RICHARD Thompson was 18 years old when he and Simon Nicol, Ashley Hutchings and Shaun Frater formed Fairport Convention in 1967, “inventing” – as he told the Poole Lighthouse audience – a new musical genre. Now he is 77, and still going very strong, as is the band he left in 1971, with the seminal Liege and Leaf already in the can.

Since then he has strengthened and deepened his reputation as one of the finest guitarists of all time, honing his unique playing style and recording acoustic and electric sets, writing songs for generation after generation and winning new fans with every iteration. He noted in the wide expanses of the Lighthouse concert hall that most of the audience were his contemporaries and even his seniors – an observation underlined by the insistence of many bladders in the course of the concert. But even the constant, but slow, journeys to the loo could not break the concentration on this remarkable man, whose true, strong and flexible singing voice matches the astonishing versatility of his guitar playing. There are rock rhythms and polyphonic harmonies, Renaissance ground and chunky pop, all accompanying a voice that, just often enough, flits from high falsetto to open, growling bass.

My contemporaries and I often comment that we have been the blessed generation, in terms of music, theatre, travel … but I must confess that this is the first time I have seen Richard Thompson perform, and that has long been on my “must do” list (a bit like the advertising slogan of “bucket list.”) And also the first time I had ever heard 1952 Vincent Black Lightning, the Springsteenesque story song that paints as vivid a picture as any great master, with a sound track that grabs your heart and soul. Pretentious and over-egged?? – absolutely not.

The song came in the middle of a fascinating set that roamed through the six decades of his career, introducing new songs including a few from the upcoming album Hippies, Thugs and Heroes, recorded with his wife Zara Phillips (not to be confused with the daughter of the Princess Royal), who joined him on the Poole stage. His songs are wide ranging, from a new sea shanty for cruise ships all about sex at home and sex on the high seas, through Pharaoh, all about how despots fool us all into servitude, to mournful laments and the familiar I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight, recorded with his first wife Linda back in 1973 and still the one the fans sing with most fervour.

The evening started with a set by Holly Carter, a fine singer and guitarist who perhaps could settle on a genre, so that her interesting biographical songs can find their loyal audience.

GP-W