Only after some seventeen minutes of hard-hat area rocking out with Vrooom Vrooom, Frame By Frame and Dinosaur, do Crimson take the mood and tempo down with One Time. Eighteen minutes later, there’s more calm after the storm of Red, B’Boom and THRAK with Matte Kudasai. It’s pretty intense from there on after and no let up until the end.
“We’d like to thank you for joining us back here in Tokyo. Feels great to be back here after eleven years. And we promise it won’t be so long before we come back again,” says Belew midway through the set, pausing to take the applause, and then adding, “In fact, we’re back tomorrow.”
After all the excitement, the extremes of dynamics and all that power that Crimson summon up during a stirling performance, the number which they usually close their gigs with, Walking On Air, is a thing of exquisite, delicate beauty. Akin to a fond farewell, it continues to fade and float throughout the venue long after the band have left the stage.