Theatre St Denis

The Crimson machine is clearly road-tested and well-oiled by the time it makes its way across the border to Montreal. Ten gigs in and King Crimson is working through a setlist that whose peaks and troughs are now very familiar. Tonight, after Living Colour’s opening set, the band tackle Level Five, ProzaKc, The ConstruKction Of Light, FaKcts Of Life and EleKtriK with the kind of professional elan that you’d expect at this stage in the tour. To these ears, however, the performance overall, while possessing many highlights, doesn’t really catch that ineffable ‘otherness’ that sometimes graces a KC gig until The Power To Believe Pt II. Even here though the effect is relatively fleeting with Dinosaur’s expected roar sounding rather muted in comparison to other shows. The energy picks up after Happy and an incomplete Dangerous Curves - sadly minus its intro but otherwise intact - nicely sets up Larks’ Tongues In Aspic Part IV. Even when it lacks the punch that one normally finds in the piece, there’s still a lot to admire in this construction of contrasting hard edges and clean flowing lines. “Thank you very much,” says a tired sounding Belew at the end of the track to the joyous applause of the near sell-out crowd in this 2,000-seater venue. While Red provides the final note of the evening, it's a meditative solo from Trey Gunn in The Deception Of Thrush, with his notes briefly hovering in silence, that captures that extra-special something that has been conspicuous by its absence for most of the show.