The Birchmere holds about 500 people, and I managed to grab a seat about 5 rows back dead center, a real plus having only seen them before from the back of a theater. Adrian was clearly not feeling great (seemed to be having fever sweats), but he put his all into the performance anyway. What a pro. Dangerous Curves and LTIA IV are probably the best 2-song punch I've seen in the 4 performances I've attended.

First time seeing this version of the group and what an introduction. Had great seats and got to experience the full force of the band. And this was definitely the best version of Easy Money I've heard, with Jakko's wordless vocals at the end of the improv section especially noteworthy.

I was at this concert. I sat about 8 or 9 rows back, center rogjt, and the sound was terrific. It was not too loud, but loud enough to have an impact. The band was fantastic and I found this to be my favorite of the 4 times I've seen Crimson (95, 03, 17, 19).

This is a two-part review, spanning 44 years and at least six different iterations of King Crimson. In 1973 I had just graduated high school and only a limited exposure to the rock music world. King Crimson was one of the few bands I did have on vinyl, though only the first four albums. That was critical to my experience on the night of June 17. For some reason I had not yet picked up a copy of Larks’ Tongues in Aspic. My expectation of the show was that I would be hearing songs from those earlier albums. Robert Fripp’s guitar along with some sort of woodwind as the lead instruments, with long Mellotron chords thrown in. Not reading the music press of the time, I had no idea that King Crimson’s line-up had changed. Or what that would mean. Well, that wasn’t what I got. Instead on stage appeared the four-piece version of the LTIA band; no woodwinds, a violinist and Fripp sitting off to stage left on a stool. They opened with a song I had never heard before. Followed by another, and another and another. The stage was dimly light throughout the whole performance, with my memory saying there was a reddish tinge to what background light was there. There may have been a spot used occasionally, but not often. Two mellotrons were set up, but I don’t believe either one was touched that evening. In the end, there was only one song played that I recognized: 21st Century Schizoid Man. It was the encore. When it was over, my reaction to the show was simply WTF. The music was loud and utilized complex rhythms I had never heard before. I was stunned. Or maybe brutalized might be a better term. It took me two years and the Red album to finally be able to process some of what I heard that night. I just wasn’t ready to hear what King Crimson was doing at that point. I believe that Bill Bruford wrote about being with a label executive driving around LA prior to that concert. Some of the LTIA album was played to him. Bruford indicated that the executive’s reaction may have mirrored mine. WTF indeed. I keep hoping that somebody will turn up a bootleg of that Long Beach concert so it can be processed and sold on the DGM website. That way I can have a chance to reevaluate the experience. I did pick up the Berkley concert download from the June 16, 1973 concert. Listening to that recording makes me think Long Beach was probably a pretty good show. Wish I would have had the experience to appreciate it at the time. BTW, the newspaper review provided on the website contains a couple of errors. This was King Crimson’s second headlining concert in the Los Angeles area (the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium show was the first, back in March 1972. That would have been my first rock concert, but I couldn’t borrow a car). And I am almost positive that there was only one encore in Long Beach, not three. I will pick up the second part of this review in 2017, with my experiences with the eight-headed beast in Austin, Texas. Paul Schulz, Katy, Texas

This was my first time seeing King Crimson. I very much liked Thrak and a few years earlier, had reignited my love for the band through the box set "Frame By Frame". I went with my wife, but she had a headache that night and King Crimson are not particularly headache-friendly, so I was left to enjoy the 2nd half of the night while she went out for coffee. I was near the back of the theater and didn't get to experience the music as well as I might have liked. Due to these circumstances, this would be my least favorite of the 4 times I have seen the band. However, since I had attended, I opted to purchase the download, and I have to say, I found the recording transcendent. The recording of the show is top notch and the band is 100% on point. So far, this is my favorite downloaded concert I've listened to all the way through. Highly recommended.

I remember when, with friends, we heard this concert live on TV at the time. We had recorded the songs with an ambient microphone (at the time, no direct connection) and we were surprised to see Robert playing while looking at the camera! In short, I would have liked to know if the improvisation he launched, before The night Watch, was really an improv or melodies already prepared in advance, so much it seems built!