Veterans Memorial Coliseum Columbus United States

This is your standard King Crimson concert, which of course means excellent, but it doesn't have anything that makes it a must-buy compared to others. Every song here is played well, with special mention to Fracture and Night Watch (which, Cross's violin fails during, if that adds value for you). The improvs are quite nice. It's your baseline Wetton Era performance, which means great. The only real thing holding it back is the shotty production due to the PA recording primarily focusing on drums and vocals, drowning the other instruments out. Still. a good listen nevertheless.

Initialy I was tempted to give this show only 3 stars, but the inner Crimso in me could not do it. Despite it being a flawed performance, with Wetton's voice getting almost cringy sometimes and with some weird passages of otherwise sublime executions, the show is raw, punchy and just plain awesome. I can't help it, I devour anything KC offers me, from top notch recordings to muffled, lo-fi, weirdly played gigs. While this show isn't exactly the Concertgebouw gig (1973), it has it's place as an incredibly interesting concert. This era was truly something special, with this line-up probably being one of the most powerful of KC in terms of delivering just about everything they got. But as a King Crimson connoisseur, I would recommend this to completist only.

As the title indicates, the band plays as well as ever. Unfortunately, only getting to hear a portion of what was offered that night coupled with a somewhat wonky mix makes this show non-essential in my eyes. However, if you can't get enough of the '74 USA shows, this should satisfy. 1. The Great Deceiver: Peppy tempo, good energy throughout. Fripp's guitar is much too quiet though, and Wetton's vocals too loud at times. 2. Lament: Again, good energy, but it is marred by how much louder Wetton's vocals are than the rest of the band. Fripp's guitar is still too quiet. 3. Improv: Short, but sweet. No vocals obviously, so no problem there. 4. Exiles: Really tight -- very enjoyable despite Wetton being so loud. 5. Fracture: For some reason Cross' violin is too quiet at times. Nevertheless, this is a really enthusiastic rendition of this song, and we're lucky that it got placed unusually early in the show. 6. Easy Money: Rejoice! Wetton is no longer way too loud! ...Until the last verse. The band feels really connected and on point here, with some more-intense-than-usual soloing from Fripp. 7. Improv: I really like this, though it is short. Cross has treats us to some beautiful playing, accompanied by Fripp's arpeggios. 8. The Night Watch: Somewhat amusing, and fun to hear Wetton's surprise bass part near the end. His voice is definitely too loud though, and what violin there is there is too quiet. Fun to listen to if you've already gone through the more well-known shows of this tour, but it's hard to recommend this to new listeners when shows like Toronto and Stanley Theatre are so excellent, and sound better.

My guess is that most people visiting this site have a pretty fair amount of Live Crimson, and numerous versions of all of the songs included here with the exception of the improvs (of which there are only two brief ones on this set). The sound is pretty good, and the performances are as expected.The real reason to pick this one up, as others have alluded to, is to hear Wetton cover for David Cross when his violin fails during the Night Watch, which is then followed up with a very amusing Robert Fripp announcement to buy the Roadies some time. So, in other words, there are other more worthwhile concerts available here but it is pretty cool to see Wetton pick up his bandmate.