There’s so much to enjoy on this second concert of the evening. Somehow, the energy is even higher than the first set. Sheltering Sky in particular seems like one long masterclass in rapture; notes piling upon notes to create something shimmering and transcendent. Amazing! Mind you, there’s clearly a spot of collateral damage on Ade’s voice as his normally elegant vocal becomes akin to a belligerent roar during Neal and Jack and Me. The tempo on Manhattan tonight seems like it’s itching to speed up to the pace it would later acquire as it whacks the audience into the ground like so many tent-pegs. Not so much clap-along as stomp-along. Listen out also for that bitter-sweet melody Fripp slips in on the play-out.
Writing in Trouser Press, David Fricke observes the fans packed into the Savoy and notes that they all “...share the conviction that that this is no idle cash-in reunion. These paying customers always admired King Crimson not only for what it played but what it stood for. Thus guitarist Adrian Belew (whose credentials with Frank Zappa, David Bowie and the expanded Talking Heads probably don 't carry much weight with this crowd) gets the same enthusiastic reception for a string-bending wipeout as Fripp does for a stirring psycho-solo. The audience hears the same commitment in material from the recent Discipline album and new, as-yet un-recorded pieces that they recognize in live reprises of "Red" and "Larks' Tongues Aspic, Part Two."
DGMLive would like to give a special thanks to John Bella for his assistance with the Savoy downloads.
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