CNE Bandshell

The Entry Of The Crims is especially interesting in this show from near the end of the Canadian leg of the band’s final tour of the 80s. Beginning with a beautiful, haunting Frippertronics loop drifting through the air, Fripp assertively decorates it with lines that sound like outtakes from a David Bowie session. Tony Levin then adds more contemplative layers reminiscent of his work on the studio version of Sartori In Tangiers, followed by Belew’s expressive banshee howling and finally the strange liquid bell-like sounds from Bruford. Such is the quality of this piece when Larks’ Tongues In Aspic abruptly cuts in it feels like a wrench.

“Hello, it’s us again. Welcome to the King Crimson 1984 tour,” announces Adrian Belew to a packed house after storming through a rousing Thela. This good-but-variable-sounding audience recording still manages to capture something of the excitement and force of the band in action as they blast their way through what was by now a well-established set. With Industry, Frame By Frame, and Sleepless all being particularly energetic, it’s Discipline that is probably worth the price of admission on its own as the team becomes one interlocking unit. So close to the end of the incline to 1984 it still seems astonishing that the Crims have this much energy and precision left in their collective tank.