“Thank you very much. Good evening, Noo Joisey,” quips Adrian Belew after the band has romped through their opening salvos at the theatre named after Count Basie. It was the redoubtable and famously laconic pianist who said “Play like you play. Play like you think, and then you got it, if you’re going to get it. And whatever you get, that’s you, so that’s your story.” Words of wisdom applicable to each of the members of the band tonight, although sometimes during Red the individual stories happening within the piece occasionally threatened to derail the piece. Greater room for less dangerous self-expression is found in between the titanic bookends of THRAK where players assail the audience with a series of almost ritualistic exchanges. It brings to mind another line of advice from Count Basie who reckoned, “If you find a note tonight that sounds good, play the same damn note every night!”
