@kngrat]

thats the same drummer as at mccabes guitar shop minus the cowboy hat . either that or im losing my mind

[@franciscretarola1928]

It's Pete Thomas, the drummer for the Attractions (as in Elvis Costello and the...)

[@IndigoJo]

@@franciscretarola1928 Also played on RT's Mirror Blue (his finest album IMHO) and You? Me? Us?.

[@robertconnolly3761]

Yeah, that's ECostello and he's pretending to play the tune. He has no idea.