[ATTENDED: September 21, 2019] King Crimson
It is hard to believe that it has been almost two years since I last saw King Crimson, because I feels like it was just a few months ago.
This was my fourth time seeing them in five years. As I said last time, who knows when Robert Fripp is going to decide to end this iteration, so if they come to town, I’m going to see them. In fact, I had a ticket for Monday night’s show in Philly as well but I decided not to go because I had been to a show Friday and now Saturday and I had four more shows lined up later in the week (seven shows in nine days is a lot, even for me).
This time I went with my friend Bill. He drove us into the city for which I was thankful. He told me he usually just looks for street parking but because he didn’t want to be late he booked a garage. That proved to be a huge mistake because everyone who didn’t live in NYC also booked that garage and there were only two attendants. We waited for 45 minutes for our car (which meant I got home at 2AM!). This was Bill’s first time seeing King Crimson.
He was very impressed. Of course.
This time the band was back down to a seven piece. I’m not sure what happened to the eighth member. It was going to be Bill Rieflin again and then he took a sabbatical and was replaced by Theo Travis. But apparently he was not included on this tour “when the band opted not to have musicians deputising for Rieflin again.”
Even though these shows have a base of similar songs and players, each tour (and each tour date) has mixed it up somewhat. So out of the eighteen songs they played that night, I hadn’t seen 5 of them. That’s a pretty great evolution. And honestly, the songs I’ve heard more than once (some every time) I’m more than happy to hear again and again.
The last time I saw them I wrote
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.
Following my own advice, I scored front row balcony seats to this show, and they were really spectacular. The band sounded great and it was easy to see what everyone was doing (where to look is a perennial problem). [My seats in Philly were also exciting–stage left in a balcony box, staring right at Fripp–I’ll definitely try to get them again if they come around in 2020). (more…)
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It looks like Johnny Brenda’s is simply cancelling everything through the spring. Which makes sense. I’m glad they have a restaurant downstairs to keep them going, because it’s one of my favorite venues.
