Happy to see the Fripperblog back rolling for a while. Took my 20-year-old son to see Bruce Springsteen in a solo acoustic performance last night. The first thing that jumped out at me was the (compared to even Crimson) strict, strongly communicated policy regarding e-gadgets in general (I would LOVE to post the only photo I took last night: a photo of the venue 'rules' they handed out, and which were remarkably convergent with Crimson/Fripp's). Of note was that photos WERE allowed during the bows, when the house lights came up (though security guards lined parts of the stage to ensure there wasn't some giant crush as Bruce shook hands with folks in the front couple of rows). FAR more important, however, was the evening itself. I hate the term "show" for musical performances, but even the word "performance" seems crude. Without the phones and gadgets held aloft, we very quickly were ushered into a zone that I probably can't put into words. But in that zone the performance kind of outsided-in: From the start it flipped from "famous rockstar tells stories from his life and plays hit songs" to something else entirely, and something desperately important for this time and in this place, something I can't describe very well but that was liminal and intensely HUMAN. I wish I could put it into words, but every time I do it just seems crude and banal. But the point being that it simply can't be a coincidence that something like last night occurred, with almost no photography occurring.* It was also a very long and difficult process to get tickets (including a multiple-round lottery), so everyone there really had to "work" the process to get tickets. For me it was particularly important, because for a variety of reasons I wanted my son to experience precisely what we experienced last night, and how a legitimate musical moment can sometimes allow you to peer into a world you didn't even know existed. Which reminds me...Fripp wrote... <blockquote> Nevertheless, to have one set of this standard is rare. I remember the first four KC shows, in two consecutive nights of six, at the Savoy in NYC, November 5th. & 6th., 1981… So outstanding I remember them, </blockquote> And I remember one of those nights too, as if it were yesterday, similar to last night with Bruce. In my case I find that those special, liminal performances don't seem to get stored in the same "memory" as spectacles, or even a performance that was meticulously well-performed but stamped-out licenseplate-style. If I try very hard, I can remember the non-liminal ones I attended, but more as almost as memorized facts and figures (like "The State Capital of New Jersey is Trenton" or "I once attended a Jewel show my company sponsored"). But back to Bruce: it seems obvious to me that last night's no-photography policy was aimed towards the exact same experience as Fripp and Crimson are aiming for through their nearly identical policy. And having tasted plenty of spectacle AND occasional bursts of liminal bliss, I know which I prefer. There's really no comparison: one tastes like it came out of a can packed by a machine 2 years ago and the other tastes like the ingredients were pulled right out of the ground before being incorporated into a meal by a skillful, passionate cook: you can often see it immediately just by looking at it...it kind of glows. And if you don't believe me just go have a meal in a say, a Piedmontese mountain in northern Italy: you'll quickly understand why there can be fistfights over food in parts of Italy: they simply won't tolerate imitations. * An interesting exception to the non-photography was the middle-aged uber-fan sitting two seats over from me. She took one discreet photo (causing me to wince at her). Because we were sitting (from the audience's perspective) pretty far to the right (3rd row), she was sitting sideways. As she crossed and uncrossed her legs, her shoe brushed my pantleg perhaps a dozen times. It didn't stop until I brushed the potential dust off my pantleg and glared at her again.

I was in a restaurant in Mercer, England before a Crimson show. It was cafeteria style restaurant, I took my plate and sat down alone at a long table and who walks in, but Adrian Belew, he had orange freckles and a ponytail. I was surprised to see him, and I said, “Hi Mr. Belew” , introduced myself and shook his hand. He sort of recognized me, having met him before. He was with his family and then disappeared. I was then walking again on the street and Jakko walks by. He walking, faster than me but in the same direction, presumably heading towards the show, and was talking to two people, one a younger shorter version of himself, and another younger shorter version of that version of himself and Jakko referenced the shows in NY and the “lads along the Hudson River”. I said to one of the middle versions of Jakko, I was one of those lads. Middle young Jakko looked and then they kept walking fast. The next part is strange. I was in the theater, but it was empty and the 3 Jakkos, were sitting along a wall in the empty theater. I started a conversation with the middle Jakko. He had Jakko’s hair, but the ringlets were flatter and the hair was yellow/blonde. I assumed it was a son and he said come with me. So we went outside and then into a strange butcher’s shop/kitchen and there put on smocks of a kind and began carrying a 20 foot long piece of ribs, all bloody, and the both of us, chatting away were delivering the ribs to a young butcher/cook. We delivered the long ribs and we were covered in blood, and we were wiping down the ribs with paper towels and dividing them into sections about 2 feet long. I said something in German (which I don’t really speak) to the butcher/cook, he was young, maybe in his 20’s, like the young Jakko. He said he wasn’t German, then he said he was joking and he really was. I think him and the mini/young Jakko were friends and we were helping him prepare the food. We washed up and maybe a sister or girlfriend of mini/young/blonde Jakko was washing up too, she was also a bloody mess. We left the Castle (how did that happen?) and I was now alone on the streets of Mercer, having said goodbye to mini/young/ flat blonde hair Jakko, and was trying to find the venue, The King’s Theater (which is actually in Staten Island, NY). Lost for a few minutes I took out my phone, but I was already there. Found my ticket and went inside. Then I woke up. In real life I just came back from a trip that took me To Berlin, Warsaw, Krakow, Prague, and Munich. I went through Poznan on the train. I missed the Berlin show by 7 days, the Poznan show by 12 days, the last Krakow show by 10 days, the Prague shows by 3 and 4 days and the Munich shows by 11 days. I did challenge the students I was leading to spot any King Crimson poster they found along the way and win a 1 Euro prize. I saw a Berlin poster and one of the students found a Munich poster and won the prize! I also visited, like David Singleton, the camp at Auschwitz. It was as appalling and disgusting an example of evil that will be ever be seen. There is hope even in a place like that. The sacrifice of Father Kolbe in the camp was an example of the best side of the human race.

How about a download of "Easy Money" with the new lyrics?

I've seen King Crimson many times over the years but I'm safe in saying that the most recent is the best. The stars aligned, particularly in the first set. I don't know if Fripp felt the event was particularly auspicious as I did, being the first time Crimson had played the venue since the November 1973 gig that became "The Night Watch", but he certainly seemed to feel that way given his set-list was grouping together tracks from albums in a way I've never seen him do before. Out the gate with Larks I & 2, into Moonchild straight into ITCOTCK, Larks 4 as a breather, Cirkus into Lizard Suite (with the glorious guitar solo ending to Prince Rupert's Lament that he'd skipped in Vienna), Islands into Indiscipline. It was just about as perfect a set-list as you could get, and the versions they're running now at their absolute peak. As mentioned, I saw them in Vienna a few weeks previously and while that show was excellent, this was head and shoulders above. The 2nd set didn't follow the first's inspiration to match tracks from their albums together but provided a heart-stopping Easy Money, and the best versions of the new material I've heard thus far. I'm not sure where the joins are between Radical Action III, Meltdown and Radical Action II but good lord, for a moment I wondered if they've just started writing "Larks 6" on the set-lists instead. Absolutely huge.

I remember a time when I was playing Starless for a friend of mine who thought heavy music was KISS. We sat and listened as the build up during the"one note solo" was being played. Just before it hit its crescendo, my buddy looked at me and said, "Whoa. That's getting intense." Nuff said.

I had a royal package for the second night in Oslo. I have to say, much like Carsten, that it was a great experience. It was a pleasure to hear Mr. Singleton's opinions about many different aspects of music, music philosophy, the music business and The Crims as well. Everyone was super nice and the gig was quite excellent. The Norwegian crowd was rather undeserving as quite often is the case (too much drinking and not being quiet) but such is life sometimes.