Richard Thompson brings his band and a new album to Liberty Hall in February

Two weeks after the release of 'Hippies, Thugs and Heroes,' Thompson has booked a full-band date on Massachusetts Street for Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2027.

Richard Thompson's 20th studio album has been out for less than two weeks, and Lawrence already has a date to hear it live. Richard Thompson & Band plays Liberty Hall on Wednesday, February 3, 2027, at 8 p.m. This is a full-band show, not a solo acoustic one.

The show was announced October 14, and tickets went on general sale October 16 at 10 a.m. Central through Ticketmaster. Liberty Hall holds about 1,050, so this isn't a show where you can count on tickets lasting until a cold week in February. If you're going, buy now.

October 16 was also release day for the record behind the tour. *Hippies, Thugs and Heroes* came out that day on New West Records, Paste reported when it was announced. Thompson made it with James Frazee in Weehawken, New Jersey, as the follow-up to 2024's *Ship to Shore*, and led with the single "Cocaine Walking, Booze Talking," per The Line of Best Fit. Twenty studio albums is a career most songwriters never get near. The fact that Thompson is still touring with a band behind new material, not just playing the hits, says a lot about how he works.

Twenty albums in, he's still bringing the new songs on the road.

The Lawrence date sits on a winter band run that heads west from here. After Massachusetts Street, the Ticketmaster listings show Thompson at the Neptune Theatre in Seattle on February 9 and the Castro Theatre in San Francisco on February 13.

Liberty Hall itself is a large part of the appeal. The hall sits at 644 Massachusetts St., right in the middle of downtown, per its own contact page. With about a thousand people and a stage close enough to see whose hands are doing what, it's the kind of room built for a player like this. A Wednesday night show downtown also means dinner on Mass first and an easy walk over.

For Lawrence listeners who came to Thompson through the records, a band show is the other side of him. The new songs will get the arrangements they were written for, and the older ones come along too. For anyone who has only heard him on headphones, a 1,050-seat room on a winter weeknight is about as good an introduction as you'll get.

Put the album on now, give it the next three months, and by February 3 you'll know which songs you're hoping the band plays.

Sources: Richard Thompson & Band, Lawrence 02/03/2027 – Ticketmaster (ticketmaster.com); Richard Thompson Tickets – Ticketmaster artist page (ticketmaster.com); Richard Thompson & Band, Seattle 02/09/2027 – Ticketmaster (ticketmaster.com); Richard Thompson & Band, San Francisco 02/13/2027 – Ticketmaster (ticketmaster.com); Richard Thompson announces new album Hippies, Thugs and Heroes – Paste (pastemagazine.com); Richard Thompson announces 20th album Hippies, Thugs and Heroes – The Line of Best Fit (thelineofbestfit.com); News – Richard Thompson (richardthompson-music.com); Contact – Liberty Hall (libertyhall.net); Liberty Hall Theatre - Cinema Treasures (cinematreasures.org)