After several shows opening with Coda Marine 475, there’s a shakeup by the time the band arrives at Ann Arbor. Now beginning with a spacey improvisation that recalls The Entry Of The Crims from the 1980s, Gunn’s galactic looping feels like it’s emanating from the beginning of time, as Belew and Levin etch their signature sound into the cosmic drifts and tumbling drums.
Coming to an abrupt halt, they launch into Vrooom but the gremlins are also active tonight with Fripp’s fairy fingers section also coming to an abrupt halt, this time an entirely unplanned one. Gunn, Belew, and Belew soldier on through this now very spacious section. Clearly something is amiss as by the second lot of fairy fingers Fripp’s guitar cuts out once again. But this band is nothing if not a collective of seasoned pros and they carry on without missing a step.
Fripp’s travails were not over, however. There’s a Guitar Craft aphorism that goes ‘Be very careful about the beginning. Then, be very careful about the end. Then, be very careful about the middle.’ Where the ‘squeaking mouse’ solo would normally reside in the middle of Elephant Talk, Fripp elects to bring it in under the second verse, causing much mirth and lots of laughter when the band comes to take their bow at the end of the formal set.
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