King Crimson - November 14, 2003 - Kingston, New York Diaries and Reviews

2003's Mighty Crim Power March 28, 2009
Written by Slipstream
This is the essential and most powerful concert from 2003. Here, all the four musicians show extreme brutal force, virtuosity and technique. Although there are some bad moments and warts, the whole show is ferocious, presenting the band in awesome form. The set opens with The Power To Believe I, which serves the purpose of previewing and beginning the assault. Level Five has a smashing power of destruction and The ConstruKction Of Light is dreamy and complex. However, this dazzling climax is broken by the striking lines of Facts Of Life and it’s dynamic atmosphere. EleKtriK, even with some clams is superior than it’s studio counterpart, The Power To Believe II has a haunting and dark beauty that’s dooming and hopeful in the same time. This performance of Dangerous Curves is possibly it’s most brutal and fearsome rendition to date. Larks’ IV is a real beast, as well as Fripp’s and Belew’s solos in it. This concert presents what’s likely to be the best performance ever of The Power To Believe III , Gunn’s solo at it’s climax sends shivers down the spine. Red is probably the best way to end a KC gig, and that’s what happens here. Savage indeed...

KingCrimston December 21, 2007
Written by DeVito
This powerful music deserves the relative "permanence" of a hard-disc double-CD release (the entire concert, please, no editing). The concert is relentless from start to finish -- there are no dead spots.

Savage Indeed November 4, 2006
Written by jwalliser
Sid nailed it -- this show is savage. The best "Deception of the Thrush (aka Power to Believe III)" yet; Trey flattens the basement dwellers in the audience, then offers them redemption at the end. Pat’s apocalyptic intro to a ravaging "Happy With What You Have to Be Happy With" ... a gritty "Red" ... this download is a must have.

The last gig was in Mexico... August 20, 2006
Written by Tequila
Hi everyone... This is a great concert, but the really nostalgic last show from Fripp, Belew, Mastelotto and Gunn was in Mexico, November 19. On the National Auditorium I did see the very last concert in 2003. Will be great really great if that concert may be here, ready to pay everyone for that... Thank you.

This was my first music download, my first encounter with flac, my first encounter with bit-torrent and it shall most definitely not be my last.

The instructions and links all added up to a smooth and painless learning curve that has allowed me to unleash the greatest live concert I have heard from a hifi yet. Absolutely stunning performance captured perfectly in every detail. This is an ESSENTIAL concert for anyone with even half an ear for live Krim. It is in my humble opinion the best King Crimson concert I have. Everyone is really cooking up a storm.

Agree with ziggyyoussef May 21, 2006
Written by danceofthedawn74
Ich bin mit dir einverstanden ziggyyoussef, in dem Trey Gunn und Pat Mastellato, im Vergleich zur Aufnahme Elektrik, ganz klar geworden sind.

I am also in agreement with you that the TPTB material really comes alive live and especially when played at a higher volume. I saw them the next night and surely can attest to that opinion. And yes, please release more downloads from this brief tour.

Take care,
Fred

A Terex Truck with Precision Movement! February 2, 2006
Written by DoctorNerve

Holy cripes! I cant add to the already overflowing compliments about just how powerful this show is. The Power To Believe II is stunning. I get swept away into a dreamworld and yet I’m still cranked from the blistering first half of the show. This is some superb stuff and I am going to break my bank account buying these jewels!

Revelation January 26, 2006
Written by Spingere
This isn’t much of a review. I just wanted to express how wonderful it was to listen to this gig at full blast on the iPod. As much as I love the work of T-Lev this has to be my favourite line up (so far) and this is a truly cracking gig. Flawed, sure. But as a gigging musician myself I can always appreciate hearing the passion and excitement of live music. More please!

Essential January 23, 2006
Written by millingt
I dont think I have ever heard any band ever match the level of intensity that Crimson reaches during level five. The version is better than the one on Eyes Wide Open. ConstruKction is great. Elekrik sounds almost like Ade is more relaxed than Fripp. interesting. And the last minute of Larks’ Ade bends himself horribly out of tune. Other than that, this gig is flawless. A must own.

This is an essential recording of that era Crimson, in my view. The best one released so far of this line-up (pat, robert, adrian, trey - my favorite version of KC ever after listening with enthusiasm since about ’75). It captures both the intent of the music and the rich, delicious byproduct of the interaction between our heroes. If King Crimson set out to make a jelly sandwich and pack it for lunch, this is a show where they put so much jelly on that the bread slices could never be nicely put together without a mess of jelly squeezing out. I maintain that, while the bread is needed (the music’s form), the spilled jelly is the good stuff (the sloppy byproduct of the musicians negotiating the structure together). Pat and Trey are a lion’s den of foreboding and restless activity.

The show is reckless and raging, and quite well recorded. Adrian’s voice is superb and flexible, with a lot of beef in it - and some cool effects. His guitaring is the resurrection of a prehistoric beast - a dragon flying over Kingston. Fripp has honed his gift/craft to something so beautiful, whether straight guitaring or soundscaping over the volcanic eruptions of KC. He manages to cast on the very hymns of hell a light revealing a yearning hope of benevolence and provisional redemption from on high! Now that’s profound art!

More on ’03 KC, but less related to this specific show: This show captures the same freshness that was in the show I saw, from this tour... I’ve been seeing Crimson live whenever possible since 81, whenever they’ve come to the Washington D.C. area. All of the shows have been great from my point of view, but my very favorite was I think from this same tour, at the Lisner Auditorium, in D.C., with John Paul Jones opening. The show was entirely too loud, but there were some very cool aspects to it, to me. For one thing, they had not yet released HWWYHTBHW or PTB, so there was a good deal of material I was not too familiar with. To me, the best way to see King Crimson is to be slightly unfamiliar with the material, so that you can greater see it’s value in the live presentation. If they ever tour after just releasing a new album, (tour? There’s always simulcast to area movie theaters in surround sound, dear Robert : - ) ) I recommend only hearing the recorded material once before seeing them play. You have to check your expectations at the door, though. Unfortunately for me, I am familiar with KC material from way back. But this tour was very fresh. Another thing of interest in the show I caught - Fripp’s rig crashed, and the other guys were left to improvise while he and who must have been John Sinks rebooted it three times. I think Adrian had a bad tooth and soar throat, too (from the diaries), and so I think the whole show was a perilous uphill battle for our heroes. But for me, it was the rare opportunity to watch KC really fight the monster, which was pure joy.

If anybody with the power to do so is reading – how about a downloadable release of the unscheduled Projekt 3 show from Alexandria, VA (Birchmere), when Ade had the flu - and the following night where he showed up!? Birchmere has a camer set up so that the show on stage is being fed to t.v.’s in the bar area outside - maybe there’s even a video possible? That P3 set was unbelievable.

The Birchmere show (KC/P3) along with a couple of others are scheduled for release this year as part of the King Crimson Collectors Club series.

This release brings to the fore the worst aspect of the regular CD releases - the regular releases are too clean. Compared to the download series, they are too proper.

This release reminds me of the band I heard live in Portland, Oregon at the Roseland Theater. They were powerful beyond belief, crisp in their sound yet so electric in their energy they could have sterilized domestic animals with a thousand yard radius. Put that together and the breathtakingly aesthetic of The Power To Believe II and this is the band whose music I so dearly love.

Crim’s official releases have had a tentative energy about them, almost as if someone decided to go cautious at the last minute and remastered the recording. The band (in any incarnation) takes the bull by the horns, wrestles it to the ground and then delivers a savage pounding. This is what this release represents. This is how the official CDs should sound!

If the studio recording is a love letter and the concert is a hot date, these series of releases are some sneaky sucker video recording the hot dates. Keep them coming!!!

What a surprise! I was at this show. Both acts did very well. As I recall, UPAC is a venue that has the potential to be a little to loud and jarring. But When Living Color and then King Crimson went on it was just right. Loud enough to where you can just stand it but not ear-splitting. Excellent!!! I’ve been a King Crimson fan for years and when I learned they were playing in my home town there was absolutely no excuse not to go see them. Now I just learned of the up coming release of this show and of course I’m in my glory. To be honest, the performance was just what you’d expect from King crimson - High Caliber. I think there was a technical difficulty in the percussion during dangerous curves. The bass beat was fading in
and out. But other than that the show was flawlessly executed.

I attended two shows of this late 2003 tour (Boston and NYC) and this astonishingly confident performance reinforces my memories of a group at the height of their power.

The Lark’s IV coda, as played here, has a poignancy not unlike the final statement of the Starless theme as heard live 1974.

I’m sure some may disagree, but I don’t think KC played "Red" better live at any time in their history as they did on this tour. They nailed it here; the dynamics are perfect.

2003 January 11, 2006
Written by mflaherty
2003 was, I think, one of the strongest live bands to play under the name King Crimson. Of course, we know what that means: they need to break up. Fortunately, we have recordings like this to remind us of just how powerful this band was. While perhaps not quite as tight as they were at the second show in Chicago (hint, hint), the band is intense in this recording. More recordings from this tour will be welcome.

Lucky indeed January 11, 2006
Written by dedalus
I was fortunate enough to be in attendance at this particular show, and despite the fact that I suffered permanent hearing loss (due to the fact that I was sitting directly opposite a high frequency speaker suspended from the ceiling) I cherish the memory of the event.

Get this one. The band was in rare form that evening, as was the audience. You can sense the strange interplay of energies.

-Daniel McShane

Now I remember... January 11, 2006
Written by aronson
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you DGM. This is a dream come true.

Now I remember. The Thrush (aka The Power to Believe III) rose up from the muse dark, disturbed and looming to silence the idiots in attendance screaming for tunes from a bye gone era. This was the way for the new music to announce it’s place in the pantheon of Crimson music. Trey’s coda affirmed the same idiots that the world was ok without the dusty crusties. It swaddled their expectations and gently tossed them away.

Not to mention... Level Five was a trumpet call blaring to the audience that this was Crimson in Kingston. Watch closely now... it may never happen again.

Thanks to Alex and crew for making this available. I wonder what is next...

Finally! January 11, 2006
Written by nshaque
It seems DGM took a while to publish a concert from the second North American tour of 2003, and it’s already one of my favourites. Having attended the first Chicago show just six days earlier (if I remember correctly), this is a most welcome addition to my library, and the energy that sprayed forth from all four players in Chicago is also evident (possibly stronger) in this outing. Adrian portrays the usual, funny master of ceremonies, Trey is stronger and more prominent than ever before, Robert shreds the unsuspecting girlfriend faction of the audience to pieces and Pat’s courage to explore and experiment has returned full-speed after the previously published, fairly straight-laced Japan shows. A great sample of this tour, and hopefully not the last to see the light of day!

This concert was originally scheduled to be held at The Egg in Albany, NY. I remember this because one month earlier my wife (not a KC fan) and I moved in to a new house in Red Hook, NY roughly half way between NYC and Albany. I was dreamy with the idea of seeing Crimson in two locations equidistant from my house and even more so at The Egg which is a great venue visually and acoustically.

Some time before the tickets went on sale the venue was changed to the UPAC in Kingston, NY a most unlikely place for a King Crimson concert (those of you who live in the area were probably as shocked as I was). Sleepy little Kingston, NY was going to play host to King Crimson? I was giddy with excitement. An additional upside was that my new home was a mere ten minutes from the UPAC!

Adrian certainly set a tone by announcing that the venue was being held in Kingston, NY - "the home town of Tony Levin". What followed was a great performance. I have memory of the usual rollercoaster/surfboard/slalom ride that were the late 2003 shows. However, of all the post double trio KC/ ProjeKct shows I have heard or attended this one stands out for the most memorable Deception of The Thrush. If there were other gems at the UPAC show they were dwarfed by the depth and strength of The Deception of The Thrush. My co-audients (The Vargan and J Kerr) all were in agreement... this was an "ANGRY" Thrush. We walked to the car mumbling "wow" to each other.

The venue didn't promise much at the beginning: it feels a little unloved, a little unused, and without a waiting reservoir of energy to be accessed & power the proceedings. Living Colour came on to a cold house, literally & metaphorically, and had to work to bring up the temperature. They succeeded.

The Crimson soundcheck was a sonic nightmare. Awful, horrible sound. But during the show, onstage, it began well & got better. I don't know what FOH might have been but I trust Greg Dean, the Crimson FOH Guy. At a point in the performance, I found myself with a sense of distance & connection, outside & inside at the same time. Something like, the participant observer participating & observing.

The Crimson Fifth Man, TLev, came by to visit at soundcheck & brought his wife to the show. Tony has moved to Kingston from Woodstock and lives 11 blocks from the venue.

Living Colour walked onstage to deliver. And they did. The audience gave them a deserved standing ovation. Tonight is the last show we share with them on this batch of touring. A personal, professional, musical joy & blessing for me.

A strong KC show providing interesting new turns on old wrinkles. For me, there were more guitar & Lunar Module breakdowns in one performance than I can remember. I have two pick-ups on my guitar & both failed, fortunately not simultaneously. There are two sides to the Lunar Module stereo, and one side regularly dropped out. I have two output volume pedals, and even one of those collapsed at the end.

A very strong & enthusiastic audience with many varying needs & demands upon the performance, a variety of which were called out loudly throughout the show. There were flashes in the middle, and flashes at the end. Their effect was significantly neutralised by a remarkable level of generosity & active goodwill: the eruption of flashes at the end of the show would otherwise have completely unseated me. How amazing that all this intent was being held in check, waiting, ready to pounce, throughout the performance.

Tonight was a personal redemption of our last NY show, the second of two nights at the Townhall earlier this year. That one was experientially, subjectively, awful. I heard nothing but sonic soup returning to the stage from the back wall. That specific, dreadful show directly lead me to adopting headphones for onstage monitoring.

Our hotel in NYC is Hotel Designer, and it is not good. The public areas are fine, the private area, i.e. my room, is bad. Cheap & nasty construction with no insulation, continual whistling from the heating & constant noise from the streets below, a television smaller than either of my Powerbooks - but it looks Designer!

The last time we were here we had better rooms, although it took me several minutes before finding the chic light switches to switch on the chic bedside lights. This time, we were not given the rooms we had been promised. Overall, a dog in chic's clothing. I doubt that we shall return there again.

But later tonight I shall return to my lonely, noisy room, the furthest room from the elevator. For now I am re-equilibrating, chilling & absorbing the show.