P4 distilled to its best parts, but maybe less exploratory than other evenings
P4 follows possibly their worst set 2 nights previously in Portland with an incredible last gasp(s) at San Fran's 7th Note. It's easy to see why, after listening to all the P4 gigs, why these two evenings were chosen to piece together the "Roar Of P4" Collectors Club release from, with much of it recognisable from this evening in particular. P4 takes all that they have learnt and discovered across the previous 5 nights and delivers it with confidence and ease, an incredible feat given that some of these pieces didn't exist at all at the start of the run. Heavy & Light ConstruKction - which in previous gigs felt leaden and forced - find their feet here to dramatic effect. Seizure has developed into a replicable track and presumably only didn't make it to Crimson proper due to Levin's exit. Perhaps most exciting that is unique to this show is Ghost Part III taking on the themes of ProjeKct One's remarkable 1 ii 4, to significantly less success in my view, but it's fun to hear a new take on this "Trio" level moment of musical synergy, perhaps standing as the ProjeKcts most successful 5 minutes as a whole across all six versions (though I am yet to hear a note of ProjeKct 6). Of all the P4 shows (and I've listened to the following one already to be sure I can say this), this is probably the best overall and gets the only perfect rating of the run. Whilst it doesn't have the sense of discovery that the Richards On Richards show had, it provides at least the 2nd best versions of all of these themes and gives us 12 minutes of extremely solid semi-improv in Ghost Part III. If there's one P4 show to download, this is the one. If there's two, it's this one and the Richards On Richards show. If there's three, it's those two plus the following show at the 7th Note... and if you've downloaded all of those you may as well get the whole tour.
