[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. (more…)
