Plus one

My first two gigs of 2013 turn out to be corkers.

First up, Richard Thompson at the Barbican, one of my favourite venues. Undaunted by the grim weather and the slightly disconcerting labyrinthine walk to reach the complex, I manage to link up with my gig companion, despite the flimsiest of pre-gig arrangements. We catch up on news (having last seen one another in 2008, on the rather momentous occasion of Pentangle's reunion at the South Bank). The intervening years evaporate as we chat Spanish life, passports, the pros and cons of Later with Jools, Tame Impala (in which I find myself alone in my fandom) and the previous evening's RT gig at Shepherd's Bush Empire. Would there be familial participation tonight?

It's a wonderful show (I discover that RT electric gigs are scarce these days - amazingly it's my first - and no less enjoyable for the lack of 'special guests'), marked by humble and prodigious musicianship from Thompson, Michael Jerome (drums) and Taras Prodaniuk (bass). Happily, the highlights (of which there are many) are recorded for posterity for Australian magazine Rhythms by the person seated to my right...

Just over a week later I'm south of the river at another of my favourite venues, the Royal Festival Hall, to see another musician enjoying a creative peak.

I sit with friends in the nosebleeds (actually, it's not at all bad up there - and the surround sound is enveloping), captivated by a show that's equal parts gig and event. Chilling visuals align with the music with to-the-second precision. Guitarist Guthrie Govan shows why he is so sought after, with an unforgettably soulful solo on the epic ballad 'Drive Home'. By the end of the night my binoculars are quite exhausted: it's yet another band with no passengers and I feel lucky to have been witness to their alchemy.

The above clipping is from a 1970 edition of Zigzag. Whilst the writer's vision of a mainstream modern music 'entirely free and open to all influences' may still be a distance off, on the evidence of tonight's show, the state of jazz-rock and the spirit of musical exploration of which he is an advocate, appears to be in very safe hands.