The second gig in series of six solo concerts before P2 live concert debut the following month, finds RF before an appreciative crowd. Of the show, the reviewer of the Chicago Tribune felt “This was not a display of virtuosity in the conventional sense--Fripp clearly has no interest in demonstrating the speed, fluidity or dexterity of his “chops.” Instead it was an extended exercise in mood manipulation, as waves of sound veered from thick, atmospheric drones to more dissonant textures that even at their loudest caressed rather than pummeled the senses.”
In the opening section high sustained notes build up into ominous drifts, single pin-pricks of light pierce the soundclouds and towards the end, a brass-like undertow burnishes the sweeping single notes.
The second track begins to put in place the ascending themes of the Affirmation; the mood is stately, grand and sombre, whose floating chords seem filled with sadness
Chicago III contains its fair share of bleeps, bloops, pan-pipes and a swatch of fiery lead guitar before moving sideways into angst that dominates the second half of the show, veering towards dense, darker forms, distorting and swirling across the stereo picture.
Along with the complete concert (including the portion of the music which began too early for some concert-goers to hear), the Q&A session heard here was also used for the spoken-word Robert Fripp Unplugged series. In preparing this concert for download Alex Mundy encountered one or two difficulties. “Unfortunately, this dat comes from the desk, rather than direct from Robert’s rack, so there is a little hiss and hum, I guess just white noise from the desk, cabling etc.
I have taken some off, but I didn’t want to take the high and low end frequencies away. Also there seems to be a gate on the desk, which just does occasionally chatter a bit on the louder sections. This also effects Roberts Q And A section a little. But besides those little problems, this is a very good performance, with some great moods!”
