Thompson's trawl brings out some gems

We were taken through the Italian renaissance, folk ballads, opera and jazz, all the time Thompson's vocals and guitar playing impeccable.
He was joined on stage by percussionist and singer, Debra Dobkin, and pianist and singer Judith Owen - both outstanding performers in their own right.
Nothing tests the musicianship of a band like a trawl through 1,000 years but they were up to the task, Owen delivering incredible performances of When I am Laid in Earth, from Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas and jazz standard Cry Me a River.
The intelligence of Thompson shone through in each song choice, even when choosing from the more testing periods such as the 1980s, plucking The Korgis' majestic Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime from among the garbage.
There was a nice moment of regional relevance in the set, with the folk song Blackleg Miner mentioning pits in Northumberland.
I left wanting to do some digging in the musical past myself after such compelling evidence that songs which exist so far off our radar still pack a punch.