King Crimson flew to Argentina on September 22nd. for one week of rehearsals and two weeks of live work. The aim was to play-in both the group and its material. The Double Trio presented King Crimson’s formal return to active service on Saturday 1st. October, 1994 at the Prix d’Ami disco, Buenos Aires. Then, we moved to the Broadway for a series of performances between Thursday 6 and Sunday 16 October, with a short break to perform in Cordova.
An Italian bootleg company sent a character to South America specifically to bootleg three groups, of whom Crimson was one. That unofficial bootleg is now released, with an appalling sound quality, for £28 in England. Let us not pretend that this shoddy effort is an attempt to liberate the spirit of music.
If we accept the demand for bands caught indiscreetly and thinking on their feet, sometimes stumbling in a grand manner, “B’boom” is a response by King Crimson: a bootleg, but a bootleg presented with care.
Essentially, this is King Crimson painted in broad strokes and true to the spirit of one evening during October 1994 at the Broadway in Buenos Aires as Crimson returned to public performance for the first time in 10 years and 3 months.
Technical Note:
These recordings are taken from DAT recordings of the front-of-house mixing desk during the series of performances at the Broadway, with the exception of “Heartbeat” from Cordova.
Soundboard mixes are not representative of what an audience might hear. Those instruments which are naturally louder in the theatre are not likely to be as loud in the p.a. Panning is also likely to be more extreme in a theatre, where audiences on the right might not hear a carefully placed shaker on the left. But there are refreshingly different perspectives, also intriguing close-ups on drum kits and internal guitar panning, which would never get past the censorship of a studio and good taste. Which is maybe one reason why bootlegs are popular.
