King Crimson will be playing one tour this year in the USA and Canada during June and July 2020. Except for shows such as the Ottawa Blues Festival, all the dates will be double bills with the Zappa Band. We will be offering Royal Packages at all the concerts except for the festival appearances. These will be going live soon. 1000 Club members will be able to use the pre-sale codes they were given for the Wolf Trap concert.
Since King Crimson's return to live performance in 2014, with critically acclaimed sell-out shows all over the world their three-hour shows regularly include material from twelve of their thirteen studio albums, including many of the songs from their seminal 1969 album In The Court of the Crimson King, described by Pete Townshend, as an “uncanny masterpiece”. The new 7-piece line-up plays many historic pieces that Crimson has never played live, as well as new arrangements of Crimson classics – “the music is new whenever it was written”. There are also new instrumentals and songs, as well as the compositions by the three drummers, Pat Mastelotto, Gavin Harrison, and Jeremy Stacey, which are a regular highlight. A unique show, where seven of the best musicians in the world play music without distraction or adornment.
Tony Levin says, "It’s great to be going back to outdoor venues, some of them the ‘sheds’ we played in the 1980s. And we’ll be travelling by tour bus, old school! As for what pieces we’ll play, that hasn’t been decided yet, but will likely be a wide selection from the 50 years of Crimson repertoire. With 7 players on stage, we can cover it all.”
Tour dates:
June 4 - Clearwater, FL - Ruth Eckerd Hall
June 5 - St. Augustine, FL - St Augustine Amphitheatre
June 6 - Miami, FL - Mizner Park Amphitheatre
June 8 - Orlando, FL - Dr. Phillips Walt Disney
June 9 - New Orleans, LA - Saenger Theatre
June 10 - Memphis, TN - Graceland Soundstage
June 12 - Cary, NC - Koka Booth Amphitheatre
June 13 - Portsmouth, VA - Union Bank Pavilion
June 14 - Philadelphia, PA - The Mann Center
June 16 - Glens Falls, NY - Cool Insuring Arena
June 18 - Boston, MA - Rockland Trust Pavilion
June 19 - New York, NY - Forest Hills Stadium
June 20 - New Haven, CT - Westville Music Bowl
June 22 - New Brunswick, NJ - State Theatre
June 24 - Huber Heights, OH - Rose Music Center @ The Heights
June 25 - Louisville, KY - Palace Theatre
June 26 - Detroit, MI - Meadowbrook Amp
June 28 - Baltimore, MD - MECU Pavillion
June 30 - Vienna, VA - Wolf Trap
July 1 - Buffalo, NY - Artpark
July 5 - Chicago, IL - Ravinia
July 7 - Montreal, QC - Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier - Palace des Arts
July 9 - Quebec City, QC - Festival d'ete
July 11 - Ottawa, ON - Bluesfest
July 12 - Rama, ON - Casino Rama
The Zappa Band touring unit is: Ray White (lead vocals, guitar), Mike Keneally (guitar, keys, vocals), Scott Thunes (bassist) and Robert Martin (keyboards, sax, vocals). Also joining are ZPZ alums Jamie Kime (guitar) and ZAPPA archivist Joe “Vaultmeister” Travers (drums, vocals). The band will be performing a mix of Zappa classics along with new and rare Zappa compositions.
Described as “the ultimate Zappa alumni band in partnership the Zappa Trust” this tour will not be appearing with the hologram of Frank Zappa.