It’s hard to convey how hot Nashville was on the days that King Crimson was playing in Nashville. The metal door handle of the rehearsal space was wrapped in a towel because it quickly became too hot to touch as the day progressed. So spare a thought for the hardy souls who stood for hours in the wilting heat in order to grab the best seats in the house. Inside the tiny space of the Belcourt the air conditioning struggled to provide much if any, respite even in the relatively cooler evening.

The second evening at the theatre found the Crimson better form with a lot more energy circulating between Belew, Levin, and Fripp. A very sprightly rendition is dispatched with aplomb which included a lovely bit of on-the-fly correction from the guitarists as their intended interlocking part briefly came apart. Frame By Frame benefits from this tighter focus as does Red.

Crimson hit the spot tonight. Whereas the previous evening's set had lacked definition, tonight they were there in sharp relief, bring more details and less broad-brush stuff. There were still several rough spots and some errors in places. While Vrooom had struggled to get off the ground yesterday, tonight’s performance was better although the second fairy fingers section finds the guitarists and Levin bending their respective time signatures in ways that were not intended.

A remarkable performer, in the hot and cramped surrounds of the Belcourt Adrian, soaked up the audience’s attention and threw back some spectacular results such as his spine-tingling solo on Level Five. Talking Drum and Larks’ Tongues In Aspic, with Ade’s quick quote from Red in his end solo, continue to ramp up the intensity with muscle, pep, and pizzaz.