A MAN, his guitar and a bunch of songs. Not exactly a menu to set your heart racing. But then Richard Thompson is not your average singer/guitarist/songwriter.
In fact, he is not average. He is exceptional; a songwriter of mystery and craft; a guitarist of great originality and fluency and a singer who rarely fails to do his material justice.
So we're taking about a major star, then? Well, no. Not exactly. Richard Thompson, 30 years on, continues to be one of the best secrets around.
He has his faithful of course, and they dutifully turned up at the Olympic in Dublin last night to pay homage. But the wider world treats this quintessentially English musician as a curiosity, that's when it bothers to recognise him at all.
Perhaps it is his image - the dapper "utan terriorist" look complete with beret, waistcoat and beard - but more likely it is because his material demands just a little effort and imagination.
Couched in styles that bridge the awesome gap between traditional music and rock and roll, with even a nod to Scotland's Jimmy Shand, Thompson writes songs of acute sensitivity, bitter regret and savage irony.
His world strikes a strange balance between the modern and the medieval.
In recent times most live performances have seen him supported by double bassist Danny Thomson. He was missing last night and this seemed to induce an almost frantically intense performance from the guitarist.
At its best this resulted in musical gymnastics of the like of Two Left Feet, but other songs suffered in his nervous haste. When he settled down though there were memorable versions of the classic Galway to Graceland, Beeswing, Walking on a Vire, and others.
However, he saved the best until last when he surprisingly dusted off his old Fairport Convention song, Genesis Hall, for a riveting encore.
During the show he mentioned that he needed a band for some requested songs. On this evidence he is straining at the leash to plug in his electric guitar.