Discipline Global MobileKing CrimsonRobert FrippThe VicarTour DatesDiariesnav_catalogNewsAccountsForumShopSearch Archives
  King Crimson Diaries and Reviews Login | Register | Help

 
Previous Item   June 09, 2000  Next Item SOUND  VISION WORD
    Arena    Poznan, Poland
 

 out of 5 stars3 out of 5 stars3 out of 5 stars3 out of 5 stars4 out of 5 starsBuy it for Improv 1   January 30, 2010
Written by paulwelsh
..alone and your money will be well spent. If Uncle Bobby’s pissed off here it certainly brought some wild soloing out over this rather Ozric Tentacles like hypno -groove. There are indeed some strange moments here though which lead me to only give it 3 stars. 


 out of 5 stars5 out of 5 stars5 out of 5 stars5 out of 5 stars5 out of 5 stars5 out of 5 stars6 out of 5 starssound differences   March 13, 2006
Written by mikeh69
I just downloaded this show tonight. Yes I think it’s wonderful concert. Im interested in this technology... flac vs like a packaged cd that you would buy like from the dgm shop. Like I was comparing the sound between the flac cd I burned and the three cd set that was released in 2000. They both have such a differen’t sound to them it’s hard to put my finger on it. I think the packaged cd’s have more direct technology which gives you more sound details highs and bass. Where the downloads have all that to but I think  it seems to have less bass and highs more like a lower fidelity you can hear in the download recordings. I could be wrong. Anyone else like to elaborate on this. Or am I hearing things


 out of 5 stars5 out of 5 stars5 out of 5 stars5 out of 5 stars5 out of 5 stars5 out of 5 stars6 out of 5 starsWorth buying   January 5, 2006
Written by Jonathan

I have kind of resisted buying this or the other 2000 tourdgmlive concerts for quite a while now, largely because I am not too rich at the moment and owning  the Heavy Construktion set already ( which is a great package with loads of improvs and the songs from the tour) , I felt a bit dubious about buying a download with songs i already have.However the intelligent part of me has always desired a complete concert recording from this tour to compliment HC which is a paste together of different shows. I also know that Crimson shows differ nightly so I finally took the plunge and bought the show today and I am glad I did. The comments about the soundboard being excentric are more than apt and i am enjoying very much hearing different nuances in the music. The performance is very good as is the sound quality( love FLAC so much!). I should have known i would not regret this purchase and it has now spurred me on to consider buying releases such as 13th April 1971 ( i own 12th april 1971 already). Too any feeling jaded at the prospect of duplicating songs " they already have" i would say take the plunge as they are sufficiently different to warrant the extra purchase.


   June 9, 2000
Written by Robert Fripp
12.45
Hotel Depressing, somewhere outside Poznan, Poland.

We flew yesterday on two hops from Frankfurt & Copenhagen, ameliorated by quite acceptable splits of bubbling solution. And now...

The trouble with defining a situation that you must not be put into is that, having defined the situation, you will be put into it. Example? Here's two.

Firstly, the hotel. If a hotel is so modest, lifeless, charmless and/or unpleasant to be in, that one cannot bear to remain within it, then the hotel should be in town, or close to cafes & vibrational sites. So, if you can't stay in your hotel, you may easily leave it on foot. You are therefore not reliant on others, on taxis, on having foreign currency, on knowing where you are going, on having a reasonable command of the language, on having enough time to discover where you might wish to be. To put this positively, you are independent.

This hotel is 20-30 minutes driving from Poznan so I will not easily be leaving it. And I cannot in good cheer stay here. This vacuum-with-a-bed-in-it is not a vacuum with architecture or dÈcor designed to support, raise or generate positive feelings. This equates to a sense of capture & imprisonment. In the days of EG Management, I might have interpreted this as either deliberate, or the result of care-lessness for artist wellbeing. How may I interpret this today? I come to 2 brief conclusions:

  1. A mistake was made by the travel agent.
  2. My clearly & frequently stated viewpoint was ignored.

Secondly, the venue. If a venue is so large that the audience are unable to have any sense of the group, and/or the acoustics are so bad that a musical performance is compromised to the degree that it is undermined, the venue should be declined.

Poznan Arena is a large, round sports hall to seat a nominal 3,000. I have been in venues this size which seated 5,000. It may be a good space for sports in the round. It may even be as appropriate for music as a symphony hall is for soccer. Neither venues are, however, suitable for rock music. But a symphony hall has, at least, an energetic & historic connection with music.

My words to the promoter's assistant yesterday around 18.20 (I'd gone to the Arena to get out of the hotel) was this: "The good news is that, after tomorrow night, I will never come here again".

I come to 2 brief conclusions:

  1. Whoever set up this show was primarily interested in business, and secondarily (if at all) in music.
  2. My clearly & frequently stated viewpoint was ignored.

Diary visitors may remember that I was given an ultimatum on this European tour when it was in the detailed planning stages - accept that this is the best we can do (and the ticket prices aren't high!) or cancel it now - and (obviously) I accepted. Well, I made a mistake.

Probably this was a mistake for our promoters too: ticket prices are high (assurances to the contrary) and promoters are losing money on us. This is not a good sign: promoters only stay in business if they make a profit. Business is presently bad overall: major names aren't selling well either. In most German towns Crimson pulls around 1,000 at the moment. Given our particular, peculiar on-off history, that's not bad. But for the promoter to be happier, we'd need another 300-400 audients each evening. And Shooter (our German promoters) did a very good job promoting the shows. I regret that they are losing on us.

Add to this the ongoing audience-rights debate; audient insistence on photography, autography & recording; the reassurance of Mr. Abbott et al that wherever Crimson plays we will be violated; and I have to reflect on what is presently possible for live performance. My conclusion is rapidly coming to this:

Only business & fetishising is possible. Music lies elsewhere.

23.42
Well, we played a lot of music for a photo session. And for a photo session there were a lot of autograph hunters.

On the way back, in the van:

Adrian: What did you think of tonight?
Robert: At the moment I'm radically re-evaluating my life as a working musician.

I will never set foot in Poznan Arena again. That's the good news. The better news is this: should anyone suggest that I/we do, I'll know that my relationship with them has just ended.


 

Audio Source: Board Recording

DGM Audio Quality Rating:  out of 5 stars5 out of 5 stars5 out of 5 stars5 out of 5 stars5 out of 5 stars5 out of 5 stars6 out of 5 stars

Average Customer Rating: out of 5 stars4 out of 5 stars4 out of 5 stars4 out of 5 stars4 out of 5 stars5 out of 5 stars

Purchase
Download FLAC $12.95 (What is FLAC?)
Download MP3 $9.95

 

 

Submit a Review

This show's fan reviews

This show's band diaries

This show's press clippings

All reviews

 

Home | About DGM | Contact Us | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Help | RSS Feeds