“Hola! Buenas Noches,” says Belew after an incredibly dramatic arrival that started out with a sulphurous Talking Drum and a white-hot Larks’ Tongues In Aspic Part Two. However you slice it or dice it, that’s one hell of a way to open a show.
With on-stage adrenaline clearly running high it’s hardly surprising that one of the guitarists starts a fraction of the first note of Frame By Frame slightly early. Like athletes running a relay, they go back to the starting blocks and hit the ground running in perfect synch, although, this song being what it is, not for long.
Audience participation was never much of a thing at KC gigs but it has a habit of popping up here and there. You can hear some members of the packed-in audience clapping along to Bruford’s slit drum. Happily, the idea is dropped and we get to focus on a beautifully unfurling solo from Trey Gunn in the middle section without any such incumbrance. It’s easy to overlook small moments like this in favour of all the ballyhoo and big gestures that happen in a King Crimson show but they are so worth taking the time to savour.
