It takes a certain confidence in your material to perform a new album in its entirety — and in exactly the same running order. But Richard Thompson had good reason to know that songs from Dream Attic would bring the house down at Oxford’s New Theatre.

The songs were all penned during a short but inspired period of creative outpouring, even by his standards. And rather than waste time in the studio, he had chosen to record them live in San Francisco, working on the basis that energy made up for any loss in accuracy.

The immediacy of his new CD was easily surpassed on Sunday night, in an evening of scalding guitar solos with the former Fairport man backed by a band, largely recruited from LA. On recent tours Thompson has performed solo but the saxophone, mandolin and Joel Zifkin’s violin playing undoubtedly give his music greater texture and variety. It also gives the man, so associated with English folk, plenty of chance to show why so many rate him as one of our greatest electric guitarists.

The guitar work on Sidney Wells, about a homicidal lorry driver, and the heart wrenching If Love Whispers Your Name, brought the first half to a jaw-dropping close. The second half took the band to greater heights with favourites like Wall of Death, I Want To See Bright Lights and Al Bowlly’s In Heaven here given lovely jazz feel. The one drawback of giving over 80 minutes to the new album was that the excellent Take Care the Road You Choose pretty well represented his impressive output over the previous five years.

A call for Hey Joe from the audience, brought a look of bafflement to Thompson’s face. But suddenly the band plunged into a stirring version of the Hendrix classic.

If we get see a better concert at the New Theatre this year, I will be surprised. In the absence of Jimi, there is no more accomplished player of a Fender.