08.59
Back from breakfast, I've called the Little Horse who is in Leeds.
Comment from a close friend who saw all four shows in Nashville: the audience for the Sunday matinee was "very different" to the other audiences. The implication was that this audience was "wrong" for the band. And a resonant description for me: the afternoon performance (as a whole) was "hollow". This is a good word to convey my own sense of that performance. The energy field of the performance was punctured and the event died on the inside. I have no difficulty acknowledging my own mistakes - even demonstrating a facility for them in public - but the "hollowness" of this performance wasn't down to the group.
So, an overview of 12th. & Porter, as requested in the Guestbook.
On a functional level, the performances succeeded in their aim of "playing in" the new line-up, and beginning a new Crim process of unfolding. The first & fourth shows - Friday & Sunday nights - were the ones for me.
Saturday night was "better played" than Friday night but, as the second step in any process, inevitably the weakest. Therefore without the danger & edge of the first.
Sunday afternoon was probably a mistake: we shouldn't have agreed to add this show (intended for Nashville locals who couldn't get tickets to the other three). Crimson isn't a band for the curious & uncommitted to check out: it takes too much effort.
Sunday night had the sense of a completion about it.
I have no idea where this new process might lead. Having said that, I repeat here a comment I made to Trey at the beginning of the run: every Crimson has its own particular surprise, and the surprise of this Crimson might well be that people like it. Even some women. This is not a band for earnest intellectuals, particularly young European male cerebrants.
A clue for quicker access to what's going on: accept the band for what it is, as it is, and move forward from that beginning point. Then, something of value becomes available. The terrifyingly stupid reviews of TCOL indicate how much energy goes into missing the point, while simultaneously & sincerely believing that something has actually been noticed & understood.
Live performance is the best way of introducing audients to the music on this album.
"What we hear is the quality of our listening."
