so i saw this utterly jaw-dropping, amazing show last night and what with one thing and another, i haven’t quite had the heart to write about it. but it absolutely bears more than a mere mention, so here we go.
king crimson (and john paul jones, for that matter) were outstanding. my fingers resent typing the cliché, but it’s true – they continue to surf the very outside edge of musical possibility. fripp’s soundscapes paired with trey’s sinuous and intricate bass lines, supported by pat mastellato’s thundering percussion and overlaid with the not-so-sugary frenzy of adrian belew in full mad professor mode… fantastic. coz commented that their latest pieces seem to be not so much compositions as constructions, and i must agree – to a point. the fact still remains that between them, crimson are able to extract more nuance of sound from their instruments, more emotion from their combined effort, than i’ve seen anyone manage in quite a while. and no, they didn’t play cat food.
it was a cerebral show on many levels – possibly the first rock concert i’ve ever attended where the entire audience remained seated for the duration (except for that one crazy hat-waving guy, bless him). i remember thinking at one point that it was actually not so unlike going to the symphony – there, the conductor is the performer and the orchestra a single animal, indistinguishable from the music they create. watching king crimson live last night was not unlike seeing four highly energetic conductors, directing the music itself, which was a living thing all its own, bulging, writhing, rising and falling. which might be why the idea of construction seems to make sense – each player channeling a part of the whole, the ensemble weaving it all together. the lighting provided a fine accompaniment – all colorscapes and simple patterns, structured movement focusing energy and directing attention. evocative and moody and all very fitting, very much a player in the ongoing creation.
so let’s hear it for the power trio of abstraction, chaos and order. and let’s hear it for robert fripp, trey gunn, pat mastellato and adrian belew.
and finally, many many thanks to coz. if he hadn’t pressed me, i wouldn’t have gone. and then how dumb would i feel?