I was there
1981 was a long time ago, but I remember this day better than any other that year.
I remember the ad that appeared in the student paper announcing the show very shortly after the start of the semester. It had the knot from the not yet released album, and one word, Discipline, with the names of the band members, and the date. But we knew it was really the revival of King Crimson (even if the band didn't know it yet), a band that we all loved, but never thought we'd have the chance to see. And s...
1981 was a long time ago, but I remember this day better than any other that year.
I remember the ad that appeared in the student paper announcing the show very shortly after the start of the semester. It had the knot from the not yet released album, and one word, Discipline, with the names of the band members, and the date. But we knew it was really the revival of King Crimson (even if the band didn't know it yet), a band that we all loved, but never thought we'd have the chance to see. And seeing Adrian Belew in the lineup, who we knew from his stints with Zappa, Bowie and the Talking Heads, was pretty amazing to us. And Tony Levin, we knew from his work with Peter Gabriel. We were pretty damn excited. So when tickets went on sale, we camped outside the student center... Got there about 5pm the night before, for a next-morning onsale. We weren't first in line, but we weren't too far back either. Sometime after that the album was released, and sure enough, the King Crimson name had been revived. We listened to it repeatedly in the weeks before the concert, much to the consternation of our neighbors.
I was on the Stage Crew at Shryock, and I worked the load in for that show. It was a pretty small crew that day. When the band gear arrived, I remember seeing Bruford's drums coming out of the cases, and being told not to touch them, but I had never seen anything like them before, and I really wanted to... We flew a big red midstage drape, got the band gear set up, and I went up a ladder to focus the lights. It was the most basic lighting I had ever worked on for a concert. A couple pipes of par cans, a few specials, and nothing on the place where Fripp was going to be. And no color. The crew traveling with the band was just a couple guys, very laid back and they seemed a little tired, but good humored and very cool. Seriously, it was the most basic staging for a band and the most casual load in I ever saw, before or since. I got cut at the lunch break because we were done, so I didn't get to stick around for the sound check.
I worked a lot of shows in that venue, but I think this was the only time I ever sat in the audience. We were in the second row of the balcony, so both the view, and the sound were great. The show was preceded by the screening of a short film called "Asparagus" which was completely bizarre, and I've never been able to track it down since. It may have been the project of a student there or something. And then the Frippertronics while the crowd worked themselves into frenzy of anticipation, and finally the band walked out on stage and launched into Discipline. What was impressive on the album was amazing to see and hear live, watching the four players weave the intricate rhythms together, separate, and come together again with such skill and simultaneous finesse, grace, and force. I could only think, "they sure named that one right". From there it was series of musical waves washing over the room, ranging from the soft and gentle to the finale crashing chord of LTIA II. The band took a couple bows through a thundering standing ovation. Then Fripp came back on stage alone, hands behind his back, walked slowly and deliberately downstage right, and stood there for maybe 30 or 40 seconds while the room continued to explode with appreciation, and then he casually turned and walked offstage. As the house lights came up my girlfriend could only say, "They're magicians", and my brain was in an electrically charged state that persisted until I reluctantly went to class the next morning.
I've seen them once each decade since, each iteration of the band a different one, most recently at the Fox Theater in Oakland this past June. All of those concerts have been amazing, but for me no concert has ever matched the excitement of that one in Carbondale. It really was magical.
I made my career in theatrical production, doing theater, dance and a wide variety of music shows. So reading Robert's impressions of that date surprised me in the sense that, from the perspective of an audience member, it was an absolutely amazing show. But I think that just speaks to the professionalism and, well, discipline of the entire band. He may have felt disconnected with the audience, but I've rarely seen an audience more connected to what was happening on the stage that night.
And I'll just say that the venue I'm now working in is quite Shakespearean in design... Audience is very close and very connected, so if you need a (somewhat smaller) place to play with the best sound in the SF Bay Area, look me up!
