“Hi folks - I think that’s the first string I’ve broke on the whole tour!” laughs Belew after Dinosaur discordantly clatters to a halt on the second evening in Detroit. The rest of the team then create a brief mini-improv while Belew gets the restringing underway and after a minute, Dinosaur resumes its Majestic stomp. Highlights include a seriously driving Frying Pan, a scorching FraKctured and a beguiling improv section that suggests this gig has the edge over the previous evening.
Andrew Fignar Jr commented on ET “I found myself waiting for new material to be performed as I found that the most interesting. The exchange between Fripp and Belew was amazing. Are they joined at the hip? The timing was impeccable and the interplay on Lark's Tongue was very cool. Not to diss the poster here, as I talked to a friend who also went to Sunday's night show and said it was OK, but something was missing. He preferred the double trio shows in 96. I myself like both. Bruford and Levin not being there was no loss, Pat and Trey are amazing...New arrangements of the old were nice too. Nice to see these songs are not static.”
“Hi folks - I think that’s the first string I’ve broke on the whole tour!” laughs Belew after Dinosaur discordantly clatters to a halt on the second evening in Detroit. The rest of the team then create a brief mini-improv while Belew gets the restringing underway and after a minute, Dinosaur resumes its Majestic stomp. Highlights include a serious...
Rather abrasive soundscape, I like it. Perhaps Robert is still feeling the October Halloween energy here in early November.
Going directly into Red gives a good energy to the show. The numbers for the most part are played by-the-book, no exploratory improv flourishes or anything, just tight and high-energy. Even Adrian breaking a string at the beginning of Dinosaur wasn’t enough to break the momentum, the other guys just did some light jamming (again with an abrasive bent to the soundsca...
Rather abrasive soundscape, I like it. Perhaps Robert is still feeling the October Halloween energy here in early November.
Going directly into Red gives a good energy to the show. The numbers for the most part are played by-the-book, no exploratory improv flourishes or anything, just tight and high-energy. Even Adrian breaking a string at the beginning of Dinosaur wasn’t enough to break the momentum, the other guys just did some light jamming (again with an abrasive bent to the soundscaping element, I like where Robert’s head is at tonight) while Adrian resolved the situation, and they quickly got back to business.
FraKctued, Into the Frying Pan, and later on VROOOM all had surprising noticeable missteps (well, noticeable to this avid Crimhead anyway). Adrian being the weak link I think, tho it’s hard to tell on a pure audio source of course. At the same time, tho, Adrian, delivers some blisteringly awesome solos in some pieces, particularly Larks IV.
“Improv I” is pretty good, largely driven by some tribal sounding drum beats from Pat. Robert’s soloing later on adds an exotic tinge to it that subtly transforms the piece. The transition into “Improv II” is sudden enough that I’m not sure they were originally intended as two separate pieces, but I definitely understand the division. Completely different feel here, like a swarm of bees is fighting a swarm of hornets.
Deception has a little more action than usual but still boring me… I always thought they should put this one earlier in their sets, it always feels like it kills a ton of momentum for me.
And Heroes is, of course, just a purely wonderful song every time.
Altogether a high energy concert with a few mistakes demonstrating the guys’ human side. I wouldn’t recommend it as a first download from this tour, but it’s a solid 4* for the avid Crimhead looking for a little flavor.
