“Ladies and gentlemen may I thank you on behalf of the band for that very generous reception,” says Robert. He’s right. The crowd are extremely enthusiastic after hearing the powerful opening salvos of Doctor D and LTIA Pt 1.
The former track suffers, as it always does, from too many lyrics to be able to reasonably scan across the available bar lengths but is nevertheless a mighty example of the crunching power that was so abundantly available to this incarnation. The latter track, while not being quite as incendiary as the one performed earlier in the night in the previous set, still contains Fripp foreshadowing lines that would find themselves applied to Industry some ten years later.
After the drama of Easy Money Bruford’s double pulse from the bass drum and the distorted threads from Fripp’s Mellotron herald a contemplative improv featuring Cross exploring a distinctly uneasy, strained air that eventually coalesces into Exiles. They reprise something of that same mood on the next track, the pre-Talking Drum improv. By the time they get to Schizoid Man there are signs that the band’s energy levels have dipped but this is still a bruising outing for KC’s signature song.
