Commodore Ballroom Vancouver Canada

This rather murky audience recording captures Crimson on the last night of their North American tour. Thanks for Mister Stormy’s ministrations a picture of a highly charged band emerges, whose power moves far beyond its humble sonic origins. There’s an interesting version of Thela here with a slightly extended bridge and some interesting harmonic variations on the bass end during Belew’s frankly stunning solo section. After a thunderous Red, glacially slow and bearing all the hallmarks of an unstoppable juggernaut, we are treated to a truly transcendent Sheltering Sky. Fripp’s scorching solo work here rightly raises applause and the hairs of this presumably hirsute audience standing to attention. This astonishing piece frequently seems to be a portal through which something remarkable enters into the world. Leaving aside from the cruel irony of audience members loudly discussing the control of the guitarists precisely as Fripp does his double-time crosspicking, the punters are volubly excited as Belew tries and fails to introduce what was then a previously unheard song, Neil And Jack And Me. Sadly this song is incomplete here but we do get to hear the gorgeously reflective play out from the Dorset contingent of the band. The equally unheard Manhattan (later retitled Nuerotica) fares better and pummels the place to the ground. LTIA is a flailing monster of a track and the tension is heightened when Robert’s rig breaks down, leaving Ade and the rest of the team to do all the heavy lifting. The whole wobbles but they heroically carry it off. When RF joins back in on the break, it’s like a million-dollar firework show going off all at once. Impressive stuff and the crowd go apeshit bonkers! As an aside, after Elephant Talk a woman can heard say “I’m impressed. It’s quite good, actually.” Welcome to the dark side, Sister!