The Golden Tulip, The Hague, Netherlands.
Ethernet is available but I don't have the time to deal with it -- and hooray! a guitar has arrived for practising. In the hotel there is a milling of four thousand eight hundred and twenty three million and forty-two musicians. Many of them are smoking. It's the Northsea Jazz Festival. Lobby call at 15.45.
20.56 Former Crewbus, Now A Temporary Crimbus, The Hague, Netherlands.
We are leaving at 21.00 for a hotel at Amsterdam airport. The crew is taking our former bus for an overnight to Montreux, the Crims are flying in the morning.
Today's performance: we went onstage at 18.00 following an inappropriate announcement regarding photography.
Firstly, better not to ask for a situation where there is no hope of successfully achieving that situation. Secondly, don't get a festival announcer to make a finely-tuned & considered announcement (prepared by our Production Team): he will interpret, translate & colour the announcement to make it "better". The "improvement", or what-you-would-have-said-if-you-had-been-able-to-express-it-as-well-as-the-announcer, will become "self-expression".
The announcement as planned was gentle. The announcement as made was brutal. When a request is made, any non-compliance can only be intrusive, non-consensual. And so it was. It ruined my show and led directly to a number of clams in Elektrik.
Otherwise, what would conventionally be called a good audience & strong show. Conventionally.
A personal highlight: the number of women leaving as Adrian began his solo in LTIA IV.
Afterwards, I walked with Pat to cheer for Van The Man. The festival assistant responsible for taking care of artists didn't, mis-directed us, and we had no hope of getting even close. We went to see Cassandra Wilson instead. The house lights were on full, the stage lights were on full. I liked this lighting. There were flashes every 30 seconds. They drove me out. Back to the hotel through a packed mass of heaving people.
Backtracking --
Friday 11th. July: Dour Festival. An hour and ten minutes is a good amount of time to play: the focus is close. There were flashes, but they didn't have the impact they would at a dedicated King Crimson performance. Why?
When Crimson plays within a context determined by others, we accept the House Rules of the event. This has the effect that:
1. We have no responsibility for the event as a whole. Our responsibility is limited to the band's performance within that event.
2. Accepting the House Rules, behaviour within those Rules is therefore consensual.
So, I didn't welcome the photography, didn't encourage it, but accepted that this was part of the performance practice at this event.
We had the impression that many of the audience would not otherwise get to see Crimson: new ears. Hooray! this was the aim in playing the festivals. Pat commented that when Ade hit his solo in Level Five, heads turned.
"Artistry repeats the unrepeatable."
