I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: November 9, 2026] Beat

I have seen King Crimson five times, all in the most recent iteration of the band.  I never saw the earlier incarnations when Adrian Belew was the singer/guitarist.

Two years ago, when it was announced that Adrian was gathering troops together to play 80’s era King Crimson, I was intrigued.  The tour had the blessing of Robert Fripp AND it featured Tony Levin on bass.  So that was pretty much all it took.  I really enjoyed that set, so when they announced a follow up tour, I was excited to see them again.  I was really delighted by Steve Vai’s playing last time and was looking forward to seeing him again.

This time, instead of Tool’s Danny Carey, on drums was Terry Bozzio, which meant that there were THREE Frank Zappa alums on stage. [Belew: 1977 through 1979; Bozzio: April 1975 – February 1978; Vai: 1980-1983]

This era of King Crimson is not my favorite.  Although Discipline was the first KC album I’d ever bought, I never really got into the other two (a few songs from each, but never the whole things).  I also saw that these setlists were going to be somewhat different, so that was cool too.

Last time I was in the middle of the floor seats with a good view of everyone. This time I was in the front row of the balcony–not a good a close up view, but a great overall view.

Like last time, I wished I could see Steve Vai better–his area was darker than the others.  And I could barely see Terry Bozzio because his drum set was ENORMOUS–comically so.  And I’m pretty sure he didn’t play all of the items in the rack.

This was one of the hardest shows to focus on because everyone was doing something amazing.   Indeed, I love Tony Levin and yet I probably watched him least.  Steve Vai is flashy, sure but he also generates some really great sounds and it’s fun to watch what he’s doing.  And yet, with Steve Vai on board, it’s easy to forget that Adrian Belew is a master guitar player himself.  Vai did most of the soloing, but Belew did a huge amount as well.

This time they opened with Dinosaur, a track that’s not on any of the three 1980s albums.  It’s from 1995’s THRAK.  I was really excited to hear it and didn’t realize it wasn’t from those albums–they were branching out!.  From there, the set was somewhat similar to last time, with the next few songs being from Beat.  The wild Neurotica, the wild dual guitar fun of Neal and Jack and Me and Tony playing the Stick on Sartori in Tangier.  It’s so cool seeing him playing “guitar” lines AND bass lines, while the other two are doing their own soloing things.

I don’t really know the instrumentals all that well on these albums and I wondered if (especially) Steve is just free to do what he wants (as long as it’s in the style of the song) or if he’s sticking with Fripp’s original work.  Some of the jamming sessions make the songs seem longer than the originals, so I assume he’s doing his own thing.

After playing the lovely Three of a Perfect Pair, they returned to THRAK with the pretty Walking on Air.

Then it was on to the loudest, bassiest song, Perfect Pair’s Industry.  Adrian and Steve got to make all kinds of cool weirdo sounds, but Adrian was having some technical difficulties with his gear so his noises were limited.  They ended the set with what I think is the least popular Larks’ Tongue in Aspic section (Part III).  But it was still great to hear it because Tony Levin was using his patented Funk Fingers (tubes he attaches to his fingers so he is constantly smacking the bass strings).  Tony also played keys on a few songs (mostly just bass notes, but still).

They took a 20 minute intermission (the first set was about 48 minutes) and then Terry Bozzio came out and started playing a small instrument at the front of the stage–a kind of electronic marimba.  Then Adrian joined him on the other side and then Tony came out on his Stick.  This was all for Waiting Man, which featured Adrian at one point making a “solo” out of the feedback he generated waving his guitar close to his amp (it was pretty interesting).  I enjoyed Adrian’s part in this quite a bit.

They played one more song from THRAK with some fun guitar parts and the end of the set was mostly the same as last time–mostly the Discipline album.  They started with The Sheltering Sky–an opportunity to watch Vai play this scripted guitar part and add some of his own flair to it.  After a brief jump back to Three of a Perfect Pair (with a solo for Tony and his Funk Fingers (for Sleepless), they slow, pretty Matte Kudasi with Adrian using the slide up and down the neck of his guitar.

I was really happy they didn’t leave out Frame By Frame, one of my favorite songs from the album.   Then it was a one-two punch of an ending with Elephant Talk, a huge favorite of mine and Indiscipline.  I love watching them go berserk during the instrumental breaks.

That was the obvious end to the set.  They came down to the edge of the stage and bowed and headed off.  A guy next to me was shouting “RED!” all during the encore break.  They did play Red last time, but I had seen that they weren’t playing it on this tour. Sure, it’s a little disappointing because the song is great, but really shouting like a lunatic from the balcony?  Is that really going to get them to change their pre-made setlist?  (I could see Steve Vai had one taped in front of him).

They came back and did not play Red, rather, they played a song from Frank Zappa.  I never saw Zappa play (and clearly never with Adrian singing) so it was very cool to hear him sing City of Tiny Lights.

They ended the night with Thela Hun Ginjeet (complete with recorded spoken parts played over the speakers).  It’s a really fun instrumental and people in the front row were dancing along.

I don’t usually pick the balcony because I like to be up close.  And there is something distancing about being so far away, but I really enjoyed the set (and the unobstructed view).  One of the funnier things to happen down on the floor was a guy who seemed to be wandering around.  I couldn’t see him well, but he looked pretty rough (possibly/probably stoned) and the ushers had to corral him somewhat.  And they were standing right in front of a bunch of seats and I was thinking how pissed I’d have been to have spent floor seat prices and then have my view blocked by those bozos.

I’d consider seeing Beat again, especially if they added more THRAK to the set.

 

2026	2024
SET 1	SET 1
Dinosaur ≥	Neurotica ∇
Neurotica ∇	Neal and Jack and Me ∇
Neal and Jack and Me ∇	Heartbeat ∇
Sartori in Tangier ∇	Sartori in Tangier ∇
Three of a Perfect Pair ¾	Dig Me ¾
Walking on Air ≥	Model Man ¾
Industry ¾	Man With an Open Heart ¾
Larks’ Tongues in Aspic (Part III) ¾	Industry ¾
SET 2	Larks’ Tongues in Aspic (Part III) ¾
Waiting Man ∇	SET 2
People ≥	Waiting Man ∇
The Sheltering Sky ⊗	The Sheltering Sky ⊗
Sleepless ¾	Sleepless ¾
Matte Kudasai ⊗	Frame by Frame ⊗
Frame by Frame ⊗	Matte Kudasai ⊗
Elephant Talk ⊗	Elephant Talk ⊗
Indiscipline ⊗	Three of a Perfect Pair ¾
encore	Indiscipline ⊗
City of Tiny Lights (Frank Zappa cover)	encore
Thela Hun Ginjeet ⊗	Red ®
	Thela Hun Ginjeet ⊗

 

® Red (1974)
⊗ Discipline (1981)   [2024 & 2026: did not play “Discipline”]
∇ Beat (1982) [2024: did not play “Two Hands” “The Howler” “Requiem” 2026: also did not play “Heartneat”]
¾ Three of a Perfect Pair (1984) [2024: did not play “Nuages” “No Warning”; 2026 also didn’t play “Dig Me” “Model Man” “Man with an Open Heart”]
≥ THRAK (1995)