“Let it begin” shouts a punter in the audience at Philadelphia’s Verizon Theatre, a venue more usually associated with the esteemed Philadelphia Orchestra. Well, we can hear an orchestra of sorts tuning up but that’s coming from a recording session during the making of Islands in 1971 making a clever meta-reference to the act of tuning the air as much as the instruments. In the first minute of Pictures Of A City, a number Robert Fripp had last played on stage over 42 years ago, one of the guitarists takes a wrong turn and arrives at the verse section before everyone else. It would be ungentlemanly to name him but it’s the one with the Dorset accent. As drilled an ensemble as this particular Crimson is, a band which Tony Levin would point out enjoyed a longer rehearsal time than all of the 2008 incarnation’s entire existence, that Clams Crimsonique are still on the menu is something of a joy for KC connoisseurs
12th September
“Let it begin” shouts a punter in the audience at Philadelphia’s Verizon Theatre, a venue more usually associated with the esteemed Philadelphia Orchestra. Well, we can hear an orchestra of sorts tuning up but that’s coming from a recording session during the making of Islands in 1971 making a clever meta-reference to the act of t...
When I heard King Crimson was back, I knew that I would move heaven and earth to see them again. My hopes were almost dashed when the tour dates were revealed and there were no shows in or near northeast Ohio. After finding that the Philadelphia tickets were significantly cheaper than the Chicago shows, I talked my wife into letting me take the road trip to the coast with our son (which would free her from the obligation of going with me to another ear puncturing concert). After an 11 hour dri...
When I heard King Crimson was back, I knew that I would move heaven and earth to see them again. My hopes were almost dashed when the tour dates were revealed and there were no shows in or near northeast Ohio. After finding that the Philadelphia tickets were significantly cheaper than the Chicago shows, I talked my wife into letting me take the road trip to the coast with our son (which would free her from the obligation of going with me to another ear puncturing concert). After an 11 hour drive through the worst rush hour traffic, we made it to Phily just in time to grab some New York style pizza and head over to the Kimmel Center. Since I first became a Crimson fan in the mid Nineties during the formation of the Double Duo, I always lamented that I would never hear some of the great songs from Crimson’s early repertoire, especially since I was only born in ’75. What an absolute gift to hear LTIA Pt 1 and Pictures of a City. It was really cool to hear bits of Jakszyk’s version of the latter in Harrison’s drumming. To hear Collin’s sax float in on songs like The Construction of Light and Level Five was nothing short of magical. I loved the way each drummer took turns during the breaks in One More Red Nightmare. Levin’s bass provided a heavy metal power to old and new songs alike which made me tremble with catharsis. The new songs from A Scarcity of Miracles sounded like they could have appeared on Islands with The Letters and The Sailor’s Tale (which was my son’s favorite). The show built incredibly to the finale of Starless. It was so devastating I was sure the world was actually going to end with the song. But then they played Schizoid Man and it was a revelation. Harrison’s solo had the frantic energy of Muir yet boasted the melodic precision of Neil Peart’s work. Words fail to describe the overwhelming joy of experiencing this music live with the perfect combination of musicians. It was the pinnacle of excellence. On the drive back to Ohio Saturday morning, my son said to me, "It’s too bad we couldn’t get tickets for tonight’s show too." I was a heartbeat away from doing a u-turn.
