Rosengarten-Musansaal Mannheim Germany

Having been excised from the previous concert’s set list, Walking On Air is restored, providing something of a reflective mood early in the gig. That said the swaying atmosphere, and Ade’s delicately teased guitar solo are short-lived things, as Red barges in and once again ups the ante.

Thrak is heavy on the discordant barrelhouse piano until Fripp hits the laser-beam stomp box and Gunn hogs some of that particularly bright spotlight. Some cautious Bruford excursions tempt a couple of Crims to embellish the beat but they quickly fall away and for a few precious seconds silence takes centre stage.

The appearance of Schizoid Man smack dab in the middle of the gig was sure to have taken a few folks by surprise. Actually it works well in this context and Bill’s wacky electronic percussives prior to the soloing section are sure to have turned a few heads. Belew’s break-out is exhilarating stuff and whilst Fripp’s rejoinder is game enough, the two don’t quite get to lock heads in the time they’ve been allocated.

The Sheltering Sky goes into some intriguing harmonic territories after Trey’s solo making it rather more special than usual. For a couple of minutes, Crimson seems to be drifting into somewhere different, before Fripp steers the team back to the theme. A lovely highlight in a good gig.