I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: November 2, 2017] King Crimson

I saw King Crimson back in July.  And I had great seats.  It seems excessive to see them again just a few months later.  However, given that at any second, Robert Fripp could decide they were never going to tour again, it seemed like it behooved me to attend once more. Besides, the shows have been amazing.

This time I got very good seats on the left side of the audience.  This meant I could watch Fripp play guitar (he was blocked from my other seats).  I also had a  very clear view of bassist Tony Levin, which was awesome.  And I was close to drummer Pat Mastelotto who is so much fun to watch.

The lineup was pretty much the same as last time except that last time drummer Bill Rieflin was back on keyboards.  This time Rieflin was on sabbatical again, replaced on keys by Chris Gibson.

The lineup: Tony Levin (bass, Stick, more); Mel Collins (saxes, flutes); Jakko Jakszyk (guitar, vocals),  Chris Gibson (keyboards and effects): Three drummers: Gavin Harrison, Pat Mastelotto and Jeremy Stacey (also keyboards).  And of course, Robert Fripp (guitar).

Like last time, I never knew where to focus because someone was always doing something interesting and my attention was easily diverted.  But I was able to clearly see Tony play the Stick on a  number of songs which was a huge highlight.  Interestingly I didn’t have as great a view of Mastelotto from the angle I was at–I couldn’t see the fine details of things because he was behind all those drums.  But I could certainly watch him swing at everything.  So cool.  And yes, I got to watch Fripp play too, which was great (although they didn’t play “Schizoid” which is where he usually solos.

I looked at my prior write up and feel like much of it is the same, and that’s fine because the show was amazing, and I was delighted to have seen it again. But there were also a few different songs at this show.  I have done some setlist checking.  For each of the three shows I have seen, the band played two nights at that venue. Because of the shows I picked, I have seen the biggest variety of songs, with the least overlap!  Huzzah.

So here’s what I said the first time:

Mastelotto had a lot of weird percussion (sheets of metal and other effects) and when he wasn’t making weird noises, he was banging the hell out of the drums.  He is one of the most intense looking drummer I’ve seen.  And I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone hit them harder.  Harrison was like the prog drummer he is–super fast, lots of rolls (he has a huge set) and really nice light touches.  Sometimes they all played the same thing (which was intense), sometimes they played off of each other (which was so cool).  At one point it looked like Mastelotto was challenging Harrison to a duel.  Sometimes one of them would do nothing but hit a cymbal every few measures while the other two went to town.  At one point they were all playing the same thing but timed their snare hits to within seconds of each other so it sounded like an echo. They even played some gentle percussion sections (on various electronic gadgets).  I never knew where to look.

The picture to the left shows Mastelotto’s percussion.  I’m not sure if that square piece is electronic by I think it was a midi pad, which was particularly cool.

 I’ve been trying to figure out just how much improv is going on with the drummers.  I realize that they have to keep the beat, but they are all doing different things, too.  Are Mastelotto’s interesting sounds (I swear I heard a rubber duck on “Easy Money”) planned out, or are there sections where they are just having fun.  Having said that, like last time, Harrison did literally nothing for half of “Starless” (he just sat patiently waiting) while the other guys played the main rhythms.  And then he took over at the end and rocked the house.

Stacey had the center drum set.  Like last time he played a lot of keyboard/piano (I’m fairly certain Fripp has a keyboard too).  On a couple of songs he was playing the lead keyboard–his piano playing was excellent.  An his drumming wasn’t shabby either.

Harrison had the right kit–I loved watching him hit those little cymbals, but it was even more fun having seen him up close last time to really know what he was up to.

And that’s all going on in front of the other guys–the guys who are actually playing the (super complicated and intense) music.  There were times when the guitar and sax were wailing away and you could see they were doing intricate stuff but the drums were always out front drawing in your eyes.

Collins played a lot of solos (sometimes Fripp’s guitar sounded like the sax as well), and he used the bass sax like a bass guitar (while Levin was doing his own thing) a lot.  I really enjoyed the sounds he got out of his horns.  And I just loved when he busted out the flute a few times–a wonderful contrast to the guitar and drum noise.

Like my first show, they opened with “Lark’s Tongue in Aspic Part 1.”  I really enjoyed being able to see Fripp during this song because he starts playing the guitar riff with the sound really low.  And his guitar volume slowly goes up and up fading in until it was at ear-splitting level (this show was especially loud–I had to use earplugs). Collins took a really long flute solo.  In fact, there were a number of songs where it felt like Collins or someone else was given a lot of room to jam.  I think that’s why they didn’t have time or Schizoid.  The song also seemed like it ended differently.  I believe Tony played three different bass instruments during the song.

They followed that up with another jagged song, “Pictures of a City” and then “Cirkus” and “Neurotcia.”  I assumed at this point that I wasn’t going to get any different songs this show, and then they blew my mind by playing “Epitaph.”  It sounded tremendous and Jakko handled the vocals perfectly.  He had another vocal workout with “Fallen Angel.”

Then came two songs from Islands.  I was excited to hear them do “The Letters.”  The fans were really into the show but i felt that they didn’t know this song because they started cheering during the pause before Jakko sang “Impaled on nails of ice
And raked with emerald fire” which is wonderfully intense.   “Islands” was kind of slow and meandering and my mind wandered a bit (I was quite tired).  It sounded great but after the chaos and noise of the earlier songs this was almost sleepytime music.

But then came the first of several percussion solos and then Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, Part Two, a terrific set ender.  I could see Mastelotto’s scraping his drums sticks against something–making squeaking sounds–and then switching to all kinds of mallets.

They opened set two with “Indiscipline.”  Like last time, Jakko sang the words to his own melody instead of speaking them like on record.  Tony sang harmony with him.

And then the biggest surprise of the night–they played a large portion of “Moonchild,” the mellow track form In the Court of the Crimson King.  What an unexpected piece to play.   It was shorter than expected because Tony played a little “solo” with Mel.  Tony plucked a bass solo on the upright and then switched to the bow.   Then made my night by playing “In the Court of the Crimson King.”  Last time I saw them it was supposed to be an encore but they didn’t have time (what is it with me and them cutting off encores?).  It was amazing.

Then there was another percussion solo, this one called “Devil Dogs of Tessellation Row.” In the middle of it, all three drummers stood up and played just cymbals–hitting literally every thing they had almost comically.

That was the end of “new” songs for me, but the rest were an excellent ending.  There’s was a terrific “Easy Money” with what felt like a really long middle section–the drummers all seemed to do some jamming.  Mastelotto was just full of crazy percussive sounds.

And then they played the middle of “Lizard.”

The last four songs were exactly the same as last time, and I didn’t mind one bit.  “Meltdown” is a newish song with a catchy chorus. “Radical Action II” is also a new song and then came the greatness that is “Level Five,” one of my favorite newish Crimson songs.  I never get tired of hearing it.

They ended with “Starless” which was, once again, awesome. It was during this song that they slowly bathed the set in red lights which is always neat.

I was fairly certain they would play “Schizoid,” as they had almost every other show.  But they cam out (after a very brief encore break) and played David Bowie’s “Heroes.”

As I said last time,

It sounded great but I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed because the song is so plain compared to the rest of the band’s music.  It doesn’t quite fit with the technical mastery since it’s so poppy.

I was fine with it as a palate cleanser for “Schizoid,” but when they finished “Heroes,” Tony took out his camera–signalling the end of the show (it was exactly 11PM).

I was pretty exhausted after all of that (I imagine they were, too).  I don’t think I paid much attention to the time for the last dhow, but I was keenly aware of this one.  I was delighted to see that they played for exactly 3 hours (minus a 20 minute intermission).

I was aware of the time because I was under the impression the show would be only about 2 hours (never believe the internet).  Anyhow, a band I really like, Whitehorse, was playing at a club only a few blocks from the Merriam. I assumed they’d be going on around 10.  So if Crimson ended at 10, I was going to be crazy and go to a second show that night. When the first set ended at 9:30 though, I knew that wasn’t going to happen (no complaints, guys).

It’s amazing that these guys–many of whom are not young by any means played a longer first set than a bunch of much younger bands that I have seen recently (this set was almost three times as long as the entire Dead Cross show).

There’s no plans for them to come by again.  I wouldn’t see them soon again, but after they tour Europe, if they came back I would see them again no question.  This time maybe from the front of the balcony for a whole new perspective.

Academy of Music Sept 13, 2014	Red Bank July 9, 2017	Merriam Theater Nov 2, 2017
SET 1	SET 1	SET 1
Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, Part One	Neurotica	Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, Part One
Level Five	Pictures of a City	Pictures of a City
A Scarcity of Miracles	The Errors	Cirkus
Banshee Legs Bell Hassle	Cirkus	Neurotica
Pictures of a City	Lizard “(c) The Battle of Glass Tears (i) Dawn Song (ii) Last Skirmish (iii) Prince Rupert’s Lament”	Epitaph
One More Red Nightmare	Red	Fallen Angel
Interlude	Fallen Angel	The Letters
The Letters	Islands	Radical Action (To Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind)
Sailor’s Tale	Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, Part Two	Islands
Hell-Hounds of Krim	SET 2	Hell-Hounds of Krim
VROOOM	Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, Part One	Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, Part Two
Coda: Marine 475	The ConstruKction of Light	SET 2
The Light of Day	Easy Money	Indiscipline
The Talking Drum	Indiscipline	Moonchild (‘The Dream’ part only; followed by Tony Levin and Jeremy Stacey cadenzas)
Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, Part Two	Interlude	The Court of the Crimson King
Red	The Letters	Devil Dogs of Tessellation Row
Starless	Meltdown	Easy Money
Encore	Radical Action II	Lizard “(c) The Battle of Glass Tears (i) Dawn Song (ii) Last Skirmish (iii) Prince Rupert’s Lament”
HooDoo	Level Five	Meltdown
21st Century Schizoid Man	Starless	Radical Action II
	Encore	Level Five
	Heroes (David Bowie cover)	Starless
	21st Century Schizoid Man	Encore
		Heroes (David Bowie cover)

I was curious about the shows after the ones I saw–what songs did I miss?  So here’s the nights I didn’t go:  And it seems of all of the shows, the only song I didn’t hear was Fracture.  That’s not bad at all.

Academy of Music 2014	Red Bank July 10, 2017	Merriam Theater 2017
SET 1	SET 1	SET 1
Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, Part One	Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, Part One	Hell-Hounds of Krim
Pictures of a City	Neurotica	Neurotica
A Scarcity of Miracles	The ConstrucKction of Light	Cirkus
The ConstruKction of Light	Cirkus	Lizard “(c) The Battle of Glass Tears (i) Dawn Song (ii) Last Skirmish (iii) Prince Rupert’s Lament”
One More Red Nightmare	Lizard “(c) The Battle of Glass Tears (i) Dawn Song (ii) Last Skirmish (iii) Prince Rupert’s Lament”	Moonchild (‘The Dream’ part only; followed by Tony Levin and Jeremy Stacey cadenzas)
Interlude	Fracture	The Court of the Crimson King
Red	Epitaph	Radical Action (To Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind)
The Letters	VROOOOM	Meltdown
Banshee Legs Bell Hassle	Islands	Radical Action II
Sailor’s Tale	SET 2	Level Five
The Light of Day	Indiscipline	SET 2
The Talking Drum	Pictures of a City	Devil Dogs of Tessellation Row
Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, Part Two	The Errors	The ConstruKction of Light
Starless	Easy Money	Fallen Angel
Encore	Red	The Letters
Hell Hounds of Krim	Fallen Angel	Epitaph
21st Century Schizoid Man	Interlude	Indiscipline
	Meltdown	Starless
	Radical Action II	21st Century Schizoid Man
	Level Five	Encore
	Encore	Easy Money
	Starless	Heroes (David Bowie cover)
	21st Century Schizoid Man	Encore 2
		Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, Part One