Eight days into the mainland Europe leg of Crimson’s tour and the band’s energy levels here are off the scale. When the Crims performed LTIA Pt 1, as they hit the heavy section the footlights would burn with a white light filling the entire stage area with intense eye-watering illumination. Were you sitting close enough to that stage you’d also feel the heat radiating off those lamps. The white light and white heat combined aren’t a bad metaphor for what Crimson was about at this point.
LTIA is astonishing and here showcases a superb duet as Fripp and Wetton joust but away from the ‘storm und drang’ it’s nice to hear David Cross getting a deserved round of applause from the appreciative crowd for his welcome beautiful violin obbligato.
After an amusing stopover in the Robert Fripp language school, the mirth continues as Fripp’s between-verse guitar runs have Wetton cracking up with laughter.
Improv 1 offers a wistful mood to the Volkhaus as Cross’s violin caresses the air to empathetic accompaniment from the rest of the team. The direction shifts with the introduction of Wetton’s punchy fuzz and distorted bass and builds in momentum to a rocking blow in which Cross and Fripp alternate the attack. The tight control exercised by the group, with an emphasis on listening, is a first-rate example of the band’s improvisatory skills.
Improv II finds the Crims revisiting the recurring bass figure and soaring lead lines that would form the basis of Guts On Your Side which they use as a kind of guide rail within which to place some truly ferocious rhapsodising. The dead stop at the end takes the breath away. All in all, if you like the Larks-era band this gig is an absolute must-have.
